Edison takes down No. 1 Perkins, 15-14

MILAN — Cy Finnen sealed Edison's stunning win against Perkins on Friday night with a 6-yard rumble on fourth-and-2 with 17 seconds on the clock. The stout senior flipped the football to an official and raised his arms to the very loud home crowd as if to ask: Are you not entertained? They were. Edison 15, Perkins 14. The Chargers overcame the loss of two standout players to stun Perkins, the top-ranked team in Division IV. "They beat us pretty bad last year (49-14) so we wanted our revenge and we got it," Finnen said. "There were a lot of people saying if we didn't have a running clock on us it was gonna be a win for us. We had bigger aspirations than that." The Chargers, the No. 5 team in Division V, improved to 7-0 while Perkins dropped to 6-1. With no Luke Blatnik or Bryson Wittmer, a pair of bruising two-way starters, many onlookers were just hoping for a competitive game. Edison coach Jim Hall saw something different this week. "These kids don't know that," he said. "These kids have worked their butts off. We had a great week of practice. We thought something was coming based on how we practiced. I'm excited for them because that was a heckuva win." Edison won the game by winning on fourth down. Every time. The Chargers converted seven of their 14 first downs on fourth down. They also scored their first touchdown on fourth down and the Chargers defense held Perkins twice on fourth down. "You can't give them the ball," Hall said. "If it's fourth-and-manageable we're gonna take a shot because we know our success is when they don't have the ball and we can continue to drive it and keep it out of their hands and frustrate them a little bit." Edison's game-winning drive in the fourth quarter was jump-started when Finnen gained 2 yards on fourth-and-1 from Edison's 21-yard line. Yes, the 21. "You gotta take risks to win a game like this," Edison quarterback Abe Hermes said. Hermes, who gained 23 yards on the first play from scrimmage, ran the triple-option offense effectively, gaining 63 yards on 15 carries. Finnen, who went for 50 yards on a fourth-down play early in the second quarter, finished with 120 yards on 22 carries. The option clicked with dives to Finnen, keepers to Hermes and sweeps to Cayden Clere and Grayson Smith, who combined for nine carries and 32 important yards in place of proven backs Blatnik and Wittmer. Hall said the Chargers executed the game plan to perfection. "Defensively, kind of bend but don't break," he said. "Our kids came up and hit. Offensively, it was use Abe and Cy and find seams and try to drive the football four yards at a time and be patient. It was incredible." Perkins took a 7-0 lead when Isaac Bunts scored on a 15-yard run in the first quarter. Bunts carried 24 times for 173 yards and had more than 100 at halftime. After Finnen's 50-yard romp, Hermes tied the game with a 1-yard plunge on fourth-and-goal. "We knew we could hold the ball for a long time," Finnen said. "We had the mentality of going for four, five yards every play." The game was tied 7-7 at halftime before Perkins drove 71 yards to start the third quarter. The Pirates looked intent on restoring order, but a fourth-down pass in the end zone fell incomplete. Perkins took a 14-7 lead early in the fourth quarter when Sam Schweinfurth found Blake Parker, who beat double coverage on a post pattern for a 32-yard score. Edison had an answer. On fourth-and-6 from its own 48, Hermes found a diving Davin Wendt for 15 yards over the middle. A roughing-the-passer penalty set up the Chargers on Perkins' 22. Two plays later, Hermes faked to Finnen, pulled it and went 17 yards for a touchdown. Edison opted to go for 2, probably not a shock considering the earlier gambles, and in the moment of truth Finnen bulled into the end zone to make it 15-14 with 3:57 to play. Perkins got into Edison territory at the 46, but Clere picked off Schweinfurth on yet another fourth-down play that went Edison's way. From there, the Chargers ran out the clock and the students stormed Freedom Field. "We know they're good, but our whole goal was to outhit them and be tougher than they are," Hermes said. "They scored on a couple nice touchdowns, but we bent but didn't break." Edison held All-Ohio wide receiver Braylon Collier to two catches for 12 yards. Perkins drove deep into Edison territory in the second quarter, but Wendt knocked away a fourth-down attempt to Collier near the goal line. Again, fourth-down plays. "Our kids executed the game plan perfectly, they played with heart," Hall said. Perkins came in averaging 40 points per game but was held to 272 total yards. Edison gained 245 yards against a Perkins defense that welcomed back standout linebacker Braxden Martin, who missed two games with a concussion. The Pirates played without lineman John McGlashan, one of the unit's top tacklers. "Hats off to them. They outplayed us tonight," Perkins coach Jalen Santoro said. "Our guys were not ready to go. That's on me and this coaching staff. We have to do a better job getting ready to roll." Time of possession was dominated by Edison. The Chargers rushed the ball 44 times for 215 yards and Hermes completed 3 of 5 passes for 30 yards. "We couldn't get off the field and we had chances to make plays on offense and couldn't make them," Santoro said. Perkins 7 0 7 0 — 14Edison 0 7 0 8 — 15 P — Isaac Bunts 15 run (Danny Buga kick)E — Abe Hermes 1 run (Alex Davidson kick)P — Blake Parker 32 pass from Sam Schweinfurth (Buga kick)E — Hermes 17 run (Finnen run)