The Edwardsburg football team made a statement in its Lakeland Conference opener against the visiting Cassopolis Rangers Friday night with a dominating 47-20 win.

The Eddies’ tricky wing-t offense again worked to perfection as they piled up 294 yards and scored five touchdowns on the ground.

The Edwardsburg offense even had the officials fooled for a moment when a play was whistled dead prematurely. An Eddie decoy was tackled at the line of scrimmage prompting an early whistle while the actual ball carrier was still running 10 yards downfield.

Senior Adam Kendall led the rushing attack for the Eddies running for 114 yards on 15 carries with two touchdowns. Fellow senior running back Lee Williamson also added 103 yards on 12 rushing attempts with a pair of touchdowns of his own.

Not to be outdone, The Edwardsburg defense really showed what it was made of by figuring out a way to slow down Cassopolis’ premiere running back Evan Brown and the rest of the Ranger offense.

However, the Rangers did score first, capitalizing on an Edwardsburg turnover when Brown scored on a 13 yard td run making the score 6-0 early in the first quarter.

After that, the Eddies picked up their play, put it in top gear, and ran away with the game rolling off 40 unanswered points over the next two-and-a-half quarters of play.

Kendall started the scoring frenzy with 3-yard rumble into the end zone. Senior Hunter Woods continued it with a 2-yard touchdown run.

Shortly thereafter, Williamson plunged into the end zone from seven yards out for the first of his two scores. Kendall added another touchdown to his evening on a 10-yard run and Williamson capped off the Eddies’ rushing scores with a brilliant 25 yard scamper.

Senior kicker Austin Teter rounded out the 40 unanswered points showing off his range by nailing a 37-yard field goal straight through the uprights.

Edwardsburg finished off its scoring for the evening when on a fourth and 11 play senior quarterback Ethan Zimmerman connected with senior tailback Jesse Mays on a beautiful 39 yard pass for its final touchdown.

Cassopolis’ Brown added two more touchdown runs of nine and 59 yards but both came too late to have any real effect on the outcome of the game. He finished with 135 yards on 13 carries.

“I was very pleased with both the offensive and defensive lines tonight,” said Eddies coach Kevin Bartz. “We really controlled both sides of the ball upfront.”

When asked how his team will bounce back next week, Cass coach Bernard Thomas had a positive outlook.

“Well, it’s kind of an out of the skillet and into the fire type situation we have here, facing Edwardsburg this week and getting Berrien Springs next week, but I told our young men that you have to have faith and you have to believe in yourself, and I think they do. You never know what can happen,” he said.

Edwardsburg will return to action Friday night as it travels to Buchanan to do battle with the Bucks, while Cassopolis will face Berrien Springs on the road. Both games will start at 7 p.m.

Edwardsburg 15 22 10 0 — 47

Cassopolis 6 0 6 8 — 20

C – Evan Brown 13 run (kick failed)

E – Adam Kendall 3 run (2-point conversion good)

E – Hunter Woods 2 run (Austin Teter kick)

E – Lee Williamson 7 run (Teter kick)

E – Kendall 10 run (2-point conversion good)

E – Williamson 25 run (teter kick)

E – Teter 37yard field goal

C – Brown 9 run (2-point conversion failed)

E – Ethan Zimmerman 39 yard pass to Jesse Mayes (Teter kick)

C – Brown 59 run (2-point conversion good)