UPDATED: Edwardsburg routs Dowagiac 51-7

Published 10:33 am Saturday, September 15, 2018

By Scott Novak

DOWAGIAC — The number 22 continues to be magic number for the Dowagiac varsity football team.

The Chieftains have had Three Rivers and Edwardsburg score 22 points in a single quarter in the first half of both of their losses.

Dowagiac scored 22 points in the second quarter of last week’s win over Allegan.

At Chris Taylor-Alumni Field Friday night, the Chieftains gave up 22 unanswered points to open the game as undefeated Edwardsburg rolled to a 51-7 Wolverine Conference win over Dowagiac.

The Eddies are the defending Wolverine Conference champions, who reached the Division 4 state championship game at Ford Field last November.

Edwardsburg (4-0) looks primed to make another long playoff run in 2018 as it has outscored its opponents 220-7.

The Eddies are known for running the football as they run the Wing-T formation to near-perfection week in and week out.

Dowagiac was prepared for the onslaught of running backs, but when the Eddies went to the air, the Chieftains were caught off guard.

“We geared up obviously to stop the run because that is what they do,” said Dowagiac coach Mike Stanger. “Give them credit. They threw the ball well tonight. I do not think our run defense played poorly because we put them in third-and-six or third-and-and seven, which is what we wanted to do. But then they used the play-action pass to beat us. That was a different aspect that we had not seen out of them.”

Edwardsburg quarterback Tre Harvey had a big night via the airwaves as he went 4-for-4 for 149 yards and three touchdowns.

“We have two quarterbacks who throw the ball really well, and we have three tight ends who catch the ball well, and we have four or five kids out of the backfield,” said Edwardsburg coach Kevin Bartz. “So, we have more diversity than we have had as a team right now, and our overall team speed right now is very good.”

The Eddies did not abandon the running game by any stretch of the imagination, in fact, two of their first three touchdowns were on the ground as Chase Sager scored on a two-yard run and Isaiah Mitchell scored on a one-yard run.

“You have to make some decisions defensively if you are going to try to pack the box to stop the run on us or are you going to use three people to try and cover the pass still,” Bartz said. “We create more match-up problems for teams with that diversity.”

Sandwiched in between was a 56-yard touchdown pass from Harvey to Ben Kubal.

Down 22-0, Dowagiac scored its lone touchdown on the game as D.J. Lanier caught a two-yard pass from Cailyn Murphy as the Chieftains’ cut the Edwardsburg lead to 22-7 heading into the second quarter.

The Eddies scored another 22 points in the second quarter as Caden Goggins scored on a 25-yard run, Cayden Calhoun hauled in Harvey’s 37-yard touchdown pass and Mac Gaideski caught a 31-yard touchdown pass.

There was only one touchdown in the final 24 minutes of play as Sager picked up his second touchdown on a 45-yard run in the third quarter.

As good as the Edwardsburg offense was, rolling up 457 yards in total, the Eddies’ defense was equally spectacular.

Edwardsburg held Dowagiac to just six rushing and 78 yards passing.

Murphy was 11-of-20 passing for 78 yards.

Sager led the Eddies with 74 yards rushing on seven carries, while Goggins finished with 71 yards on nine totes.

“Offensively, we fell behind early and we could put together any drives with the exception of the one we went down and scored on,” Stanger said. “That means our defense was on the field too long.”

Edwardsburg returns home to host South Haven Friday night, while Dowagiac head north to take on Plainwell. Both games are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.

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