465 yards of offense, five defensive takeaways, and five sacks were more than enough for Edward Waters in their dominant 45-13 SIAC cross divisional road victory over Central State on Saturday afternoon at William McPherson Memorial Stadium.
Edward Waters (2-6, 2-4 SIAC) had all three units of the team firing on all cylinders in the matchup and served notice that it was going to be a long day for Central State (2-6, 1-4 SIAC).
The Tigers drew first blood in the match, scoring on their opening possession as De'Shaun Hugee capped off a 7 play, 86 yard drive with a 12-yard rushing touchdown. On the ensuing kickoff, Edward Waters was able to recover a kickoff to give the offense the ball in point blank range at the CSU 10 yard line. Three plays later, Tyler King found the endzone from four yards out to extend the Tiger lead to 14-0. At the 3:29 mark of the first, Ohio native Chase Powers shot the gap for a sack and a safety to add two more points for EWU. After the safety punt from Central State, Edward Waters hit the scoreboard once again as Jake Bandy connected on his first field goal of his collegiate career from 37 yards out to give the Tigers a commanding 19-0 lead.
The only scoring in the second quarter came on the feet of quarterback Jyron Russell, scoring a six yard rushing TD to give the Purple & Orange a 25-0 lead at halftime.
The EWU defense forced a three & out on the Marauders opening drive of the third quarter and on their next drive, Tyler King scored his second rushing TD of the game giving Edward Waters a 32-0 lead. Central State finally scored on a two-yard rushing TD to make the score 32-7 in favor of Edward Waters with 7:30 remaining in the third.
The fourth quarter saw QB David Johnson find Ferante Cowart down the right sideline on a 21-yard touchdown pass to give EWU a 38-7 advantage. Central State cut into the Tiger lead with a TD pass at the 8:21 mark of the fourth. The scoring barrage ended at the 6:02 mark of the fourth when Greg Mango scored his first collegiate touchdown to provide the final scoreline of 45-13.
Jyron Russell was EWU's leader on the ground, leading a rushing attack that combined for 355 yards. Russell finished with 87 yards rushing on 14 attempts with a touchdown. Mango finished with seven carries for 83 yards and a TD, Hugee finished with 10 carries for 72 yards and a TD, and King capped off his afternoon with 55 yards on 12 carries and two TDs.
Through the air, Russell finished 6-of-14 passing for 88 yards, while Johnson finished a perfect 2-of-2 for 22 yards and a touchdown. Tyberious Horne finished as EWU's leading pass catcher with three receptions for 60 yards, while Ferante Cowart finshed with two catches for 22 yards and a TD.
Defensively, Widmyer Garçon led the Tigers with nine total tackles, while Chase Powers finished with eight tackles, including a sack, and a tackle for loss. DB Dartrell Rolle collected two interceptions in Saturday's contest for the Tigers as well.
Edward Waters will not have too much time to relish in the victory as it will be a quick turnaround for the Tigers. EWU will conclude their three game road trip on Thursday, October 27th with a 7:00pm kickoff against Miles in another SIAC cross divisional matchup.
Original source can be found here.
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