By STEVE MORRISON
Niles Daily Star

From the beginning to the end the Edwardsburg Eddies rambled and gamboled up and down the field, accumulating over 360 yards on the ground to defeat the host Brandywine Bobcats 43-0 at Selge Field on Friday night.

Using their power “T” backfield, the Eddies convincingly ran up 264 yards in the first half alone.

Sweeping outside, Devin Bywaters had 118 yards on 10 carries, then added 30 more yards on five attempts in the second half for 148 yards and one touchdown. Fellow back Adam Kendall, running inside the tackles finished with 96 yards on 14 carries and three trips to the end zone.

Eddies’ quarterback Frank Majors added 53 yards on nine carries, and he completed 3-of-5 passes for 28 yards.

The Bobcats, to be sure, did some solid work on defense with Jacob Frazier, Matt Bricker and Derek Nichols putting some bone-jarring licks on Eddies’ ball carriers, but the Brandywine offense couldn’t get the ball going on offense.

In fact they turned the ball over seven times, five on fumbles and two on interceptions of quarterback Stone Hadley’s passes.

Dustin Sater took the opening kickoff for the Bobcats and raced 23 yards to the Brandywine 48-yard line and things were looking good at the beginning of the game for the ‘Cats. On the first play from scrimmage, Sater fumbled, but recovered, losing two yards. The Eddies knocked the ball loose and recovered on the next play.

Alternating handoffs to Bywaters and Kendall, Majors led the Eddies 32 yards on six plays, with Kendall scoring the first touchdown of the game with 9:36 on the clock. After a costly offside call was levied on the Bobcats during the extra point kick by Eddies placekicker Jeff Roberson, the Eddies went for the 2-point conversion. Austin Stinnett took the ball in to give Edwardsburg an 8-0 lead.

In Brandywine’s ensuing possession, Eddies’ defender Chad Telvin picked off Hadley’s second pass of the night. Brandywine had moved the ball 49 yards on runs by Hadley (10 yards) and Jesse McCombs (26) and a 10-yard completion from Hadley to Cody Udell. The first of two painful personal foul calls against Brandywine helped stall the drive before Hadley was intercepted.

Brandywine’s defense held up on the Eddies’ next possession, stopping them cold on a big hit of Majors by Frazier, causing a fumble and a Brandywine recovery on their 20-yard line. McCombs fumbled the ball right back to Edwardsburg on the very next play. Three plays later Stinnett made a 4-yard streak into the end zone and Roberson’s point after made the score 15-0.

A second personal foul proved costly in Brandywine’s next possession, forcing Hadley to punt to the Eddies. Bywaters ran the first play for 32 yards. Drew Baker added nine.

Bywaters soared for 4, 29 and after a nine yard burst by Baker, Majors scampered into the end zone on a 5-yard keeper. With the point after from Roberson Edwardsburg went into the locker room with a 22-0 lead at halftime.

Beginning the second half, it took only 13 seconds for Adam Kendall to barrel a 95-yard kickoff into the end zone. Roberson again connected for the point and Edwardsburg was knocking on the door of a rout, leading 29-0.

McCombs streaked across field for a 31-yard Brandywine kick return, but Dustin Sater fumbled on the first play of the possession. The rain had started falling before halftime, and was an omen of tears to the home team.

Seven plays later Kendall’s 2-yard plunge made it 35-0 and the clock started running non-stop after Roberson’s fourth consecutive P.A.T. After Brandywine fumbled again on their first play of the next possession, it took only five plays for Edwardsburg to put the game away on a 3-yard burst by Bywaters and a 43-0 lead.

Fortunately, for Brandywine, the fourth quarter remained scoreless.

Edwardsburg Coach Kevin Bartz was elated with his squad’s second victory in a row.

“We were really effective running the ball tonight. Devin Bywaters runs the ball at fullback real well; not only does he pick up the open holes, but he drags people along and makes them miss, as well. Adam Kendall… he came out the second half and put the spark in with the kickoff return. So we were very pleased with what we did offensively,” he stated.

Bobcat mentor Mike Nate was focused after the loss. “I think our offensive plan was good. We did move the ball from time to time. You’re not going to win any game at any level with seven turnovers. Every time I looked up we had a nice play going and the ball popped out. It hurts because we’ve been putting in a lot of time in trying to get better,” he concluded.

Edwardsburg 15 7 21 0 – 43
Brandywine 0 0 0 0 – 0
E – Adam Kendall 7 run (Austin Stinnett conversion)
E – Austin Stinnett 4 run (Jeff Roberson kick)
E – Frank Majors 5 run (Roberson kick)
E – Kendall 95 kickoff return (Roberson kick)
E – Kendall 2 run (Roberson kick)
E – Devin Bywaters 3 run (Roberson kick)