EIGHT-MAN FOOTBALL: EDISON BATTLES TO THE END, BUT COMES UP SHORT IN OPENER (24 PHOTOS) (2021-09-08)

BY Brian Fees
Southern Tier Sports Report
NEWFIELD — Edison quarterback Michael Brown stood under center.

The Spartans were facing a first and goal at the Newfield five-yard-line, with a chance to get within a score heading into halftime. The snap went high and Brown had no choice but to dive on the ball to keep possession.

The scoring threat ended, and in the end it was indicative of how things went for Edison in a 25-6 loss to Newfield in an eight-man football opening game on a Wednesday afternoon.

The Spartans were so close at times to breaking through for the win, but first-game jitters and untimely mistakes cost the in the end.

“A lot of mental mistakes,” coach Kyle Erickson said. “Little errors in the first half. I was still pretty positive at halftime. I thought it should have been like a 7-7 game at the half, we were right in it. But then the mistakes kind of compounded in the second half. But, we fought, we showed a lot of positive. It was nice to go into the fourth quarter of a football game and still have a chance to win, we weren’t in that position in the spring.”

For the Spartans the second half included a scoring drive, another drive to the four-yard line and 156 of the 199 yards on the ground, including 88 yards by Noah Bennett, as they really started to dominant with their run game in the half. However, the mistakes early proved costly.

“Honestly, just playing together against someone else, we didn’t get a lot of plays in the scrimmage,” Erickson said of the difference in the second half. “We had a short, quick scrimmage, so I think as we got reps we got better with stuff. We kind of found the right combination of what we are looking to do offensively.

“The kids worked hard, we just found the inopportune time to make plays to kill drives, the plays that mattered. The third and two’s, the big plays that mattered, that seems to be when we made the mistake and shot ourselves in the foot.”

At the start it looked like it could be a long night for Edison.

On Newfield’s first drive Jalen Harrison went five yards on the first carry, and on the second carry took off for a 40-yard touchdown run.

Just like that 2:49 into the game Newfield had a quick lead. Edison’s special teams made a play, blocking the extra point, and the Spartans showed they weren’t going to back down after giving up the early score.

Edison’s next drive saw them get into Newfield territory, but the drive stalled and Newfield took over.

Newfield went back to Harrison, who took off for 36 yards to the 25-yard-line, but a holding call wiped out the run and Edison’s defense shut down the drive.

Again Edison got to midfield, but were forced to punt, and penalties again hurt Newfield as the Trojans returned the punt for a score, only to have it wiped out by a hold.

Newfield was faced with a fourth down on their next drive and the snap went high to punter Maxwell Olmstead. Olmstead gathered the ball and rushed for 42 yards to bring it to the Edison 30.

However, the Edison defense again stepped up, forcing Newfield backward on the drive.

After Newfield forced a four-and-out, with Edison not picking up the first down on a fake punt, the Trojans took over at the Edison 38.

A pass interference call on Edison helped get the Trojans to the 23 and after a three-yard run, quarterback Austin Jenney took off for a 20-yard scamper to make it 13-0 after the Olmstead extra point, with 6:00 left in the game.

The next drive was Edison’s chance to answer the score when they got to the five-yard line.

After Edison’s chance slipped away, it looked like Newfield might get a score of their own. A 23-yard pass by Jenney to Olmstead got the Trojans started and a 17-yard run by Harrison along with an eight-yard run and a pass from Jenney to Honour Miner got Newfield to the 14-yard line. However, Edison’s defense forced three-straight incompletions to end the threat and it was 13-0 at the half.

Newfield started the second half just as they started the game, scoring on their first drive. Four runs by Harrison, along with a pair of passes by Jenney, the second a 13-yard strike to Miner for the touchdown gave Newfield the 19-0 lead with 7:45 left in the third after the extra point failed. The score came on a fourth-and-eight play for the Trojans.

For Edison coach, it was good defense, and good effort all night, but they just couldn’t make the play and get off the field to end drives. On a day that included a lot of rain before the game, the field conditions were slick and led to some slips at the wrong times.

“When the play mattered was when we found the mistake,” Erickson said. “Slipped, the field conditions were a little sloppy. We knew they were going to throw the ball, I didn’t realize they were going to throw that much. But, I thought we played a good game defensively, we just couldn’t get the defense off the field.”

Again it appeared the Edison offense would answer Newfield, as they marched the ball down to the Trojans four-yard-line, A 15-yard run by Noah Bennett, and a 13-yard run by Bennett, flanked by 14 more yards on the ground and a pair of penalties on Newfield had the ball at the 15-yard-line.

Edison got an eight-yard run by Bennett to get to the seven and a penalty on Newfield had them inside the four. But, a pass floated up to Miner and he picked it off for Newfield to end the threat.

Newfield marched back down the field and got to the 25, but Edison’s defense again stood strong and stopped the Trojans and again Edison went to work.

A 17-yard run by George Smith followed by three more runs had the ball at the Newfield 40. A pair of penalties pushed Edison back, but a pass from Brown to Smith had Edison at the 35. Newfield’s defense made the stop on fourth down and then they quickly went to work and found pay-dirt on a 48-yard run by Elijah Wood-Ellis with 2:55 to go. The extra point failed and Newfield led 25-0.

Down in the final minutes it would be easy for the Spartans to give up, but they kept fighting.

Bennett had a 16-yard run and Cody Lucero had a three-yard run, followed by a 12-yard run by Kyle Warborn. A seven-yard run by Dillon Benjamin set up a 25-yard touchdown run by Bennett with 14 seconds to go. The two-point try failed to give the final score of 25-6.

“That’s something we have worked on in the past,” Erickson said. “In the past we had teams that first touchdown scored they bailed. And, this particular group of kids, we did it in the spring, even though we were a super young team, we got beat up by people, but we never gave up and today showed the kids have will and heart. We didn’t give up, we kept fighting until the end. It was nice to put one in the end zone. It helps the kids moral and now we have a week and a half to work before Notre Dame.”

Bennett led the Spartans with 91 yards on just eight carries, while Warborn had 66 yards. Smith had 17 yards on the ground and two grabs of 15-yards.

Harrison led Newfield with 119 yards on 16 carries and Jenney was 7-for-13 passing for 118 yards and a score. Olmstead had two carries for 62 yards and he had three grabs of 74 yards as he totaled 136 yards offensively. Miner had two grabs for 23 yards and an interception and Derek Pawlewicz and Harrison each had catches. Jenney ran for 32 yards on six carries with a score in the game.