Coach Martin, Tigers appear locked and loaded for another big season in 2017
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EDWARDSVILLE - When a team has a quality football program, typically year in year out, the squad reloads and is always in the process of developing talent.
Edwardsville head coach Matt Martin is heavily involved in all of the Tigers’ football programs from not only varsity, but junior varsity, freshmen, junior high players and the Little Tigers group.
Martin has coached the Tigers since 2011 and the team won 10 games in 2012; 12 in 2013; nine in 2014 and 2015 and 10 last year. The team was 10-2 overall last season. Since 2012, Martin's teams have won 50 games and one of the keys is the attention Martin pays to all levels of development in the Tigers’ program. Martin is a visionary, always working to near perfection with boys squad.
Already, it seems the Tigers are poised to pick up where they left off last year. Kendall Abdur-Rahman appears to be the leading candidate for starting quarterback and Dionte Rodgers returns in the backfield as an explosive threat run or pass. Rodgers gained 1,628 yards last year in 197 carries, averaging 8.3 yards a carry and scored 28 touchdowns. He averaged 135.7 yards per game. Rodgers snared five passes for 52 yards on the season.
Recently, the Tigers won five straight games with no defeats in a 7-on-7 event at Missouri Baptist.
Martin said he thought his team performed well in the 7-on-7 games at Missouri Baptist.
“It seemed like there were some good programs there,” he said. “Seven on seven is not real football; it allows us to work on some of the skills of the game. There were a lot of positives at Missouri Baptist. I thought quarterback Kendall Abdur-Rahman played very well. He made some good decisions and threw the ball accurately. He has great potential. He only had two interceptions in five games and those were in games one and two. He seemed to get better as we went on.”
Abdur-Rahman will be a dual threat to throw or run, Martin said. Rodgers has potential to be even better as a junior, Martin said.
The Tigers have 7 on 7 games set for 7 p.m. on July 10 and July 17. Regular season practice gets underway on Aug. 5 for the Tigers. Martin views the upcoming 7 on 7 games as simply a “learning experience,” with scores not taken.
Martin said in some ways the Tigers are reloading, but he said his team has a process it follows, always looking to the future.
“When the kids buy into that process and step up and do a great job good things happen,” he said.
Edwardsville finished the regular season 8-1 last year and opens the season at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 26, at home against Naperville North. The Tigers defeated Oak Park-River Forest 23-20 in the first round of the IHSA Class 8A playoffs last year, then defeated Oswego 31-14 and fell to Glenbard West 38-20 in the state quarterfinals.
At 7 p.m. on Sept. 1, the Tigers host Christian Brothers of St. Louis.
On Sept. 8, the Tigers open the Southwestern Conference season at 7 p.m. at East St. Louis.
The remaining schedule for Edwardsville’s football team is as follows:
7 p.m. Sept. 15 - Granite City at Edwardsville High School.
7 p.m. Sept. 22 - Edwardsville at Alton High School.
7 p.m. Sept. 29 - O’Fallon at Edwardsville High School.
7 p.m. Oct. 6 - Belleville East at Edwardsville High School.
7 p.m. Oct. 13 - Edwardsville at Belleville West High School.
7 p.m. Oct. 20 - Collinsville at Edwardsville High School.
The playoffs will commence the weekend of Oct. 28 and Oct. 29.
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