Homecoming festivities at halftime Friday were almost as long as the second half of Friday’s Lakeland Conference football game between Edwardsburg and Brandywine.

A mercy-rule, running clock was in affect during the second half as the Eddies rolled to a 48-0 halftime lead before eventually prevailing, 62-8.

Edwardsburg scored touchdowns on six of its seven possessions with the clocking running out on the seventh drive. The hosts also scored on a blocked punt. It took only 19 offensive plays to pile up those points.

The Eddies, which improved to 6-0 overall and 4-0 in the conference, can now look forward to its conference championship game Friday at home against Berrien Springs.

“It’s nice to have a homecoming where we can get all the kids involved going into the Berrien Springs game,” said Edwardsburg coach Kevin Bartz. “You never overlook any opponent. We’ve got a very senior dominated team and (Brandywine) has a young group. We had a tough week of practice. We didn’t let up at all.”

Great defense in the first half, including a interception from Lee Williamson, helped Edwardsburg get great field position on offense and the Eddies took advantage of the short field. The Eddies started their first three touchdown drives at Brandywine’s 28, 26 and 37-yard line. Williamson scored on a 23-yard run, Adam Kendall had a 9-yard touchdown run and Ethan Zimmerman hooked up with Jesse Mays on a 37-yard scoring pass.

Edwardsburg took a 27-0 lead with 3:35 left in the first quarter after David Kiefer took a short pass from Zimmerman and turned it into a 56-yard touchdown.

“(Brandywine) had 11 players within five yards of the line of scrimmage so we tried to back them off which we’ll try to do against anybody,” Bartz said about his team’s passing out of the wing-T. “We can throw the ball. Ethan has a very good arm and we have good receivers.

Edwardsburg’s final two touchdowns of the first half came on a 38-yard scamper from Tyler Williamson and from Dominic Razzano, who recovered Williamson’s blocked punt in the end zone.

The Eddies totaled 283 yards over the first half 24 minutes and held the Bobcats to 32 yards, including a -18 rushing.

“I was impressed with our general execution,” Bartz said. “We moved a lot of running backs in and out of the game. We got Adam Kendall one or two carries and got him a touchdown on homecoming. But he’s still not where we want him yet (ankle injury). He should be good to go by next Friday.”

Eight different players ran the ball for the Eddies with Matt North and Kiefer each totaling 65 yards on the ground. On the first play of the second half, North had a 58-yard touchdown run. Kiefer added a 26-yard touchdown run in the second half.

It’s the fourth straight loss by Brandywine against Edwardsburg. The Bobcats have been outscored, 196-41.

“(Edwardsburg) is a good, senior dominated, final four team,” said Brandywine coach Mike Nate, whose team fell to 4-3 overall and 1-3 in the league. “We’re young. It was a mismatch. Edwardsburg had a lot of class. They could have beat us worse.”

Brandywine got a 1-yard scoring plunge from Michael Shelton with 10:19 left in the game. Andrew Duckett tossed a 2-point conversion pass to Austin Bertschy. Duckett completed 11-of-24 passes for 164 yards.

“My kids didn’t quit,” Nate said. “They played hard until the end. Our second half was better against their second and third-string. We worked on our passing game and it looked pretty good I thought.”

Brandywine 0 0 0 8 – 8

Edwardsburg 34 14 7 7 – 62

E – Lee Williamson 23 run (Austin Teter kick)

E – Adam Kendall 9 run (kick failed)

E – Jesse Mays 37 pass from Ethan Zimmerman (Teter kick)

E – David Kiefer 56 pass from Zimmerman (Teter kick)

E – Caleb Neff 22 run (Teter kick)

E – Tyler Williamson 38 run (Teter kick)

E – Dominic Razzano blocked punt end zone (Teter kick)

E – Matt North 58 run (Teter kick)

B – Michael Shelton 1 run (Andrew Duckett pass to Austin Bertschy)

E – Kiefer 26 run (Teter kick)