Edgewater's soaring season falls with wild final score

Two miscues in a row by the Eagles led to a dramatic loss-by-safety in a thriller at Mainland on Friday. Edgewater’s football team fell 30-28, ending their playoff run.

The game had been tied 28-28 going into the final minute of play, when the improbable happened, twice.

With the Buccaneers driving and just yards away from the end zone, they were picked off by Edgewater’s Craig Rucker on a fourth down desperation pass. The only problem with the interception was it landed Edgewater on their own five-yard line — in danger of taking a safety — with less than 30 seconds to play in a tied ballgame.

When Edgewater’s Cortez Pembleton took the snap into the end zone, he was stripped of the ball and the Eagles’ undoing began. A melee ensued as players from both teams chased the ball, with Mainland downing it to score a two-point safety, which would put up the decisive score.

But at the end of the first quarter, the game was anything but the Buccaneers’. They had watched as the duo of Pembleton and receiver Brandon McLaughlin combined on three TD catches to go up 21-0. The rest of the game was spent watching Mainland catch up, as they scored three unanswered touchdowns of their own before Edgewater finally made it back into the end zone on a 31-yard reception by Rucker.

Then, clinging to a tie game, the Eagles watched as their season fell apart in the final seconds. For Edgewater, the playoffs are over. Mainland will go on to the regional championship game this Friday.