Senior tight end Mason Tinch isn’t usually a receiving threat for the Edwardsburg football team.

But Tinch got a chance to show off his hands in last Friday’s Division IV district final game against Vicksburg. A game won by the Eddies, 34-6.

Tinch caught a 22-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Dante Razzano. It was his first career touchdown reception and only his fourth catch this year.

“I saw my blocker Damion Pompey on the outside,” said Tinch, who caught the ball at the eight-yard line and ran it in from there. “I wasn’t going to go inside so I just popped it out and let him block for me.”

Tinch made a play against Vicksburg that he couldn’t execute in practices leading up to the game.

“He had a rough week in practice,” said Edwardsburg football coach Kevin Bartz. “He couldn’t catch anything. But I give (assistant) coach (A.J.) Gaideski credit for putting (Tinch) in that (scoring) situation.”

Tinch agreed with his coach about the pass-catching struggles at practices.

So what was the difference for Tinch against Vicksburg?

“I just blocked out the pressure and made the catch,” he said.

Playing tight end and being at Edwardsburg High School is a new experience this year for Tinch, who played football the last two years at Watertown High School in South Dakota. He just started at defensive tackle at Watertown.

“Going out for passes has been my biggest adjustment as a tight end,” Tinch said. “In our offense a tight end is a glorified tackle.”

In the preseason, Bartz thought Tinch had the potential to be a contributor at tight end blocking for the wing-T, along with being a defensive lineman.

“We saw his size (6-3, 230) and saw that he had good foot speed,” Bartz said. “We knew he was a pretty decent defensive player. When we look at tight ends we look for a big body. Originally, we had him at offensive tackle then we needed someone out on the edge because teams start loading up on that “C” gap. We needed someone to move bodies out of the way. He’s been very valuable for us at the tight end position.”

It took time for Tinch to get used to the techniques needed to block for the wing-T.

“We had to get him to the point where he was coming off the ball aggressively and doing some down blocking,” Bartz said. “At first, he was just blocking for the guy in front of him and we told him that needed to follow the rules and that he didn’t need to overthink things. Once he got the rules down and became more aggressive we became a more effective running team.”

Behind the play of Tinch and the other offensive lineman, Edwardsburg has averaged 358 yards rushing and 44 points a game.

“It’s taken me awhile to adjust to being a tight end but now I’m getting it down,” Tinch said.

Defensively, Tinch has been a solid performer stopping the run and providing a pass rush for an Edwardsburg team, which has allowed only 256 points this season. Tinch has totaled 25 tackles, two tackles for loss and one quarterback sack.

“He’s done a nice job,” Bartz said.

Adjusting to a new school and state hasn’t been difficult for Tinch.

“It’s not been too bad,” Tinch said. “The guys have accepted me since my first day here. It’s been a great experience. We just have a really good team environment. We’re all friends and we all hang out. Hopefully, we’ll keep winning.”