By Ken Jackson
Sports Writer

Three plays, three debilitating mistakes and Edgewater's ability to capitalize on them led to a 28-14 Eagles win Friday over Harmony High at Frank Lough Field.

Edgewater is now 3-0 in 4A District 7, tied with East River, who they still must play. The Longhorns, at 2-1, would still make the playoffs with wins the next two weeks at East River and versus St. Cloud.

But after the game, HHS Coach Dayne Brown could only focus on his team's lapses in execution.

"We made mistakes on things we worked on all week in practice," he said. "We knew we needed to take risks to win. My hat's off to Edgewater, but we didn't step up and play like ourselves and compete hard enough."

Harmony (4-3), after a great defensive stand, muffed a first-quarter punt and got behind 7-0 eight minutes into the game. But the Longhorns atoned to tie it with 3:22 left in the first half when Adam Harvey connected over the middle with Forrest Osborne for a 36-yard touchdown pass. Chris Spanglo's PAT made it 7-7.

Edgewater (4-3) answered by scoring three touchdowns in the next five minutes of clock time to effectively put the game away. On the Eagles' first play after Harmony's touchdown, Raymond Rowe outjumped his defender to the ball then outraced him to the end zone on an 84-yard touchdown pass from J.B. Woodman. Then after Edgewater forced a punt, the tandem hooked up again on a 7-yard TD pass 13.4 seconds before halftime.

Harmony tried an onside kick to start the second half, and while Spanglo executed the kick well the Longhorns couldn't corral the bouncing ball. The Eagles scored in just four plays and two minutes later. After Woodman scored on a 16-yard run, the Longhorns went from going toe-to-toe with speedy Edgewater to trailing 28-7 in short order.

Harvey pulled Harmony within two touchdowns with a four-yard TD run on the first play of the fourth quarter, but it wasn't enough to climb from the hole they were in, as Edgewater kept the ball, moved the chains and worked the clock to seal the deal and move to 3-0 in the district.

To make matters worse, Harvey was injured delivering a pass in the fourth quarter and left the game. Freshman Alex Britton entered, but the move hampered the team's ability to go to a fast-break offense late.

Edgewater outgained Harmony, 250-168. C.J. Clayton (16 rushes, 50 yards) and Harvey (20-55) led a rushing attack that attempted to pound away on the Eagles defensive line and avoid their athletic linebackers, but the Longhorns managed just 168 yards on 54 carries. Harvey was 3-of-7 passing for 48 yards.

Harmony now finds itself in must-win territory next week when they travel to East River for a crucial 4A-7 matchup. The Eagles moved to 7-0 Friday with a 6-0 win over Liberty.

"Next week is the ultimate gut-check time for our football team," Brown said.