Torrance Johnson Runs For 163 Yards, Three Touchdowns As Edwardsville Wins Homecoming Game 40-14 Over Belleville West

EDWARDSVILLE – Junior running back Torrance Johnson ran for 163 yards – 120 in the first half – and scored three touchdowns as Edwardsville won its homecoming game over Belleville West 40-14 Friday night at Tiger Stadium.

The Tigers jumped out to a 34-0 halftime lead in putting together a complete performance in all three phases of the game – offense, defense, and special teams – to go to 5-2 on the season and become playoff-eligible for the ninth consecutive year.

Edwardsville took charge on the opening possession, recovering a fumble to set up its first score, and got off to a great start.

“Yeah, challenged the kids to come out and start strong,” Tigers’ head coach Matt Martin said, “and execute well, and give great effort, and they did that.”

West moved the ball well until the fumble, which was recoverd by Mason Ahlers and returned 41 yards to the Maroon 23 to put the Tigers in business.

“They were quick gain,” Martin said, “perimeter screen gains. They were getting yardage, and their quarterback (Alex Poettker), for a sophomore, throws a good ball. They’ve got skill kids, Lack of talent’s not their issue.”

The ball was stripped from Poettker by linebacker Josh Klein and recovered by Ahlers, who set off on the return. It was a very big play by a resilient defense.

“Huge play,” Martin said. “This defense has been a little bit of a bend, but don’t break, defense. So, that’s how they’ve been all year. I think Coach (Kelsey Pickering) does a great job with them. I think you at what you have, and you try to play to their strengths.”

And Johnson, coming off an incredible performance last week against East St. Louis filling in for the injured Justin Johnson, Jr., again played very well.

“I think we bobbled his first carry,” Martin said, “I don’t know if it’s the quarterback’s fault, or his, but we bobbled it. But he settled down and ran the ball hard. He did a good job, broke a lot of arm tackles.”

Johnson also turned in a big blocking job on a touchdown run by reserve quarterback Jacob Waldman’s run in the third quarter.

“You know, that was just effort,” Martin said. “That’s just extra effort. That’s not even a designed part of the play. It’s a fake option, it’s designed for the quarterback to run, and he’s just looking for work. We always tell them ‘look for work.’"

It was typical of the kind of evening Johnson had in an overall very good performance.

“I thought he read his blocks well, held on to the football,” Martin said, “no fumbles, and ran through arm tackles. He’s not the fastest kid, but that’s OK. He does a good job for us.”

All in all, it was a very good, solid performance all the units, and the reserves got to play in the second half, as well.

“It was good,” Martin said. “Defensively, special teams and offense. It was a good three-phase game.”

The Maroons came out throwing in the opening possession, with Poettker finding Joseph Kossina on the first play, and a pass interference penalty on the second putting the ball on the Tiger 40. Two more passes moved the ball to the Edwardsville 26, but one play later, Poettker was sacked and stripped of the ball by Klein, which was recovered and returned by Ahlers to the Maroon 23. Ryan Hampton and the offense went to work, and it only took three plays to score, as Hampton launched a pass to Ethan Young in the right corner of the end zone. Young made a great catch for the touchdown, and Eric Epenesa’s conversion made it 7-0 Edwardsville with 7:08 left in the first quarter.

On West’s next possession, Poettker completed twice to Kossina, and to both Antonio Winters and Chase Blanquart to bring the ball to the Edwardsville 41. The drive stalled there, and after a punt, the Tigers took exactly three minutes to drive 66 yards in seven plays. Runs by quarterback Ryan Hampton and Johnson brought the ball to the Maroon 34. Johnson then took a handoff from Hampton and rambled the final 34 yards up the middle for the touchdown, with Epenesa’s convert kick good to make it 14-0 with 2:07 left in the quarter.

In the second quarter, Johnson started off another drive with a 26-yard run up the left side, but a bad snap on the next play was fallen on by Hampton. Hampton then hit Kenyon Johnson for eight yards, and Hampton then ran for 19 more before Torrance Johnson scored from nine yards out on a good run to give Edwardsville a 21-0 lead. On the next Tiger possession, a passing play got the Edwardsville another touchdown but wasn’t given, due to a holding penalty. Johnson then ran the ball three times for a total of 38 yards, and one play later scored his third touchdown of the night on a good nine-yard run. Epenesa kicked the point to make it 28-0 for Edwardsville.

On the Tigers’ final possession before halftime, Hampton passed 14 yards to Ahlers for a first down, and later threw for 27 yards to Kenyon Johnson to give Edwardsville the ball at the one, where Hampton himself took the ball the final yard into the end zone for the touchdown, but Epenesa’s kick was blocked, making the halftime score 34-0 Edwardsville.

The Tigers got the ball to start the second half and immediately had a very workman-like 15 play, 80-yard drive that took nearly six minutes. Hampton threw to Kenyon Johnson for 15 yards to get it started and runs between Hampton and Torrance Johnson eventually brought the ball to the West 35 on a good 13-yard run. Hampton was injured during the drive but was OK, and Waldman came in at quarterback for the remainder of the game. It was Waldman who eventually got the touchdown, running 12 yards with Torrance Johnson leading the way to make it 40-0 after the kick was missed, forcing a running clock the rest of the way.

In the fourth quarter, the Maroons were finally able to get on the board in back-to-back possessions. Poettker found Jordan Bruce for 40 yards for a touchdown, which made it 40-7 after the conversion from Logan Siebert, then West recovered an on-side kick, and it took two plays for Poettker to find Kossina for a 39-yard touchdown pass to make the score 40-14 after the convert.

The Edwardsville defense contained the Maroon offense for almost the entire game, which was also a key part.

“They can have all the yards they want,” Martin said. “We’ll keep them out of the end zone.”

The Tigers were able to do a good job the entire game and met the coaching staff’s challenge very well.

“I don’t know of any specifics,” Martin said, “I’d have to watch film, so I just thought the kids played better and got off to a good start. That’s what we challenged them to do, and they did it. And it was fun for some of the backups to get in. We haven’t had a lot of those games, so for them to have an opportunity to get in and play was great.”

The Edwardsville supporters were there in full force as well, despite the fact that Friday night was also the first game of the National League Championship Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Washington Nationals. Marin is very grateful for the fan support.

“This community loves their school,” Martin said, “they love their sports, and they love football. And they’ve always been supportive of us. We’ve come to be expected, you bet.”

The Tigers are now 5-2 on the season, 3-1 in the Southwestern Conference, and host O’Fallon in the home finale, which will also be Senior Night, next Friday in a 7 p.m. kickoff. Although the Tigers are now playoff eligible for the ninth consecutive year, Martin isn’t looking too far ahead.

“I don’t know,” Marin said. “You know what, I’m starting to think about O’Fallon right now. That’s what I want to focus on and have a good game against them.”Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.

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Dan Brannan also contributed to this story

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