Edwardsburg remains undefeated with win over Chieftains
Published 8:38 pm Sunday, September 25, 2016
Leader photo/SCOTT NOVAK
Leader photo/SCOTT NOVAK
Leader photo/SCOTT NOVAK
Leader photo/SCOTT NOVAK
Leader photo/SCOTT NOVAK
Leader photo/SCOTT NOVAK
Leader photo/SCOTT NOVAK
Edwardsburg football coach Kevin Bartz brought out the broom after the visiting Eddies completed a sweep of Dowagiac with a 40-13 Wolverine Conference win Friday night.
The Eddies defeated the Chieftains in all five meetings this fall — seventh- and eighth-grade, freshmen, JV and varsity.
Edwardsburg (5-0) has now won three straight games against Dowagiac (2-3) and has outscored the Chieftains 108-51 in the process.
A pair of first-quarter touchdowns Friday night helped the Eddies get out front early.
Austin Cline scored on an 11-yard run and Kyle Shrider on a 4-yard run to make it 16-0 following 2-point conversion runs by Cameron Ekanayake and Cline.
Dowagiac cut the lead to 16-6 on a 5-yard run by Caleb Murphy.
The Eddies responded quickly as Cline scored again, this time from a yard out to make it 24-6 at halftime following the Ekanayake conversion run.
Edwardsburg struggled offensively against Paw Paw the previous week. The Eddies went to work in practice and it paid off Friday night.
“Offensively I thought we did a great job on the offensive line, which is where we had our problem last week,” Bartz said. “We made those adjustments and did a great job of blowing them off the ball.”
Dowagiac coach Mike Stanger agreed that the offensive line of Edwardsburg dominated his squad.
“When they control the line of scrimmage on offense it is tough to stop them,” he said.
Dowagiac was able to move the ball against the Eddies, finishing with 281 yards of total offense, 191 of which came through the air.
But the Chieftains could not finish drives thanks to the stingy Edwardsburg defense, which included an interception late in the first half, a play that could have changed the momentum of the game.
“We got that pick near the end of the second quarter which turned it around,” Bartz said. “If they get in there and have the ball coming out (to start the second half) we have a different game there. Defensively we stepped it up and made the plays when we had two.”
Dowagiac’s inability to run the football forced the Chieftains to go to a spread offense, which worked well at times.
It is an offense that the Chieftains may use more as the year goes on, although several injuries to its receivers may hinder the ability for them to do that.
“If our guys are healthy we will,” he said. “We just lost two of our main guys in that offense. Marcus Winchester-Jones went out with a wrist injury and Ellijah Williams is now at the hospital with a finger or wrist injury. So we may be limited with that a little bit.”
Dowagiac looks to get back on track against visiting Plainwell Friday night.
EDWARDSBURG 40, DOWAGIAC 13
At Dowagiac
Edwardsburg 16 8 8 8 – 40
Dowagiac 0 6 0 7 – 13
E — Austin Cline 11 run (Cameron Ekanayake run)
E — Kyle Shrider 4 run (Cline run)
D — Caleb Murphy 5 run (run failed)
E — Cline 1 run (Joey Hess run)
E — Cline 1 run (Ekanayake run)
D — Brenden Dudley 1 run (Hector Vazquez kick)
E — Cline 20 run (Hess run)
Varsity records: Edwardsburg 5-0, Dowagiac 2-3.
