Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009

Tigers plow into playoffs, beat West 34-31

Double-overtime win over West gives Edwardsville six victories

EDWARDSVILLE -- For the record, the play is called "power right open 43 reverse."

For the playoffs, Max Andresen ran the counter play to the left for a 7-yard touchdown in the second overtime, lifting the Edwardsville Tigers to a 34-31 victory over Belleville West on Friday night.

Knowing they needed a victory because their five wins didn't come with enough playoff points to earn an at-large bid, the Tigers put together their most complete game of the season and put an end to a two-year playoff drought for a tradition-rich program that may very well have saved their coach his job.

"Without question it's a big relief for the program to get back in the playoffs," said Mark Bliss, who picked up his first victory over a team with a winning record in his two-year tenure. "As head coach everywhere I've been in the first or second year I've been in the playoffs. If hadn't won tonight, I was going to take the blame, that's just reality."

Edwardsville improved to 6-3 overall and finished Southwestern Conference play with a 4-3 mark. The Tigers will learn who their first-round opponent will be tonight when the Illinois High School Association announces the playoff pairings. Belleville West (5-4, 3-4) would have guaranteed itself a playoff berth with a victory, but with 34 points coming in has a good chance to earn a bid.

If the Maroons do get in, it will be the first time since 2001 that Belleville West, Belleville East and Althoff all earned berths in the same season.

Throw O'Fallon into the mix, and the four programs have never earned a playoff berth in the same season. Edwardsville junior running back Rodney Coe rushed for 196 yards on 27 carries and scored three touchdowns, including a 2-yard plunge in the first overtime period. Coe, 6-foot-3 and 240 pounds of downhill-running fury, accounted for 60 percent of the Edwardsville offense, which amassed 329 yards rushing on 68 carries. Andresen, a 5-foot-5 junior, ran for 75 yards on 14 carries.

Edwardsville outgained Belleville West 332-325 in total yards, as both teams seemed allergic to pass plays. The Tigers were 1-for-4 for 3 yards, the Maroons 0-for-3.

Travis Ruppert rushed for 126 yards on 10 carries for the Maroons, and teammate Sedrick Spillers ran for 103, also on 10 carries. West's leading rusher, quarterback Jodeci Mack, was limited to 62 yards on 12 attempts. The Maroons averaged 7.6 yards on their 43 rushing plays.

The Maroons were playing without their coach, Ric Johns, whose mother died Wednesday. Interim coach Cameron Pettus, the defensive coordinator, was at a loss for words following the difficult game.

"I don't know what to say," he said several times. "They made more plays than we did. It hurts; that's all I've got to say. ... We were ready to play. You've just got to give them credit."

Bliss called the game like a man fighting for his job, rolling the dice several times in what he said was an attempt to prove to his players how much he believed in them. No call was more crucial - or would have been second-guessed more had Edwardsville lost - than a fourth-and-2 at midfield with six minutes left to play while holding a 21-14 lead.

Quarterback Chase Westra kept the ball on a dive play and was stuffed. Three plays and 57 yards later, Ruppert was end the end zone after a 45-yard touchdown run, and a PAT kick by Kent Kobernus tied the game.

In overtime, Mack scored on a 1-yard run to match Coe's score, as the teams alternated possessions starting with a first-and-goal at the 10. West had the ball first on the second possession, where Edwardsville made its stand. On second-and-8, Jarvis Patterson took an option left, where defensive back Mason McBride delivered a tackle for a 4-yard loss. That forced West to try to throw on third-and-12, and Gabe Carpenter deflected a pass in the end zone that forced Kobernus to kick a 29-yard field goal.

Needing a touchdown to win, Edwardsville gave the ball to Coe on first down, and he went 3 yards, setting up Andresen's 7-yard counter that won the game.

West had just three possessions in the first half, and scored on all three.

Trailing 14-6 after Edwardsville's second TD drive, West took advantage of a squib kick, getting the ball with 3:32 remaining in the second quarter 56 yards from the end zone. It took just one play to cover that distance, Sedrick Spillers breaking free on a counter play to the right side and outrunning several Tigers for a touchdown. Mack kept the ball on the 2-point conversion, finding an opening around the left side to tie the game at 14-14.