The standing-room-only crowd cheered the announcement of Kameran Farnham and Ethan Presley as the Quitman homecoming queen and king for 2022. There were also hearty cheers for the 1982 Quitman team which was the first team in school history to win a playoff game. That team, coached by Johnny Thompson, made it three rounds in the state playoffs.

Unfortunately, there was not a lot to cheer about at the end of the game as the visiting Edgewood Bulldogs took a 56-14 win over Quitman Friday night.

The Bulldogs showed spark in the running game with Landon Green and Mikey Pickering pounding out yardage behind the offensive line’s efforts in the trenches.

 “Edgewood was in the state Top 10 and is still ranked in the Top 20. They are a good football team, but if we hadn’t had those three costly turnovers and given them a short field, things could have been different,” Head Coach Shane Webber said. “We were driving the ball against them and doing some good things against them.”

Edgewood’s prolific offense was held for most of the first half, but Quitman did a good job after making halftime adjustments, especially defending Edgewood’s passing game.

“We held them to less than 100 yards receiving,” Webber noted. “Mikey Pickering made a couple of big plays defensively. Klay Meadows, Brady Floyd and Thomas Sabedra all had important pass break-ups.”

Edgewood quarterback Hayden Wilcoxson and running back Timothy Carroll led the visitors offensively on a veteran team of 17 seniors and 16 juniors.

“In the first half we had a good offensive effort. It’s the little things we are still working through that need to be corrected to get the results we need to win ball games,” Webber added. 

Edgewood took a 7-0 lead midway in the first quarter but the hometown Bulldogs used an eight-play drive to cut the lead to 7-6 on a run by Landon Green after the extra point attempt failed. The visitors got another score on a run by Carroll and it was 14-6 going into the second quarter.

Quitman was driving again when Edgewood intercepted a pass in their own territory at the 32 yard line and marched 68 yards in 10 plays to score on a diving end zone catch by A.C. Watson on a pass from Wilcoxson, making the score 21-6 with 4:07 left in the half. 

Another Edgewood interception was returned to the Quitman 19-yard line and they scored again before the half, making it 28-6.

The Bulldogs got another three-yard run for a score from Green in the final quarter. Carson Dickens added the two-point conversion, making it a 42-14 Edgewood lead.

Edgewood got two more scores, the final one coming with seconds left on the clock.

The Bulldogs travel to Arp Friday to take on the Tigers followed by senior night at home Oct. 28 against West Rusk and finish the regular season Nov. 4 at Winona.