Last season’s 37-0 loss to Morgan can finally be put away as Edgewood avenged that defeat with a 28-0 win on the road Friday night. The Wildcats limited Morgan to 98 yards of offense and used a career night from Mitchell Boyd to take out the No. 8 football team in AISA.
“I think it played into the focus on the field,” Edgewood coach Darryl Free said. “We try to teach not to let the emotion be a negative thing. They definitely used that on the field. Each one of our players had last year’s game in the back of their mind while we were playing.”
The Wildcats (2-0) entered the week as No. 9 in the polls but they left very little doubt on the field of who was the better team. Edgewood continued to use its running back by committee and finished with 285 yards on the ground but Boyd made the most of his touches. Boyd rolled up 212 yards and three touchdowns on just nine carries.
“It started all up front with the line,” Free said. “They did a fantastic job of executing the game plan we wanted to do. They managed the multiple fronts Morgan would throw at us. They bust a hole and Mitchell did his job and had a couple of really big plays for us.”
Boyd got off to a quick start, scoring the opening touchdown just 25 seconds into the game on a 48-yard run. He followed that up with an 83-yard run to extend Edgewood’s lead to 14-0 after just eight minutes of play.
“We said we were going to take the ball because if we score, we can put some pressure on them since they’re a double wing team,” Free said. “The first one was great but Mitchell’s second one we knew would make them press a little bit and get them out of what they like to do.”
Alex Johnson connected with Kam Burleson for a 30-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter to give the Wildcats a 21-0 lead at halftime. Johnson needed to throw only 10 passes and he completed seven of them for 95 yards and the score.
Edgewood finished with 382 yards of offense, averaging 9.8 yards per play.
The Senators (0-2) could not keep its offense on the field long enough to get on the scoreboard. Morgan, which runs an option offense, was 3-for-13 on third downs and averaged just 2.3 yards per play.
“They were running the double wing and we knew it was coming,” Free said. “We just stressed gap responsibility and it was all in the execution by our guys. They really stepped up.”
Despite Morgan holding an 11-minute edge in time of possession, Edgewood’s defense never showed fatigue. The Wildcats racked up five tackles for a loss as a team, led by Joseph Benton who recorded 8.5 total tackles including 1.5 behind the line.
“The defense played amazing,” Free said. “They bent but didn’t break. Every time (Morgan) would get a little bit of a drive going, they would step up and make a play to put them in negative situations. They were the heartbeat of the team (Friday night).”
