WELLSBURG — Chase Edwards has had plenty of big passing games before, although he admits they have come by way of a joystick while playing the Madden football video game.
Real life? Well, the junior has never quite experienced what he did Friday, as he guided University High to a 52-20 victory against Brooke.
Try this one on for size: Edwards passed for a career-high 401 yards and six touchdowns.
“No, I’ve never done anything like that before,” he said. “In Madden, I throw for a lot more than that, but this was something different.”
That may have been the understatement of the night.
He completed his first six passes and three of them went for touchdowns. His first incompletion came on a flat-out drop, and by the time UHS (3-0) had rolled to a 31-12 halftime lead, Edwards had thrown for 241 yards and four scores.
“We really did not come into this game looking to throw as much as we did,” UHS head coach John Kelley said. “People may look at it as we’re running up the score, but what was happening was they were constantly coming out with seven in the box and trying to shut down the run. The way our offense is designed, we’re going to throw it if you put that many guys in the box. They kept trying to use four to cover our guys and you can’t cover all of our guys with just four.”
Edwards, too, was surprised by the amount of passes.
“Our plan wasn’t to throw that much,” he said. “Like, when we played John Marshall a couple of weeks ago, they changed up their defense two or three times, so we were more balanced. Brooke never changed. It was like they were daring us to throw.”
The Hawks obliged, as Edwards finished 16 of 23 and backup Luke Hudson also added a seventh TD pass in the fourth quarter. UHS attempted 24 passes against 12 rushing attempts.
“I’m very pleased with what we were able to do offensively,” Kelley said. “What upsets me is all of the stupid things we did in terms of penalties and making too many mental mistakes. We were just being stupid out there and you can’t do that against a lot of the teams we’re about to face.”
UHS tight end Noah Braham had the biggest night receiving, finishing with five receptions for 198 yards and two touchdowns. His highlight included a monster stiff-arm on a Brooke defender along the UHS sideline that allowed him to get loose for 24 yards in the first quarter. Early in the second quarter, Braham hauled in what may have been Edwards’ worst pass of the game, out-jumping two defenders and then racing into the end zone for a 45-yard score.
“That was my worst pass of the game,” Edwards admitted. “As soon as I threw it, I thought it was going to get intercepted. It came out of my hand a little weird, but Noah high-pointed it and came down with a great catch. He bailed me out.”
“I consider Noah to simply being a Division I athlete,” Kelley added. “Rather if that’s as a tight end or H-back or on defense, he’s got multiple skills that a lot of schools should be looking for. That’s the type of ability he has. He can do a little bit of everything and there are a lot of places we can line him up.”
Back to Edwards. Through the first three games of the season, the Hawks have put up at least 52 points against their opponents, while the junior has thrown for 714 yards and 12 touchdowns.
The scary part? Edwards said the Hawks haven’t come close to their ceiling.
“We had a couple of drops tonight and I threw some bad balls,” Edwards said. “There’s still a lot more we can do to make this offense even better than what we’ve shown. We still haven’t reached our full potential.”
Sage Clawges and Elija Jackson both added two touchdowns receptions and they combined for eight catches for 151 yards and both Colin McBee and Daminn Cunningham had 31-yard receptions. In all, seven different Hawks caught at least one pass and Braham was the only receiver to surpass 100 yards on a night when Edwards and Hudson combined to throw for 427 yards.
“That just shows you how many guys we have who can make plays,” Edwards said. “If you line up and it’s one-on-one, we’re going to take that shot.”
Brooke (2-1) saw receiver Garrett Hornick catch four passes for 64 yards and two touchdowns, but the Bruins defense gave up two quick scores on one-play drives in the third quarter, as the Hawks sealed it.
University 14 17 14 7 –52
Brooke 0 12 8 0 – 20
SCORING SUMMARY
UHS–Sage Clawges 9 pass from Chase Edwards (John Coleman kick)
UHS–Elija Jackson 42 pass from Edwards (Coleman kick)
B–Garrett Hornick 9 pass from Braelyn Sperringer (kick failed)
UHS–Noah Braham 45 pass from Edwards (Coleman kick)
B–Jace Campinelli 7 run (run failed)
UHS–Jaeden Hammack 5 pass from Edwards (Coleman kick)
UHS–Coleman 28 field goal
UHS–Braham 65 pass from Edwards (Coleman kick)
UHS–Clawges 56 pass from Edwards (Coleman kick)
B–Hornick 18 pass from Sperringer (Gavin Moore pass from Sperringer)
UHS–Jackson 26 pass from Luke Hudson (Coleman kick)
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: University–Colin McBee 4-12, Daminn Cunningham 3-29, Corban Cross 2-19, Avery Dalton 1-13, Melique Lewis 1-6, Kolton Burns 1-0. Brooke– Campinelli 21-38 TD, Moore 9-42, Anthony Bachinski 1-0, Garrett Moore 1-2, Sperringer 5-14, Camden Taylor 1-(-1), Team 2-(-35).
PASSING: University–Edwards 16-23-0 401 6 TD, Hudson 1-1 26 TD. Brooke–Sperringer 11-18-0 89 2 TD.
RECEIVING: University–Braham 5-198 2 TD, Clawges 4-74 2 TD, Jackson 4-77 2 TD, Hammack 1-5 TD, McBee 1-31, Cunningham 1-31, Jack Smith 1-11. Brooke–Hornick 4-64 2 TD, Colton Palmer 1-13, Bachinski 2-17, Gavin Moore 2-4, Campinelli 2-(-9).
