Wildcats surge late to defeat Harrison Central after fourth-quarter tie

There are times when a 16-point final score may tell a story that isn’t indicative of what actually transpired, one of those judge a book by the cover type of tales. For those that weren’t at Wagner Field last Friday night in Cadiz to see the Edison Wildcats (6-3) take on the Harrison Central Huskies (3-6), they missed the best chapters in the book all together. That is because with less than six minutes remaining in the contest, the Huskies and Wildcats were tied at 19-all with the Huskies offense driving in the redzone, primed to take a late game lead.

However, over the final four minutes the Wildcats shut the door on the Huskies game winning drive with an interception on a fourth and seven play at their own 16-yard line, drove the length of the field for a 79-yard six play scoring drive, and to top it all off picked off another Harrison pass just three plays after their score to take the lead and returned it 35-yards to the house to shock the home crowd on senior night. After trailing 19-13 at the end of the third quarter, the Wildcats scored the final 22 points of the night in route to their sixth victory of the season. Edison did to Harrison what Harrison did to Bellaire a week prior, completely flipping momentum at crunch time to head home with a hard-earned triumph. 

“Our kids battled hard tonight. We had a really good week of practice leading up to the game. Our seniors left it all on the field. The result wasn’t what we hoped for, but the effort was there for sure. You always want to get that win on Senior Night, but we came up just short. My heart aches for them. I thought that we had opportunities, and the game could’ve gone either way. In the end, they made the plays when they needed to make them, we just didn’t make enough,” Harrison Central Head Coach Anthony Hayes said. 

Through three quarters, Huskies quarterback Brady Hyre had tossed three touchdown darts, one to senior Kayne Dunkle in the first quarter from 21-yards out, one to sophomore Lance Smith for a 34-yard strike in the second that tied the game at 13-13, and another to senior Jacob Quito from 15-yards out to take the lead at the end of the third quarter. 

In total Hyre’s arm was busy, finishing 28/44 passing with 290-yards through the air. Dunkle (11 catches 154-yards), Smith(six catches 61-yards), and Chaz Culbertson (five catches 28-yards) were the top targets in the passing game. Quito and freshman Colson Crothers rounded out the aerial attack with three receptions each. 

The Wildcats led 13-6 after one, the two teams headed for the locker room tied 13-13 at the half. The ground game that showed up at Bellaire two weeks ago was absent in the Huskies arsenal against the Wildcats. Edison outrushed the Huskies 167-27. The home squad did hold the advantage through the air at 290-204. 

The setback officially eliminated the Huskies from postseason contention, as coming in there was still a chance, albeit very slim that week 11 could still be in the cards should the Huskies have won in weeks nine and 10. On the contrary, the Wildcats cemented their playoff position, and with the victory moved into 50/50 contention to host a first-round home game in Ohio’s Div. V Region 17 landscape. 

While a disappointing way to end the home portion of their 2025 slate, the Huskies still have something important to play for in week 10. The annual V.A.L.E.S. game is scheduled for this Friday night at WWII Memorial Stadium in Yorkville. A game that Hayes always has his kids ready to play for. 

“We have a big one next week (The V.A.L.E.S. Game) and it will be a dog fight like it always is. It’s important that we get our minds right at practice and get locked in again,” Hayes said.