RICHMOND – Beware of the Wildcats.

The Edison football team was challenged for the first time all season as East Liverpool produced 14 unanswered points to tie the score at halftime.

The Potters got the ball first to start the second half, and they drove inside Wildcat territory when disaster struck. A bad snap on a punt resulted in Edison taking over at the East Liverpool 46, and the Wildcats went on to score 35 unanswered points to defeat the Potters, 49-14, via mercy rule Friday night on Homecoming at the Edison Unified Sports Complex.

“I made the decision to go for it on fourth down inside our own territory,” Edison (7-0) head coach Mike Collopy said. “If I could do it all over again I wanted have made that call. That changed the momentum.

“Give their kids credit. They played extremely hard. I’m proud of our guys for the way they played in the second half.”

The boys from Columbiana County scored a touchdown on the last play of the first half to tie the score at 14-all.

“Our kids responded well,” first-year East Liverpool (1-6) head coach Don Phillips said. “It was a good rally. We started to do some good things.”

Senior signal caller Gage Cline led the way for the Edison offense as he threw for 164 yards and three touchdowns, while rushing for 51 yards and another score.

The Wildcats tallied three touchdowns through the air and four on the ground.

Talan McClurg recorded 148 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries, Avante’ Hayes contributed 56 yards of offense and two touchdowns and Decker Lancaster and Matt Parsons each produced a touchdown reception.

East Liverpool used three quarterbacks in the game.

Starting quarterback Gavin Wright ran for 91 yards and a touchdown on 18 carries. Fullback Trent Davis delivered 35 yards and a touchdown on six carries.

Quentin Conrad contributed one reception for 34 yards.

Edison struck first when Cline found Hayes wide open in the secondary for a 40-yard touchdown, and Liam Watson’s extra point gave the Wildcats a 7-0 with 7:31 left in the first quarter. There was a bad snap on the play, and Cline was forced to run back and retrieve the ball before finding Hayes for the touchdown.

The Wildcats extended their advantage to 14 points when Parsons snagged a 5-yard touchdown from Cline. Watson split the uprights on the extra point giving the hosts a 14-0 lead.

The Potters responded with a touchdown of their own when Wright scrambled for a 14-yard score. The extra point was good cutting the visitors deficit to 14-7 with 7:06 left in the second.

The two-play drive came following a fourth down stop by the boys from Columbiana County. The boys in white took over at the Edison 48. Conrad’s 34-yard reception off a pass from Anderson Fitch set up the score.

“Defensively, I did not call a great game in the first half,” Collopy said. “I’m proud of the way our kids played in the second half.”

After forcing Edison to punt on its next possession, East Liverpool drove 64 yards to tie the score. Davis plowed his way in from the 1 on the last play of the first half, and the extra point knotted the score as the two teams Buckeye 8 North Division rivals headed to the locker room.

“We did not play well in the first half,” Collopy said. “Everyone was upset. We made mistakes that were of our own doing.

“Give credit to the kids. They responded. Overall, we played much better in the second half.”

After the bad snap on the punt gave the boys from Jefferson County the ball at East Liverpool 48, Edison drove 52 yards in five plays to regain the lead. The drive started with a pass interference call on the Potters, and it ended when Lancaster scored on a 27-yard reception on 4th-and-9. Watson booted the PAT giving the Wildcats a 21-14 lead with 7:30 left in the third.

After forcing the Potters to punt, the victors took over at their own 18. A 64-yard run by McClurg moved to the ball all the way to the East Liverpool 9, and Cline scampered in from there for his team’s second touchdown of the quarter. Watson kicked his fourth extra point of the night making the score 28-14 with 3:58 remaining in the third.

Edison scored three touchdowns in the fourth to put the game away.

“We gave them too many opportunities,” Phillips said. “We hit a bugaboo with all the injuries. We had to juggle guys around. We need to get kids back.”

McClurg opened the scoring in the final quarter with a 3-yard run, and Watson’s PAT was true increasing Edison’s advantage to 35-14 with 10:29 left to play in the game.

Hayes intercepted Fitch’s pass on the next drive, and the junior returned the ball 35 yards down to the East Liverpool 5. Hayes scored on a 1-yard run two plays later, and Watson’s kick extended Edison’s advantage to 42-14 with 8:52 remaining to be played.

JD Henderson – the team’s freshmen backup quarterback, scored his team’s final touchdown of the night on a 15-yard scamper, and Watson’s extra point was good giving the Wildcats a 49-14 lead with 5:22 still showing on the scoreboard clock.

The remainder of the game was played with a running a clock.

“We stayed ahead of the sticks,” Collopy said about what made the difference for his team offensively in the second half. We kept getting 5-yard penalties that put us behind the sticks. Those are things we have to correct and improve upon.”

After getting the ball back following a punt, Henderson took a pair of knees to run out the clock and end the game.

“We have to play better in the first half,” Collopy said. “If we play a first half like that down the road, it will not be good.”

East Liverpool fumbled the ball four times with the Potters losing three of them. Edison fumbled twice, but the Wildcats did not lose one.

The Wildcats have now won seven straight games for the first time since the 2010 season. That winning streak began in Week 2.

Both teams are scheduled to return to the field at 7 p.m. Friday night at home. Edison will play Buckeye 8 rival Harrison Central.

Meanwhile, East Liverpool will play Canton Central Catholic up on the new turf field at Patterson Field.

“We have to get ready for next week,” Phillips said.

Edison 49, East Liverpool 14

East Liverpool 0 14 0 0 – 14

Edison 7 7 14 21 – 49

First Quarter

EDISON: Hayes 40 pass from Cline (Watson kick), 7:31

Second Quarter

EDISON: Parsons 5 pass from CLine (Watson kick), 10:48

EAST LIVERPOOL: Wright 14 run (Miller kick), 7:06

EAST LIVERPOOL: Davis 1 run (Miller kick), :00

Third Quarter

EDISON: Lancaster 27 pass from Cline (Watson kick), 7:30

EDISON: Cline 9 run (Watson kick), 3:58

Fourth Quarter

EDISON: McClurg 3 run (Watson kick), 10:29

EDISON: Hayes 1 run (Watson kick), 8:52

EDISON: Henderson 15 run (Watson kick), 5:22

RUSHING: East Liverpool 46-176 2TDs (Wright 18-91 TD, Haney 11-6, Hardy 2-23, Jones 6-34, Davis 6-35 TD, Fitch 1-(-13), Cotton 1-0, Adkins 1-0); Edison 24-239 4TDs (Cline 6-51 TD, McClurg 12-148 TD, Hayes 2-5 TD, Henderson 4-35 TD)

PASSING: East Liverpool 4-13-35-0-1 (Wright 0-4-0-0-0, Fitch 3-8-39-0-1, Cotton 1-1(-4)-0-0); Edison 10-18-164-3-0 (All by Cline)

RECEIVING: East Liverpool 4-35 (Conrad 1-34, Jones 1-2, Adkins 1-(-4)); Edison 10-164-3TDs (Hayes 2-51 TD, Rawson 2-21, Lancaster 4-53 TD, Parsons 1-5 TD, Waggoner 1-35)

FIRST DOWNS: East Liverpool 13; Edison 10

PENALTIES-YARDS: East Liverpool 9-83; Edison 7-52

FUMBLES-LOST: East Liverpool 4-3; Edison 2-0

PUNTS: East Liverpool 4; Edison 3