Manatee Review

Edward Waters College issued the following announcement on Oct. 23.

All three phases of the Edward Waters football squad were clicking on all cylinders as the Tigers rolled to a 56-19 Homecoming victory over Central State at the Nathaniel Glover Community Field & Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The victory for Edward Waters (3-5) was their first SIAC home victory since rejoining the conference this season, snapped a three-game losing streak, and already gives the Tigers their highest win output since 2018 when the Tigers finished 4-7.

Edward Waters also smashed their season high output in scoring with their 56 points, as well as posted a season high in total offense with 510 yards (386 passing, 124 rushing).

Things did start off a bit rocky for EWU as Central State (1-7, 0-4 SIAC) scored on their opening posession to take an early 7-0 lead with 11:44 remaining in the first quarter.

Edward Waters was equal to the task as they too scored on their opening drive, thanks to a 33-yard touchdown pass from David Johnson to Derrick Moore to knot the score up at 7-7 with 8:54 remaining.

The Marauders closed out the first quarter by going on a long, methodical 14 play, 86-yard drive that was aided by critical drive extending penalties by Edward Waters, ultimately scoring a touchdown. The extra point was blocked and CSU took a 13-7 lead with 2:41 remaining.

The second quarter was thoroughly dominated by EWU, starting with a 65-yard TD pass to Ferante Cowart. Angel Sevier's extra point was good and Edward Waters took a lead that they ultimately would not relinquish at 14-13 with 13:11 remaining in the second.

The Purple and Orange struck again as Damaris August took a slant route into the endzone for a 17-yard touchdown to extend the Tiger lead to 21-13 at the 7:43 mark.

Running back Spencer Carter took a wheel route 54-yards for a receiving touchdown with 5:38 remaining until halftime to give EWU a 28-13 lead. 

EWU punctuated the second quarter with a two-yard Devin Bailey touchdown run to cap a 28-0 second quarter to give the Tigers a commanding 35-13 lead at halftime.

The Tigers started the third quarter by taking their opening drive into the endzone with a Spencer Carter seven-yard touchdown run extending the EWU lead to 42-13 with 11:29 remaining in the third.

Tyberious Horne made a miraculous nine-yard touchdown catch around a Central State defender to close the third quarter to make it a 49-13 Edward Waters lead.

Central State finally snapped the 42-0 Edward Waters run at the 7:33 mark of the fourth quarter to make it a 49-19 ballgame in favor of the Tigers.

Reserve quarterback Karon Johnson came in to engineer a seven play, 55-yard drive with 2:37 left in the fourth with a 22-yard touchdown pass to De'Shaun Hugee to make it a happy Homecoming for the Purple & Orange faithful as EWU took the victory by a wide margin.

David Johnson was nearly flawless in the contest, finishing 16-of-25 passing for 359 yards and five touchdowns. He was also EWU's leading rusher in the game with 48 yards on five carries.

Six different Tigers caught touchdowns in the contest, led by Derrick Moore with three catches for 66 yards and a TD. Tyberious Horne finished with three catches for 49 yards and a TD, Damaris August also had three catches for 43 yards and a touchdown for the Tigers. 

Sophomore defensive back Dartrell Rolle led EWU in tackling with eight total tackles. The Tigers also recorded six sacks on the afternoon, led by defensive end James Gary with two.

EWU will close out the home portion of their schedule as well as honor their seniors on Saturday, October 30th as they will host the defending SIAC champions, the Golden Bears of Miles College for a 6:00pm kick at Glover Community Field & Stadium.

Original source can be found here.