Steve Edwards Jr. reached another impressive milestone in his coaching career Friday evening — and did so in lopsided fashion.
Sai’Vyon Brown rushed for 137 yards and a pair of touchdowns and George Washington saw six players run for scores in a 54-0 victory at South ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä, which gave Edwards his 200th career win with the Patriots.
A balanced ground game pushed the Patriots to 4-0 on a special night for their coach.
Capital’s Peyton Grigsby (13) passes as Kevin VanMeter (56) blocks St. Albans’ Isaiah Muhammad (8) during a high school football game Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, at St. Albans. After a recalculation of ratings points made as a result of legal injunctions, Capital and St. Albans both made the playoff field in Class AAA.
- CHRIS DORST | Gazette-Mail
“It means a great deal to me,†Edwards said of the milestone. “It means that we’ve been able to be positive — positive influences on the kids, positive influences on our school and community. Our family’s very proud to be a part of it.â€
GW did not complete a pass the entire game, but pounded out 471 rushing yards on 39 carries. Brown led the way with his 137 yards on just seven attempts, and he was backed by Hunter Giacomo (eight carries, 113 yards, two TDs).
Quarterback Cy Persinger totaled 67 yards and a score on the ground and Guner Flores had 44 yards and a TD. Solomon Ferrell and Kyhon Davis each added short scoring runs.
Edwards wasn’t upset with the 0-for-4 passing output.
“It’s OK,†Edwards said. “We’re still developing at the quarterback spot anyway. As long as we win, we win. These kids are fighting real hard and they’re getting better every week. And hopefully we keep getting better — but 4-0 is nothing to sneeze at, that’s for sure.â€
Edwards, in his 29th season as the Patriots coach, pushed his career record to 200-117. Two years ago, he became Kanawha County’s all-time winningest coach, passing former DuPont and Riverside coach Dick Whitman, who stands in second on that list with 181 victories.
Only one current coach in West Virginia has been leading the same program longer than Edwards. Bluefield’s Fred Simon is coaching in his 39th straight season and recently surpassed 300 wins.
Edwards has also made the most of his time at GW, qualifying for the playoffs 22 times in his 29 seasons. The Patriots are already assured of a postseason berth this year, since all 16 Class AAAA teams advance following the SSAC’s reshuffling of schools into a new four-class system.
GW entered play Friday as the No. 4 team in the AAAA ratings. The top eight teams earn choice of approved home field in the first round of the playoffs.
The Patriots assumed a 34-0 halftime lead as four players scored on their five touchdown runs — carries of 10 and 41 yards by Brown, 7 yards by Giacomo, 5 by Flores and 63 yards by Persinger, a play in which several SC defenders had him in their grasp, but failed to get him to the ground.
Brown’s second score and Giacomo’s came 17 seconds apart early in the second quarter as the Black Eagles failed to cover the kickoff following the former touchdown.
SC, limited to one first down and 24 total yards in the first 23 minutes of the first half, put on a turbo-drive show after Jahmier Myers intercepted a pass at his own 30 with 1:13 left before halftime.
Met Riley connected with Myers three times for 69 yards to get to the GW 1, but a penalty pushed the ball back to the 14 and the Patriots’ Jackson Morgan picked off a pass near his goal line on the final play of the half, leaving it at 34-0.
The second half saw no carryover for the SC offense, which failed to record a first down following the break.
“We made some mistakes,†SC coach Dustin Resler said. “I hate to keep using the excuse that we’re young, but daggone it. We get in our own heads when something goes wrong, and we take a while to reset. We were moving the ball the end of the first half and just let it slip. We’ve got some maturing to do.
“They’re still hungry and they still want to fight. We started 18 freshmen last year, and now we’ve got 18 sophomores. We’re getting stronger, we’re getting more mature. We just have to keep getting after them and making the scores better than they were last year.â€
Riley misfired on his final eight passes (with three interceptions) after starting 10 of 20. He finished 10 of 28 for 72 yards with four picks. Myers had four catches for 73 yards as some other completions went for losses. Brayden Zuniga carried eight times for 30 yards.
GW travels to Spring Valley next Friday, while SC visits Riverside.
George Washington 54, South ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä 0
George Washington;7;27;21;0;--;54
South ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä;0;0;0;0;--;0
First quarter
GW — Brown 10 run (Smith kick), 8:56
Second quarter
GW — Brown 41 run (Smith kick), 11:48
GW — Giacomo 7 run (kick failed), 11:31
GW — Flores 5 run (Smith kick), 5:48
GW — Persinger 63 run (Smith kick), 3:05
Third quarter
GW — Ferrell 7 run (Smith kick), 11:38
GW — Giacomo 54 run (Smith kick), 9:02
GW — Davis 4 run (kick failed), 3:00
Team statistics
;;;GW;SC
First downs;;17;3
Rushes-yards;;39-471;16-32
Passing yards;;0;76
Passes;;0-4-1;11-30-4
Total yards;;471;108
Fumbles-lost;;1-1;1-1
Penalties-yards;;5-40;4-33
Punts-average;;1-37;8-28.3
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — GW: Brown 7-137, Giacomo 8-113, Persinger 2-67, Davis 6-59, Flores 5-44, Spencer 3-39; SC: Zuniga 8-30
PASSING — GW: Persinger 0-4-1-0; SC: Riley 10-28-4-72, Hackman 1-2-0-4
RECEIVING — GW: none; SC: Myers 4-73, Brown 2-
