By Skip Weaver
Photo Credit: LowLight Films
Contributing writer
The Edgewood Cougars will return to the Ohio high school football playoffs after missing out last year when they travel two hours north to face undefeated Columbus West on Friday night.
The Cougars punched their ticket to the postseason last week with a record-setting victory over longtime rival Monroe (62-35) to finish with a 6-4 record, their first winning season since 2022.
Senior Carter Breedlove was the record-setter on that night as he broke the school marks for rushing yards and touchdowns in a single game. Breedlove had 31 carries for 413 yards and seven touchdowns against the Hornets. The 413 rushing yards broke the old record of 309 yards by Justin Elder in 2008. Jon Elder held the touchdown record with six (four rushing and two receiving) in 2006 against Norwood. The previous record of most rushing touchdowns in a game was five held by Brody O’Banion (2026 vs. Ross), Tavionne Crosby (2022 vs. Mt. Healthy) and Wade Phillips (2017 vs. Northwest).
“The offensive line played amazing. It felt like every time I touched the ball it was wide open,” Breedlove said. “I would say it started to sink in a little at halftime because I had four touchdowns already. In the second half we were just trying to pull away and run the time down, but the last couple touchdowns it was surreal on the sideline and I was kind of in shock.
“We knew it was a big game because winning meant we get a chance to go to the playoffs,” he continued. “I was definitely more concerned about getting the win, which is what we all were determined to do. I was pretty stoked though. I thanked the o-line and gave them all a hug and that’s when it finally set in.”
First-year Edgewood coach Matt Root said the coaching staff didn’t realize Breedlove was having that kind of performance until later in the game.
“Obviously Carter had a massive night,” Root said. “It was just a tremendous job by the entire offense. The o-line – Thomas Saunders, Ryder Jones, Landon Wagers, Ayden Hansford, Zack Jones and Izak Reed – did tremendous job blocking all night, and tight end Gavin Brennan as well, and Brody O’Banion ran well too. He had 151 yards rushing.
“It wasn’t something we anticipated happening,” he continued. “You don’t go into a game thinking that, but it was just an awesome night and I’m super proud of the kids and our staff for the hard work that went into it.”
Root said Breedlove’s performance ranks 32nd all-time in the state and Edgewood as a team totaled 631 rushing yards in the game which he said ranks eighth in the state all-time.
Advancing to the postseason was obviously one of the goals the team set for itself at the beginning of the season, so now as the No. 11 seed in the Division II, Region 8 playoff standings, Edgewood will travel to No. 6 seed Columbus West for its first-round matchup.
The Cowboys went 10-0 in the regular season winning the Columbus City League South Division title. They are led by quarterback Delnavon Bailey, a 5-foot-11 senior who completed 105-of-169 passing for 1,732 yards and 17 touchdowns which led the league. He also rushed 82 times for 787 yards and 11 touchdowns, second best in the league. Bailey has a host of targets to throw to, led by Jayshawn Hall, who had 29 receptions, 499 yards and eight touchdowns. The Cowboys second-leading receiver is Bradley Binion with 36 catches, 459 yards and four touchdowns and then Drayton Morris had 33 catches, 412 yards and three touchdowns. They ranked first, second and third in their league.
“Columbus West is 10-0 and earned every right to be in the playoffs and have a home game,” Root said. “I don’t know a lot about them so that is both scary and fun at the same time. They kind of remind me of Mt. Healthy and Northwest with how athletic they are and the ability to run around and make plays. The QB likes to scramble around and they have good wide receivers too. Defensively they are athletic and like to move around and blitz so I think they are going to stack a lot of guys in the box to stop our run game.
“They are so unique in what they do and we don’t see a lot of teams from the Columbus area plus we are going to be on a grass field which is new for us this year,” he continued. “The biggest key for us is to stay focused. It’s a long trip of two hours up there, but we just have to play our brand of football which they haven’t seen much of either.”
Edgewood led the Southwestern Buckeye League Southwestern Division in rushing this season with 2,760 yards. Breedlove and teammate Brody O’Banion both went over 1,000 yards rushing for the season in that Monroe game. Breedlove ranks third in the league with 1,214 yards and O’Banion is fourth with 1,125 yards.
“Going into that Monroe game and all through practice that week we had the expectations of wanting to go to the playoffs,” Breedlove said. “It means a lot to all of us. With the schedule we played that included teams from the GMC and GCL, and the tradition of deep playoff runs we have here at Edgewood, our energy is high and we all want to make a run at this. We are just giving everything we got and our focus is to beat Columbus West.
They are 10-0 for a reason,” he continued. “They have athletes all over the field so we need to control the ball and stay ahead of the sticks. We can’t have turnovers or beat ourselves and when we do that we are hard to beat.”
This isn’t the first meeting between the two schools, however. Edgewood defeated Columbus West 62-12 in the first round of the playoffs in 2020.
“We told kids all offseason how we had a tough schedule and it wasn’t going to be easy,” Root said. “They have handled it really well. We have lost some tough games we wish we could get back, but to get to 6-4 we earned our spot and we are super excited to be in the playoffs
“There’s been a lot of energy buzzing around here which is good. It’s what our school needs,” he continued. “The kids are excited to have a shot to win a playoff game and keep the buzz going. We have a great senior class, but we have a lot of young guys too and we have learned a lot about who we are and where we want to go in the future. It’s just a great time to be an Edgewood Cougar.”
