Tigers bounce back in style with 30-7 romp over Belleville West for homecoming win
EDWARDSVILLE – Edwardsville's football team bounced back from their loss to East St. Louis last week rather nicely.
The Tigers got a two-touchdown performance from Dionte Rodgers in an 184-yard rushing performance as EHS defeated Belleville West 30-7 at Tiger Stadium Friday night in Edwardsville's homecoming game to go to 6-1 overall and 4-1 in the Southwestern Conference; the Maroons fell to 3-4 overall, 3-2 in the league.
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“I thought we ran the ball well, inside and out,” said Tiger coach Matt Martin. “I would have liked to have completed some passes a little bit more. Defensively, we played pretty good again; we had a letdown in the fourth quarter, but I have to give Belleville West credit.
“He's (Rodgers) has a low center of gravity, he's a tough kid; he's got great balance and has some very good speed.”
Any concerns that the Tigers would have a bit of a hangover from last week's loss were quickly dispelled during the week. “You always wonder how kids are going to respond,” Martin said, “but I said last week they responded well to game that were delayed on Friday and came back on Saturday with good focus and effort; I really thought they'd do it again.”
“They're a very nice program and they did a great job,” said West coach Cameron Pettus. “Our (offensive) line really started to put some thing together and they realized that (A.J. Epenesa) and their other guys are human and they're very, very good football players; they started coming out and firing off the line and playing physical, which is great.
“They've got some good football players and anytime you've got some good football players, you've got a chance to be pretty good. They're well-coached and they do a nice job.”
Edwardsville got on the board quickly, Dayleon Harris scoring from nine yards out with 8:35 left In the opening term to put the Tigers up 7-0; Edwardsville followed that up with a 45-yard Rodgers TD run late in the opening term to give EHS a 14-0 lead.
A Maroon turnover early in the second term led to a 40-yard Riley Patterson field goal and Brenden Dickmann added to the lead with a 4-yard TD burst just past the midway point of the second for a 23-0 Tiger lead when the convert try went wide, but it was enough to send the Tigers into the locker room ahead. Rodgers scored on a 19-yard burst to extend the lead to 30-0, but the Maroons were able to put together a touchdown drive of their own that was capped when Will Lanxon scored from 8 yards out, with Austin Firestone kicking the convert to get the Tiger lead to 30-7. It remained that way the rest of the game.
Next up for the Tigers is a trip to Alton's Public School Stadium for a 7 p.m. Oct. 14 game with the Redbirds, with Granite City visiting Tiger Stadium end the regular season at 7 p.m. Oct. 21. The IHSA will announce the teams who made the playoffs and where and who they will play Oct. 22.
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