EIGHT-MAN FOOTBALL: EDISON HAS DOMINANT DAY RUNNING THE BALL, BUT FALLS TO MORAVIA (21 PHOTOS) (2021-10-10)

By Brian Fees
Southern Tier Sports Report
ELMIRA HEIGHTS — The Edison Spartans go into games with the mindset that they are going to run the ball hard.

That’s exactly what they did on Saturday.

The Spartans put up 261 yards on the ground, but in the end it wasn’t enough as they came up short against Moravia 42-20.

“We were successful running the football,” Edison coach Kyle Erickson said. “I thought we made a mistake in the first half, I thought it should have been like a tie game, 14-14 at the half. Second half they came out and executed a little bit better than we did, but we were still able to run the football and I’m really happy with that. That’s what we want to be is a running team and we were really good at that today.”

Injuries have left Edison down a couple key players in the backfield, but on Saturday they found a star as DeShon Cook looked more like Marshawn Lynch, running through the Moravia defense to the tune of 155 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries.

“He had an amazing game today,” Erickson said. “He’s really stepped up into the role. We are down two tailbacks already who are hurting and probably both are out for the rest of the season and DeShon has really stepped into that role and he runs the ball hard. He finds the holes and he just drops the shoulders and goes. He’s fun to watch running the football.”

After Cook ran through the Moravia defense, Noah Bennett started running past them, picking up two second-half touchdowns and gaining 60 yards on just nine carries.

“A little bit of your thunder and lightning,” Erickson said. “Big, heavy power and then a short, little, quick guy. I think we found something, it would have been nice if we had maybe found it a little bit earlier. Big thing is if we would have come out in the second half and maybe gotten a drive put together right after the half I think we could have kept it a little bit closer game, but I think we surprised Moravia and gave them a little bit better football game than they were expecting.”

Edison wanted to get off to a fast start in the second half, but they went 3-and-out and Moravia answered with a touchdown that helped put the game away.

It was a quick start in the second half for Moravia, just like they had in the first half.

After Moravia was stopped on their first possession, KylerProper intercepted a pass for Moravia on Edison’s first possession. The Blue Devils took over at their 34-yard-line and quickly got a 31 yards pass from Luke Landis to Proper. Three players later Landis ran in from 25 yards out at 6:49 and he converted a two-point pass to Proper and quickly Moravia was up 8-0.

Edison wasted no time responding as Cook to the handoff on the first play of the next drive, ran to the right side, burst through the line and took off for 50 yards. Just 13 seconds after Moravia scored Edison was on the board. The two-point try failed and it was 8-6 Moravia.

Edison’s defense went to work on the next possession as they forced a fumble to kill a drive and Evan Bush recovered for the Spartans. Moravia had gained 45 yards on the drive and were at the 13-yard-line when Edison forced the turnover.

On the next drive for Edison the Blue Devils got another interception as Riley Jones picked off the pass.

Two players into their drive Moravia was in the end zone as Lucas Neville ran in from 20 yards out. The two-point try failed and it was 14-6 Moravia.

Edison got the ball back and went on a long drive, helped by a 22-yard run by Cook and a 24 yard pass from Bennett to George Smith on a halfback option. The drive went 10 plays, but Moravia’s defense halted the drive with their third interception, this one by Travis Johnson.

Edison’s defense forced a three and out, and Cook started the Spartans next drive with a 22-yard run. That’s where the drive ended as Moravia’s defense stepped up.

Moravia took over and went 11 plays, highlighted by a 20 yard pass from Landis to Johnson and ending with a two-yard run by Proper. The two point play was run in by Landis and with just 40.7 seconds left in the half Moravia went up 22-6.

In the second half Moravia got the three-and-out to start and then they took over and got a 20-yard run by Landis and a 16-yard pass from Landis to Aiden Kelly. Proper scored to cap the drive and Landis hit Proper on the two-point try and with 4:43 left in the third quarter it was 30-6 Moravia.

After Moravia forced a turnover on downs, they got a 63-yard run by Proper with 1:34 left in the third and the two-point try failed and it was 36-6.

Edison’s run game started to dominate on the next drive.

They went 12 plays on the drive for the score. The drive almost stalled but on a fourth-and-four Cook faked the punt and completed a pass for 15 yards. Bennett had a 31-yard run that was called back on a hold. One play later Cook went 21 yards. Then Brown went nine, Cook went 20 and Bennett went 15 yards for the score. Brown hit Gush for the two-point try and at 7:11 of the fourth quarter it was 36-14.

Moravia quickly answered on their next drive as they got a 61-yard touchdown run by Anthony Lawton at 6:34 left and after the two-point try failed it was 42-14.

Edison never gives up in games and they showed it again, going 7 plays for the touchdown, capped by Bennett scoring on a 37-yard run with 2:02 left on a play where the exchange was fumbled, but Bennett picked it up and took off for the score. The kick failed and it was 42-20 for the final score.

For Edison, the turnovers and penalties still hurt them at time, though they are getting better at cleaning those up.

“We are getting famous with that, but we are getting better at that,” Erickson said. “We are cleaning some things, we will move on to next week, we’ve got Homecoming, we’ve got Groton here. Hopefully we will be successful running the football, put a few in the end zone and see where we are in the fourth quarter.

“We have been focusing on cleaning stuff up, but we tried to throw the football more than we normally do, so that kind of increased our interceptions. But, we’ve been working hard at cleaning things up and I thought we played pretty well for the most part.”
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IN TOP PHOTO: Edison's DeShon Cook. . . PHOTOS BY STEVE EDGERLY
OF WWW.EDGEOFPHOTOGRAPHY.SMUGMUG.COM



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