EAST ST. LOUIS — Phillip White knew the play was coming his way.Â
When Edwardsville quarterback Yale Weaver rolled to his right, the East St. ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëùµ¼º½ÍøÖ· sophomore defensive back followed his eyes.
And when the pair locked eyes, White knew it was time.Â
"All I needed was a chance and I got it," White said.Â
White stepped in front of the pass to seal the game Friday night as East St. ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëùµ¼º½ÍøÖ· defeated Edwardsville 14-7 in a Southwestern Conference football game at East St. ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëùµ¼º½ÍøÖ· High School.
"We pulled together as a team, persevered and did what good ball clubs are supposed to do," East St. ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëùµ¼º½ÍøÖ· coach Darren Sunkett said. "We came out on top with the victory."
East St. ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëùµ¼º½ÍøÖ· (8-0 overall, 5-0 SWC), the No. 1 large school in the rankings, wrapped up its ninth successive conference championship.
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The Flyers have ruled the SWC with an iron fist, winning 22 consecutive conference games and 49 of the last 50 conference games, with their lone loss being a 28-19 setback to O'Fallon in the 2021 COVID-spring season.
"Before you do anything else, you want to win that conference title," Sunkett said. "Winning that ninth one in a row is big and a great accomplishment for these kids to uphold the tradition in the past. I’m very proud of that."
White picked a perfect moment to come up with his first career interception.
"I had to get it to seal the game," White said.
Edwardsville (6-2, 4-1) was driving and marching down the field, but when White saw the particular formation the Tigers lined up in, he knew where the ball was going.
"Coaches told us to play together, communicate and just stay together," White said.Â
The Flyers defense has allowed an average of seven points this season and surrendered a touchdown in the first half to the Tigers. East St. ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëùµ¼º½ÍøÖ· surrendered just 173 yards of offense to the Tigers for the game.Â
"It all starts up front," Sunkett said. "Our defense has been playing pretty well all year and we expect that type of performance from those guys."
East St. ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëùµ¼º½ÍøÖ· gets a wakeup call
Despite the win, Sunkett was concerned as the Flyers tussled with the upset-minded Tigers.
"I think our team has gotten complacent the last few weeks," Sunkett said. "This is a good wakeup call going into next week. I’m sure they know if we play this way next week, it will be a long night."
East St. ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëùµ¼º½ÍøÖ· hosts national powerhouse IMG Academy in the regular-season finale next week.Â
In an attempt to spark the offense, Sunkett started sophomore Reece Shanklin at quarterback over senior Kendrick Lyons.Â
When Lyons got into the game, the Flyers jolted back into action. The 6-foot quarterback used every inch of his body to get the game-tying touchdown late in the first half.Â
Then the Flyers rode the two-headed beast of running backs Larevious Woods and TaRyan Martin to edge out a win.
Woods scored the go-ahead touchdown in the third quarter and finished with 89 yards on 10 carries. Martin finished with 16 carries for 82 yards.Â
Edwardsville gets a good gauge
Second-year Tigers head coach Kelsey Pickering didn't want to accept a moral victory after the emotional loss on Friday night.Â
But there was a silver lining.Â
"That was a good barometer for us," Pickering said. "We don't like losing. We had a chance to win the conference, but we didn’t get that done."
Edwardsville's defense, led by senior and Iowa commit Iose Epenesa, wreaked havoc against an East St. ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëùµ¼º½ÍøÖ· offense that came into the game scoring 40 points a game. Epenesa finished with two sacks.
The Tigers only surrendered 215 yards of offense and limited East St. ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëùµ¼º½ÍøÖ· to its lowest point total since it scored 13 points at Humble Atascocita (Texas) last season.Â
Senior running back Javion Smith put Edwardsville ahead 7-0 midway through the second quarter. It's the first time this season the Flyers have trailed all game.Â
"In all three phases we played well, just not well enough tonight," Pickering said. "It’s tough. A lot of people don’t see the work that takes place between Saturday and Fridays, hopefully we grow from this."