Edwardsville takes down O’Fallon in Class 8A, advances into second round of postseason

When the Edwardsville football team played the O’Fallon Panthers in mid-September, the Tigers let a chance for a win at home slip through their fingers in a 32-31 loss.

Edwardsville got another crack at No. 11 seed O’Fallon on Saturday night and this time around, the No. 22-seeded Tigers finished the job. Wide receiver Daion Gaston and quarterback Jake Curry hooked up for four touchdown passes and the Tigers’ defense came up with a fourth down stop in the final minute, helping secure a 43-36 victory in the first round of the IHSA Class 8A playoffs.

“The last time we played we thought that we had five bad plays in the whole game and (this time) I feel like everyone was just prepared to play,” Curry said. “We didn’t have very many mistakes tonight and that’s a good sign.”

Edwardsville (7-3) now will host Wilmette (9-1) next weekend in a second-round playoff matchup.

The Tigers got the early lead on an 11-yard Curry to Joey DeMare touchdown pass for a 7-0 lead with 5:37 left in the first quarter.

O’Fallon (8-2) got on the board early in the second quarter thanks to a 1-yard touchdown run from Christopher Caldwell. The PAT was blocked, leaving the score 7-6.

Then Gaston began to catch fire for the Tigers. On the Tigers’ next drive Gaston grabbed a 19-yard touchdown reception from Curry. After the Panthers struck back on a 65-yard Colt Michael to Jalen Smith touchdown toss, Gaston ripped off an 85-yard kickoff return to the house pushing the Tigers lead to 21-14.

O’Fallon kept it close going into halftime as Kylan Green’s 3-yard touchdown run closed the gap to 21-20 after another blocked PAT kick by the Tigers.

In the third quarter, Curry hit Gaston with a 53-yard touchdown strike, and then, with 11:38 left in the fourth, Curry found Gaston for a 62-yard bomb over the top that pushed the Tigers lead to 35-20.

Edwardsville coach Matt Martin gushed about Gaston’s big four TD performance.

“Daion makes an argument for himself, doesn’t he?” Martin said. “He’s pretty special. Pretty special.”

The Panthers then came roaring back in the final 11 minutes, starting with Caldwell punching in a 1-yard touchdown run. Caldwell then caught the 2-point conversion pass from Michael making it 35-28 with 7:25 to go.

O’Fallon grabbed its first and only lead of the night with 2:18 left when Smith caught a hitch pass from Michael and raced 32 yards to paydirt. Caldwell ran in the 2-point play, putting the Panthers in front 36-35 with 2:18 left.

Edwardsville did not blink on its next drive. On the first down from their own 19, Curry went deep and connected with DeMare on an out-and-up rout and he streaked down to the Panthers’ 1-yard line to keep the clock running.

It was a clutch play that put the Tigers in business.

“I heard the play and I was like, man I’ve got to run as fast as I can and I saw green grass and I was just trying to go as fast as I could,” DeMare said.

One last chance for Panthers

De’shawn Larson capped the drive with a short touchdown run putting the Tigers back ahead 43-36 with 1:43 left.

“We knew (then) that we had to score (on that drive),” Curry said.

O’Fallon got the ball back but the Panthers’ final drive was stopped by a penalty, some field confusion between third and fourth down and then a fourth down stop by the Edwardsville defense.

Gettis praises team, Tigers ready for Round 2

Panthers coach Byron Gettis gave Edwardsville credit but was also proud of his club’s effort despite coming up short.

“It’s gonna be a battle every time we play those guys and they’ve got a good team over there. They made the least amount of mistakes and they won,” Gettis said. “That’s the name of the game. These guys laid it out on the field and we made some mistakes, but they didn’t let that bother them and it came down to a couple of plays and they made them and we didn’t.”

Meanwhile, Edwardsville is looking forward to going home for the second round of the playoffs next week.

“It feels awesome,” DeMare said. “I’m ready to stay at home in front of our fans and just play football.”

This story was originally published October 30, 2022 at 7:00 AM.