Edwardsburg defense continues to stymie its opponents

Published 9:41 am Saturday, September 18, 2021

By Ryan Haines

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EDWARDSBURG — The Edwardsburg Eddies continued their winning ways, defeating Wolverine Conference foe Vicksburg Bulldogs 49-0 at a packed Leo Hoffman Field on Friday night.

Edwardsburg’s offense hit the ground running in the first quarter, scoring four touchdowns on runs of 68, 2, 3, and 5 yards from Brett Allen, Logan McColley, Isaiyah Swartz and Connor Ostrander, respectively. Altogether, the Eddies gained 216 yards on the ground in the opening quarter.

And it didn’t stop there.

Senior quarterback Jacob Pegura put his name on the score sheet on a 10-yard rush in the second quarter and two explosive runs from Swartz and Andrew Colvin put the final nails on the coffin in the fourth quarter.

So far through four games this season, the Eddies are averaging a shade over 50 points per game and have outscored their opponents 203-7.

Defensively, that’s 1.75 points allowed per game.

Vicksburg’s (3-1, 2-1 Wolverine Conference) offense was firing on all cylinders, scoring over 35 points per game before they ran into the Eddies’ defense.

“When you look at us defensively, you got 11 kids that can fly around,” said Edwardsburg Coach Kevin Bartz. “We feel like our defense is getting better every week. Our offense gets a lot of the notoriety, and this was a football team that can pass and run, but our defense did a great job in stopping them.”

The Bulldogs senior quarterback, Evan Anderson, captained a spread offense that was supposed to have been a tough test for the Eddies. The offense only mustered 110 total yards.

“We went in with the idea that we felt that they [Vicksburg] were going to have to throw the ball to beat us,” Bartz said. “We watched a lot of game film and worked with our nickel packages. I felt our defensive backs [Allen, McColley, Swartz and Patrick Szlanfucht] did a great job cutting out passing routes. Our edge rushers, Jacob Edwards and Landon Mikel, did a great job on pressure as well.”

Vicksburg’s Anderson was sacked four times, and backup quarterback Caden Bowling was intercepted by Colvin in the fourth quarter.

Jacob Walker and Swartz led the Eddies with four tackles. McColley, Ostrander and A.J. Obren had three tackles.

Edwardsburg (4-0, 3-0 Wolverine Conference) senior kicker Trevor Houseworth added to Vicksburg’s offensive woes, continuously pinning the Bulldog offense back on kickoffs. The Bulldogs’ average field position started on their own 23-yard line and only made into Edwardsburg territory twice the entire game.

Edwardsburg will travel to Plainwell (4-0) next Friday night, which was a 33-14 winner over Gull Lake.

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