Edna wins with heavy air game against Raiders

By Millie Diaz
Sports Writer
    This season the Edna Cowboys (4-3, 2-0) had been winning most of their games with only a few points difference at the final buzzer. In their game against Rice Consolidated on Friday they changed their tune a bit and made sure to clinch their victory early with a 56-28 final score.
    “We felt like early on we had been running the ball in recent weeks so we felt we needed to run the ball a bit this time,” said Athletic Director Huey Chancellor. “We blocked well when passing and made some good plays, I think Landon O’Connor threw the ball well.”
    "We wanted to involve our passing game more and change the tempo offensively to keep them on their heads," said Defensive Coach Craig Nairn. "Defensively the guys played their best game all year so far, we hit their quarterback a lot and had nine pressures and eight sacks total."
    #7 Andrew Mathis said the team knew they'd had a good practice this week and the coaches knew they would do what they were supposed to. "We were motivated and everyone stepped up," he said. "We gave the quarterback a good rush for the whole night." He said defensively everybody took care of their own row and it turned out pretty good.
    The first big play of the game came from the Cowboys when #18 quarterback Landon O'Connor made a pass to #6 Marquis Bates and he put Edna in a close position to the end zone. In less than a minute O'Connor passed to #9 Braveon Terrell and he ran it in for a touchdown with 9:24 left in the first quarter, but the point after touchdown was no good. Edna gets on the scoreboard with six points.
    It wasn't long before Edna found the end zone again with 6:40 left in the first, O'Connor found #4 Jordan Norman and he ran the ball in. An attempt at extra points were no good, bringing the score 12-0, 'Boys.
    Big tackles were made by #11 Cade Orsak, #44 AJ Garcia and Mathis.
    Rice responded with a touchdown of their own with 3:22 left in the first. Their PAT was good and brought the score 12-7.
    Orsak stepped up to the plate with another Edna touchdown after Norman brought his team close to the end zone. With 1:45 left in the first, the score was 20-7 after a two-point conversion from O'Connor to Terrell.
    No more than ten seconds passed before O'Connor executed a quarterback keeper and took the ball into the end zone once more, and he brought the two-point conversion as well. The score was 28-7, still in the Cowboys' favor.
    The touchdowns kept on coming from both sides. Rice found the end zone with 9:39 left in second quarter and a good PAT. In 30 seconds Norman found the end zone against, but the PAT was not good.
    With 6:20 left another touchdown was scored by Rice without an extra point to add. Bates ran  the ball down the field so in the next play O'Connor's pass to Norman caused another touchdown with 5:56 left in the first half of play. The Cowboys added two points and brought the score to 42-20, still in Edna's lead.
    Great stops were made by #20 Alvell Robinson, #29 Deion Callis, #12 Issac Shelton, and #67 Ricky Ramirez.
    Both teams found the end zone once more before halftime, Terrell brought it through again for the Cowboys. Score at halftime was 49-28.
    The second half was not nearly as action-packed as the first, but Orsak did manage to get to the end zone again for the Cowboys and make a final touchdown plus execute the PAT with 1:34 left in the third quarter.
    The Cowboys made sure to clinch their victory early this time, and did so with a 56-28 win.
    Chancellor said the team is looking at what they need to improve and look at the strengths in the Cobras for this week’s game. “You’re going to see some more throws, that’s for sure,” he said. “I think the Cobras are going to be excited and we’re both 2-0 in district. Both teams will be excited and the community will be excited as well, everyone will be ready to play a big game.”
    Terrell said he focuses on the progress of moving forward when he goes down the field. "My defensive line is a strong part of the way I run, they open holes for me," he said. "Our weak part was our offense in passing but we did better and we just need to continue it."
    As for playing Industrial this week Terrell said he expects for the Cobras to come out hard. "They're not just going to lay down and roll over, so we're going to take it like another game and work hard."