The Edwardsburg football team recovered from a slow start offensively Friday and produced an abundance of big plays in its 42-8 Division 4 regional final win over Eaton Rapids.

It’s the first regional title since 2010 for the 11-1 Eddies, who advance to play fourth-ranked Grand Rapids South Christian (10-2) in a state semifinal game next Saturday at a site and time to be determined on Monday.

“From the beginning if you would have told me that we would have been in this situation and been a regional champion I would have been more surprised than anybody else,” said Edwardsburg football coach Kevin Bartz. “It’s a team that’s matured all along. We’re started to get people to step up and we’ve got the chemistry going.”

On its first two drives Edwardsburg totaled only six yards on six plays with a punt and a lost fumble giving the ball back to the Greyhounds.

Then came the Eddies’ explosive plays, most which came from the legs of electrifying running back Isaiah Miller. Miller had touchdown runs of 55, 77 and 59. Miller finished with 235 yards on 13 carries.

“What a tremendous night Isaiah had,” Bartz said.

Other Edwardsburg highlights were a 30-yard touchdown pass from Dante Razzano to Jackson Gaideski and touchdowns runs of 48 and 80 yards from Dustin Vires. Vires rushed for 150 yards on 10 carries.

“All of our big playmakers did what they had to do tonight,” Bartz said.

The touchdown pass was the turning point in the game. It came after an Edwardsburg timeout and with :05 left in the second quarter. Gaideski rolled to his right, avoided a tackler, and found a wide open Gaideski, who scored from the two-yard line. The Eddies went into halftime with momentum and a 14-0 lead.

“It was a throwback pass that we set up,” Bartz said. “We had Jackson coming out of the backfield and had receivers coming across the field. (Gaideski) got held up initially by their outside linebacker so he had to work a little bit more inside than he normally would. Jackson took it to the outside and Dante made a perfect throw in that situation.”

Edwardsburg, which came in averaging 358 yards rushing a game, totaled 420 yards on the ground against Eaton Rapids. The Greyhounds, who finished at 8-4, had allowed only 12 points a game entering Friday’s game.

“They’re a great defensive team,” Bartz said. “They bring lots of linebackers and they’re extremely quick. We had trouble just getting off the ball and getting movement.

“We didn’t make any adjusments. We just needed to get more movement and Isaiah broke tackles and all of a sudden if you miss a tackle you’re not going to catch him. We also wore them down a little bit in the second half and we got the inside trap going with some big plays.”

Eaton Rapids was held to 269 yards with 56 of those yards coming on the Greyhounds final drive, which produced a touchdown with 1:04 remaining.

“Defensively, we’ve gotten better and better every week,” Bartz said. “Just a tremendous job by coach (Randy) Brooks preparing our team defensively. Our defensive line and linebackers have made tremendous strides lately.

 

Eaton Rapids             0          0          0          8 – 8

Edwardsburg            0          14       14       14 – 42

E – Isaiah Miller 55 run (Dante Razzano run)

E – Jackson Gaideski 30 pass from Razzano (run failed)

E – Miller 77 run (run failed)

E – Miller 59 run (Gaideski run)

E – Dustin Vires 48 run (pass failed)

E – Vires 80 run (Damion Pompey run)

ER – Blaine Milheim 9 run (Milheim run)