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BATTLE CREEK — Edwardsburg’s football team showed it’s playoff ready in Friday’s 29-8 Division 4 win at Battle Creek Harper Creek.

Dan Purlee’s Eddies, now 7-3, used its Wing-T offense to control the ball and clock while the defense came up with two big turnovers against the No. 10 Beavers (8-2).

Edwardsburg advances to next weekend’s district championship game at Niles (9-1) which defeated Paw Paw 42-14 in the other pre-district game. 

The Eddies’ 337 yards in total offense all came on the ground. 

Senior fullback Grady Ostrander paced Edwardsburg’s rushing attack with 11 carries for 177 yards. 

“Grady ran very hard tonight and he’s a big-play guy for us,” Purlee said.

Purlee gave high praise afterwards to his starting offensive line of center Max Morris, guards Luke Harmon and Walker Karafa, tackles Luke Bidwell and Elek Widman, along with Oscar Morris, Matt Anders and Nick Walker at tight end. 

“Our offense has been close all season to putting together a complete game. I thought tonight that we did a good job staying ahead of the chains. We made some big plays and moved the football consistently,” Purlee said. 

After a scoreless first quarter, Edwardsburg capped off a 91-yard, 15-play drive with a one-yard scoring plunge by senior halfback Carson Cebra with 10:46 left in the half for an 8-0 lead after Grant Griffith’s two-point conversion run.  

Harper Creek drove all the way down to the Edwardsburg 34 on its next series before turning it over to the Eddies on Brody Schimpa’s fumble recovery. 

Edwardsburg went three and out on its next series, but Schimpa intercepted a Jesus Macedo pass on Harper Creek’s final possession of the first half.

Griffith’s one-yard scoring run and Carter Houseworth’s PAT put Edwardsburg up 15-0 with 7:35 left in the third quarter. 

Harper Creek’s offense took the ball and drove all the way down to Edwardsburg’s 29 but the Eddies’ defense stood tall once again. Macedo completed a pass to Chase Nichols, but Griffith stopped the Beavers’ receiver short of the first down marker on fourth and 14 at the visitors’ 29. 

The Eddies drove 70 yards in six plays with Oscar Morris capping the drive with a one-yard TD dash. Houseworth’s PAT put Edwardsburg in front 22-0 with 11:58 left in the fourth period.

Harper Creek got on the scoreboard with Macedo sprinting 23 yards for at TD and he also added a conversion run to make it 22-8 with 9:08 left. 

Edwardsburg scored again just six plays later on Ostrander’s 40-yard TD scamper. Houseworth added the PAT for a 29-8 Eddies’ advantage with 6:25 left. 

The Beavers would get to the Eddies’ 14 on its next series before turning the ball over again on a fumble recovered by Nick Walker. 

Morris, a senior linebacker, paced Edwardsburg’s hard-hitting defense with nine tackles. Griffith supplied six tackles, Cebra had five stops and Cale Myers added four. Rudolph and Schimpa both had fumble recoveries. 

“I thought our defense has been solid all season and we played well again tonight on that side of the ball,” Purlee added.