High-powered Granite City offense rallies behind sophomore QB

Knocked silly on a crushing hit by a Carbondale defender early in the first quarter, Granite City’s Freddy Edwards returned to lead another impressive offensive performance.

The sophomore quarterback rushed for 190 yards and passed for three touchdowns as he and the Warriors rolled to a 55-30 non-conference win. Granite City improved to 2-0 on the season. Carbondale fell to 1-1.

Just last week, Edwards accounted for 366 yards of total offense in a dominating win over Jerseyville.

“Freddy was outstanding again tonight. But it wasn’t just him,” Warriors coach Carl Luehmann said. “I thought our defense did an outstanding job and our offensive line I thought also played much better this week. Our assistant coaches Freddy (Layne) and Brad Hasquin deserve also deserve some of the credit for how we’ve played up to this point.

“It’s great to be 2-0, but now its time for the (Southwestern) conference. That’s a whole different ballgame.”

Edwards tallied on a 65-yard run on the Warriors second possession then hooked up with fellow sophomore Reide Wilson on a 33-yard scoring play late in the first quarter to give Granite City a 13-6 lead. It was only the beginning for the Warriors who scored 35 points in the final 12 minutes 22 seconds of the first half to take a 48-12 lead.

“Coach (Carl Luehmann) said in the pregame that we needed to come out and jump on them quick tonight,” Edwards said. “We were able to get the running game going, the defense played very well and the special teams got us a touchdown and a couple of recoveries on onside kicks.

“I’m so proud of (running back) Jerry (Watson). He has a lot of ability and tonight he showed it. We make a pretty good team in the backfield.”

Edwards then threw his third scoring pass of the night — this one of 19 yards to Juyuan Watson — early in the third quarter as the Warriors lead reached 55-12. Edwards sat out the final 19 minutes of the game.

He added scoring runs of 52 and has had a hand in 12 touchdowns — seven rushing and five touchdown passes in the first two weeks of the season.

Watson scored on a 1-yard run to close out the first quarter as the Warriors lead grew to 19-6. The 6-1 185-pound junior would add an 85-yard punt return for a touchdown later in the opening half. Edwards also connected with Austin Bonvicino on a 19-yard scoring play with 1 minute 18 seconds left in the second quarter to close out the Warriors first half assault.

This story was originally published September 1, 2017 at 11:32 PM with the headline "High-powered Granite City offense rallies behind sophomore QB."