Edgewood Mustangs win home opener against Mitchell 38–0, but leave room for improvement

Friday’s 38-0 score in favor of the Edgewood Mustangs in their home opener against the Mitchell Bluejackets could have been even more lopsided. A couple of personal foul penalties against the Mustangs let the Bluejackets have the ball longer and in better field position than they would have had otherwise.

After the game, Edgewood head coach Scott Fischer talked about those infractions: “We had a couple of penalties I didn’t like—I think we had two late hits.” He added, “That’s not how we play, so we want to clean that up.”

Fisher thinks the running attack by the Mustangs is looking good: “I thought we ran the ball pretty well.” Leading the effort to rush the ball is junior running back Braxton Carpenter, who a little more than a minute into the game on Friday already had about 57 rushing yards and a touchdown to his credit.

The protection that the offensive line is offering quarterback Braylon Linerode is OK, but needs to get better, Fischer said: “I thought they blocked really well tonight. I thought our protection was OK.” He added, “I think we got a little bit of work to do there.” The offensive line blocked well enough to give Linerode a chance to connect for two TD pases—one to Reece Roberts in the first half, and another to Gunnar Perry in the second half of play.

Delivering a tackle in both of the first two plays of the game, Perry stayed down on the field for a few minutes after the second play. When he got up, he walked slowly to the sideline. Fischer said about Perry, “He just got the wind knocked out of him,” adding, “I’m sure he’ll be sore tomorrow.”

Accounting for 8 of Edgewood’s 38 points on Friday—5 extra points and a field goal—was the left leg of kicker Kade Gilchrist. And of the 7 times that Gilchrist kicked off to Mitchell, all but one went through the end zone for no return. Asked about Gilchrist, Fischer said, “He’s a big weapon for us, that’s for sure.” Alluding to Gilchrist’s background as a soccer player, Fischer said, “We were really lucky to talk him into playing last year,” adding, “He really likes it, and he’s practiced hard at it.”

The Mustangs scored on three of their first five drives and added a field goal before halftime, while their defense—led by solid pressure on the quarterback—kept Mitchell off the board.

First half

After Edgewood’s kickoff to open the game went for a touchback, starting the Mitchell team at the 20-yard line, running back Kaden Mullis opened with a 17-yard burst to the 37. But the Bluejackets didn’t do much after that. A penalty pushed them back five yards, and on second down, Evan Enghauser’s coverage of the Mitchell receiver made sure the pass was incomplete. On third down, linebacker Toby Conners flushed quarterback Cam Gilstrap out of the pocket, forcing an incompletion. Mitchell then punted from its own 31.

On Edgewood’s first snap from scrimmage, running back Braxton Carpenter sliced through the defense for 39 yards down to the Mitchell 4-yard line. One play later, Carpenter barreled in for the touchdown. Edgewood was up 7–0 just over a minute into the game.

On Mitchell’s second drive, Mullis ran well, picking up about 8 yards, and Gilstrap scrambled for two more first downs. Edgewood’s Carpenter pushed Gilstrap out of bounds on a keeper, but not before Gilstrap had carried to the Mitchell 49-yard line. On second down, a short pass to Mullis was immediately wrapped up by Dylan Wickens. On third down, Reece Roberts disrupted a pass attempt. Then Conners crashed through again, and Gilstrap was sacked back to the 37. Mitchell had to punt.

Starting at their own 45, the Mustangs again leaned heavily on Carpenter. He ripped off 7, then 16, then 16 more yards, cutting back across the middle and dragging tacklers. A 22-yard gallop brought him to the 1, and on the next play he put the ball in the endzone. Edgewood led 14–0 with 5:48 left on the clock still in the first quarter.

On Mitchell’s third drive, running back Mullis tried to grind out short gains, but Edgewood defenders swarmed him on consecutive plays. On third down, Gilstrap was nearly sacked again before throwing incomplete. Another punt gave Edgewood possession at its own 37.

Edgewood added sophomore Eli Lirot to its running attack, who carried the ball on successive plays, which put the ball on Mitchell’s 33-yard line. A holding penalty set the drive back, putting the ball on Michtell’s 43. But Lirot caught a backward pass and ran down to around the 22-yard line. The Mustangs could not get the ball any closer than about the 18-yard line, and faced fourth down and about 1 yard for a first. The Mustangs went for it, but a botched snap and a fumble ended their possession.

The fumble recovery meant that Mitchell was again pinned deep for yet another drive start. Then the Bluejackets went backwards. On second down, defensive end Justin Collier shoved Gilstrap wide for a big loss. A penalty set Mitchell back farther, and by fourth down they were punting from their own 2-yard line.

Edgewood took over on the Mitchell 37-yard line. Before Edgewood could move the ball much farther towards the endzone, a fumble by Carpenter turned the ball back to the Bluejackets. But the Bluejackets went three-and-out, finding themselves punting again, from about their own 33-yard line.

That’s when special teams for Edgewood stampeded into the backfield—Evan Enghauser blocked the punt, giving the Mustangs the ball at the Mitchell 21. A false start penalty against the Mustangs put the ball back to the 26. But on the very next play, Edgewood quarterback Braylan Linerode lofted a strike to Reece Roberts for a touchdown. The lead had ballooned to 21–0 with just over eight minutes left in the half.

On Mitchell’s ensuing possession, Mullis ran for a couple of first downs, but Edgewood’s defense again smothered Gilstrap in the pocket. He was hurried on third down and forced to throw the ball away. Mitchell punted again.

Edgewood started the possession on its own 27-yard line. Edgewood handed the ball to Carpenter again and again, and he gained 1, then 7, then 5 yards. A completion to Lirot brought the ball across midfield, but a holding penalty bumped the Mustangs back to their own 45-yard line. Then Carpenter broke the highlight run of the half—a 38-yard romp where he lost a shoe but kept going. That carried Edgewood to the Mitchell 17. But three straight plays failed to produce a first down. Facing fourth and about 7 from the 15-yard line, Gilchrist was called on to kick a field goal. Through the uprights went the ball, and Edgewood was up 24–0 with a little under 2 minutes to play in the half.

A scare for Edgewood late in the first half

Down 24–0 with a little more than a minute left in the half, Mitchell took over at its own 20 after the kickoff. But the first play went backwards—a handoff to running back Kaden Mullis was smothered in the backfield by Edgewood’s Maddox Beauchamp who had sniffed out the play, pushing the Bluejackets back 5 yards to the 15. On second down, Mitchell’s quarterback Cam Gilstrap showed pass, but kept the ball and headed for the left sideline, aiming to get out of bounds to stop the clock—but Jaxton Collier arrived in time to keep him in bounds, stopping Gilstrap at the 18-yard line.

Mitchell then used a timeout to keep the 43 seconds on the clock. It was second down and 12 yards to go, deep on their side of the field, but that’s when the ball started to bounce Mitchell’s way. Coming out of the timeout, Gilstrap again ran for the left sideline and made it out of bounds, but a late hit penalty against Edgewood gave Mitchell a first down operating on their own 44-yard line. Gilstrap carried the ball again out of bounds, picking up about 8 yards.

Gilstrap then found Sven Lutchka on a big completion of about 40 yards. On the next play, Gilstrap connected with Jeredon Sowder on the sideline to set up second and goal at the 6.

But there the momentum fizzled. Gilstrap’s next pass fell incomplete. With about 12 seconds left on the clock, on third down, Mitchell running back Mullis ran out of bounds to the 2. With a touchdown just 2 yards away, the Bluejackets went for it on fourth down, but the Mustang defense stuffed the run behind the line.

Mitchell’s best chance of the half, if not the whole game, had ended inches from the goal line. The Mustangs ran out the remaining 3 seconds in the first half.

Second half

In the second half, the Mustangs put up two touchdowns.

Edgewood had the ball to start off the second stanza, and their opening drive of the second half was powered by a series of runs from Braxton Carpenter. After the Mustangs drew the Mitchell defense offsides and advanced to the 35-yard line, Carpenter went on a better than 30-yard gallop, putting the ball around the 2-yard line. A personal foul against Mitchell, which resulted in a game ejection, put the ball right on the goal line. On first and goal, Justin Collier took the handoff straight up the middle and powered into the end zone for a Mustangs touchdown. After the extra point, the score stood at 31-0.

Later in the half, the Mustangs struck for one final score after starting a possession that the Mitchell 25—the result of a snap that went over the Mitchell punter’s head which he still managed to get away, just not very far. Michell’s punting duties are handled by running back Kaden Mullis, who looked comfortable tracking down the errant snap, eluding Mitchell defenders long enough to get his foot on the ball, even if it travelled only a short distance.

Edgewood quarterback Braylen Linrode connected with Collier on a pass that brought the ball to the 18-yard line. After a short run by Carpenter, Edgewood faced third down. Linrode then found Perry on the right side. Perry caught the ball around the 15-yard line, then danced past the three defenders who seemed ready to lasso him, and charged into the end zone for another Mustangs touchdown. The extra point by Gilchrist was good, making the final score 38-0.