The Tioga Bulldogs football team will hit the road for a rematch of last season’s dogfight against the Edgewood Bulldogs on Friday.
Edgewood took an early 21-14 lead in the first half of last year’s matchup before Tioga came from behind to take the win with a nail-biting 30-27 finish.
“They’re a high-quality ball club, and they returned pretty much all their kids from last year,” said Zach Birdwell, Tioga athletic director and head football coach. “… They’ve taken a step from last year and have improved in every area, so we’re going to see a team that can be explosive on the ground and through the air and a team full of talented kids, which we know in order for us to get to where we want to be, we’re going to see teams that are full of athletes, and we get a chance to see one here in Week 3, so it’s an awesome opportunity for us.”
Edgewood enters the contest with a 1-1 record, looking for their second win after losing to the Troup Tigers 47-35 in Week 2.
Despite the loss, Edgewood fields a potent offense, averaging 45 points per game, led by quarterback Trevor Golightly, who returns after generating over 4,000 yards of total offense and 52 total touchdowns last season.
“We have to roll into it very similarly, as we did our last game against Collinsville,” Birdwell said. “We have to contain their quarterback and limit their big plays. They’re an explosive offense, so no biting up on all the pump fake stuff that they do and not getting beat over the top and letting guys just run by us. We have to make them drive down the field and earn their points each drive.”
As explosive as Edgewood’s offense is, Tioga may have an advantage if they can exploit Edgewood’s leaky defense, which has surrendered over 400 yards of total offense and 48 points per game over the first two weeks of the season.
“It’s an exciting opportunity for us, as we’re still early in this discovery stage of this new offense, seeing who can do what and what works for us,” Birdwell said. “We have a great chance in front of us to see where we stack up right now offensively. Are we going to be able to go out and put up the type of numbers and yards that their previous opponents have, or are we not? Either way, it’s what nondistrict is for, and we’re going to make adjustments and look to be better next week.”
After the cancellation of its matchup against Ponder on Sept. 5, Tioga enters the contest with fresh legs and focused on correcting the little things.
“Even though we didn’t have to play a game last week, we felt we left a lot on the table when it came to our preparation throughout the week,” Birdwell said. “Our big thing this year is focusing on our habits, so we’ve been talking to our kids this week about practicing with passion and practicing with passion. We’re really looking to clean up some nonscheme things this week and make sure when we roll into Edgewood on Friday that we have all our boxes checked.”
Tioga and Edgewood are scheduled to kick off at 7 p.m. Friday in Edgewood.
Tioga defensive back Jake David, left, and linebacker Raul Chavez rally to try and bring down Edgewood quarterback Trevor Golightly during Tioga’s 30-27win last season. Tioga will try to find its first win of the 2025 season on the road against Edgewood at 7 p.m. Friday.
File Photo
