Edison football team keeps playoff hopes alive as Turner and Stewart star
Senior quarterback Justin Turner completed three scoring strikes and senior running back James Stewart added three touchdown runs as the Edison High School football team snapped a four-game winless streak and kept its postseason hopes alive with a convincing 42-21 victory over East Brunswick at Matthew J. Drwal Stadium on Friday night.
Unlike the two previous meetings between the schools -- Edison won 28-26 in triple overtime last season and dropped a 14-13 decision the previous year -- the Eagles scored two touchdowns in the final four minutes to turn a close seven-point game into a lopsided win.
With East Brunswick trailing 28-21, Stewart scored his second touchdown of the night on a 12-yard run to give the Eagles a 14-point cushion. He broke off a 71-yard run on Edison's next possession to produce the final margin.
Edison (2-3-1) entered the weekend with the 10th most power points in Central Group V. The Eagles host Freehold Boro (2-4) next weekend and play at Piscataway before the state playoff cutoff date. The combination of an Edison win over Freehold and a Freehold loss to Marlboro should give the Eagles enough power points to secure a postseason berth.
"To be honest, I stopped talking to the team about (the playoffs) after our last two losses," said Edison head coach Matt Fulham, referring to his team being outscored 81-35 in consecutive losses to South Brunswick and New Brunswick. "We wanted to get back to doing the things that made us successful -- protecting the football, executing on offense and defense and winning the turnover battle -- and all those things came true tonight."
Reilly Gonzalez set up a score with a 30-yard fumble return and Keyon Overton iced the victory with a late fourth-quarter interception. Offensively, Edison used the pass to set up the run.
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"East Brunswick did a good job bottling up our running game early on, so we went to the air to loosen them up a bit," Fulham said. "Justin made some good decisions, our receivers ran good routes and our line pass-blocked real well. Our execution was very good."
Stewart rushed for 208 yards on 20 carries. Turner completed 13 of 20 passes for 189 yards. Keanu Reed was on the receiving end of two scores. He finished with 63 receiving yards. Dom Kurtyan contributed 44 receiving yards to the win. Nick Yanik caught three passes for 38 yards.
Kyle Wiggins had two rushing touchdowns for the Bears, while backfield mate Zahir Jackson had a 71-yard scoring jaunt. Wiggins scored on runs of 8 and 1 yards.
Turner sandwiched scoring strikes of 4 and 18 yards to Reed around Wiggins' first touchdown run to give the Eagles a 14-7 lead they would not relinquish.
East Brunswick (1-5) lost its third straight