Edwards Football Team Wins City Championship

The following was submitted by Jared Magee, John Rice and Bobby Hoell, the football coaches at Edwards Middle School. 

I am very happy to announce that the Edwards Middle School football team won the middle school City Championship game on Nov. 22.

It was a hard fought battle against the Orchard Gardens. We were not in the lead until the final seconds of the game.

The OG scored first to take a 6-0 lead. Edwards running back, Israel Vega, ran in for a touchdown to tie the game at 6-6. The OG answered once again to go ahead 12-6. Trevon Coleman caught a short pass from Anthony Flamingo and ran 50 yards to score a touchdown tying the game for the Eagles at 12-12. Orchard Gardens returned the next kick for a touchdown to go up 18-12 with less than 2 minutes left in the game.

On the 4th down with 15 yards to go Head Coach John Rice called a run play to Trevon Coleman who broke open and ran 60 yards to score and tie the game at 18-18. Israel Vega followed up by smashing his way into the end zone to score a two point conversion and seal the game for us with a 20-18 victory. The Orchard Gardens had a final possession to try to score, but the Eagles defense stopped them as the final seconds ticked off of the game clock.

This was a very emotional win for us. Our boys played this game and the entire season with intensity and focus. Two of our players lost their fathers this season. One player lost his father to cancer and just three weeks ago another player's father died suddenly in a horrible accident. Through it all the team supported each other and played every game with determination, sometimes playing against larger, more experienced players.

We are tremendously proud of this group of young men.