»See a photo gallery from the game online at Journal-News.com/sports
TRENTON — The first half of the season didn’t exactly goes as planned for the Edgewood High School football team.
The second half was a different story.
The Cougars salvaged a .500 season Friday night, capping a 4-1 finish to the season with an impressive 23-6 win over Butler County rival Ross at Kumler Field.
“We talked all year about the character and effort our kids played with,” Edgewood coach Steve Channell said. “Tonight was the epitome of that. We just had in our mind that no matter what, we were going to come out with a win tonight.”
Senior quarter Corey Farler completed 14-of-16 passes for 120 yards and Jeremiah Turner totaled 85 yards and scored two touchdowns on 18 carries for the Cougars, who finished 5-5 overall and 4-1 in the Fort Ancient Valley Conference Scarlet Division.
“We pushed through some tough losses,” Farler said. “After the first five games of the season our goal was to win the league. Unfortunately, we didn’t achieve that goal, but we gave it our all.”
Farler directed the Cougars to touchdowns on their first three possessions of the first half, keeping the Rams off-balanced with an effective short passing game that featured a bevy of receivers — Brian Cast, David Jones, Tony Davis and A.J. Pieratt, among others.
Turner capped the first two drives on 4- and 2-yard scores, and Jones gave EHS a 20-6 halftime lead on a 2-yard TD with 1:10 showing.
“Every week you can look at the guy next to you and count on him being competitive to the very end,” Turner said. “We just do it with heart and passion.”
Ross, which got a first-quarter TD from running back Colten Phelps, played with much more passion in the second half, especially on defense.
But the Rams, who still had faint Division II, Region 8 playoff hopes entering the game, never really got back in the game thanks to three second-half turnovers (two interceptions and a fumble).
“It was disappointing,” said Ross coach Brian Butts, whose team finished 7-3, 3-2. “We played our tails off in the second half but we never really got anything going offensively. Hat’s off to them. They played more physical than us and did a great job.
“We had our shots in the second half but we didn’t capitalize. And we have no one to blame but ourselves for that.”
Edgewood’s Zach Griffin finished the scoring with a 23-yard field goal with 2:50 to play, a boot that capped a 13-play drive that took nearly nine minutes off the clock.
Matt Barger finished with 67 yards rushing for EHS, and Davis and Pieratt had interceptions. Brian Justice recovered a fumble.
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