BY BRIAN FEESSouthern Tier Sports Report
ELMIRA HEIGHTS —For the first time in more than two decades the Edison football team are division champions after they beat Lansing 34-21 on Homecoming on Saturday to stay unbeaten.
Edison entered the game ranked third in the state rankings, while Lansing is ninth in the state.
Jace Schiller started the scoring for Edison with a four-yard touchdown run at 5:03 of the opening quarter. Schiller ran for four touchdowns in the game and had 285 yards on the ground on 36 carries.
Schiller made it 12-0 at 8:03 on a five-yard run.
“It’s huge, we haven’t done something like this, it’s the biggest game we’ve had here in 21 years,” Schiller said. “They have been preaching it all week, ever since we started winning. It’s huge coming out here doing this with this team, it’s awesome.
“Keep building every year, that’s what we are doing. We have a lot more we want to do this year, we aren’t done.”
Zayden Davis caught a 31-yard touchdown from Logan Mayo at 5:37 of the second quarter. Hared Hall hit the extra point to make it 12-7 at the break.
As momentum looked like it was leading toward Lansing in the third quarter, the Spartans got a big stop defensively and then Paxton Hoover broke off a 66-yard touchdown run at 6:55. Bentley Stroman caught the two-point pass from Schiller.
“We have to put it on our defense,” Schiller said. “Our defense came out here, I don’t have words for our defense. Our offense was struggling, not struggling, but was slow in the first half and the defense carried us in the first half.”
The Hoover run was a big play for the Spartans offense.
“Going into the play we saw a good play opportunity on that play,” Schiller said. “Big turning moment in this entire game.
“We just kept running and running and running and we hoped it would wear them down and I thin kit did wear them down.”
Schiller had a six-yard run at 10:17 of the fourth quarter to make the game 26-7.
Lansing got within 26-13 with 4:45 left in the game on a one-yard run by Jacob Bowen, but Schiller answered just 15 seconds left on a 57-yard run. Connor Lasko caught the two-point try from Schiller.
Mayo had a nine-yard scoring run and caught the two-point pass from Davis with 45 seconds left to cap the scoring.
Hoover ran for 94 yard son seven carries. Schiller threw for seven yards, with the pass going to Hoover.
Mayo threw for 99 yards and ran for 81 and Logan Andress ran for 44 yards, while Jacob Bowen ran for 31 yards. Davis had two grabs for 31 yards and Andress had two catches for 36 yards.
While the division title is special, the Spartans have more goals this year, like sectional and state titles.
“The division title is awesome, but we know we are not done,” Schiller said. “We know we are going to see this team again and they are not going to come out soft. We know they are going to want it. We have to come out and keep working hard every day.
“The opportunity is right in front of us, we just have to keep working hard every single day. We can’t let this be our settling moment. The division is something we haven’t done in 21 years, but we can’t settle on that. We know what we want and we are going to keep coming.”
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PHOTOS BY BRIAN FEES
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