Ed-Co pulls away with explosive plays — some drawn up by the players

MOUNT VERNON — Edgewood-Colesburg was thinking big Friday night against Lisbon.

Thinking big plays, that is.

The Vikings' ability to strike at any time won out over Lisbon's ball-control plan. No. 9 Ed-Co got three touchdown passes from junior quarterback Parker Rochford in the first half as the Vikings remained unbeaten in district play with a 44-26 win in a Class A District 5 game at Ash Park.

Lisbon led 14-12 midway through the second quarter, scoring on two sustained scoring drives, all in running plays. From that point on until the fourth quarter, it was all Ed-Co. The Vikings (5-1, 2-0) scored the next 32 points to put the game out of reach.

'I thought our third quarter went really well,' said Ed-Co Coach James Rochford. 'They came out with a purpose and played extremely hard. We got some ideas from the kids at halftime and they had about a half-dozen plays they thought would work and they worked out well.'

Lisbon (3-3, 1-1) was looking solid after taking its only lead of he game on a Gavin Wollum quarterback sneak and Jamien Moore 2-point run with 5:23 left in the half.

Ed-Co came back to get the lead less than two minutes later on a scoring pass from Parker Rochford to Spencer Staner. On the next Lisbon possession, Ed-Co partially blocked a punt and started deep in Lion territory. Keegan Hansel caught a 2-yard scoring pass with just nine seconds left in the half, pushing the lead to 25-12 at the break.

'They made us do stuff we didn't want to do,' said Lisbon Coach Phil Whitman. 'That blocked punt they had just before the half was key. If they don't score, we go in at half down (four) instead of down (11). Then they score at the start of the second half and all of the sudden we are down 18.'

Ed-Co changed its offense in the second half, spreading the field, which opened up the running game for Hansel. He scored twice in the second half and finished with four touchdowns on the night. Rochford did most of his passing damage in the first half. He ended up throwing for 188 yards. Hansel and Cameron Kirby both topped the 100-yard mark on the ground as Ed-Co rushed for 247 yards as a team.

Lisbon was able to score a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter on two scoring strikes from Wollum to Will Bennett to make the final score a bit closer.

'I don't know what it is about us, but we have a habit of letting teams back in the game,' said Coach Rochford. 'We had a good effort for some of the game. Now we have to work on doing it for an entire game.'

Whitman had nothing but praise for the effort of his team.

'We played hard against a very good football team,' he said. 'Most of our numbers came from our younger kids. These kids have continued to work hard and get better. That's all we can ask of them.'

Next Friday, Ed-Co hosts Alburnett while Lisbon is also at home, playing No. 7 MFL Mar-Mac.