It took three overtime periods, but in the end the Edmondson-Westside Red Storm maintained their perfect record, beating the perennial Baltimore City powerhouse Dunbar Poets, 28-22, on Oct. 31 at Dunbar’s Sugar Cain Field.
Edmonson-Westside improved their record to 9-0 overall and 8-0 against Baltimore City opponents, and is just one game away from an undefeated season.
But against Dunbar, Edmondson-Westside didn’t have it easy. The Red Storm gave up a 22-6 lead to the Poets by halftime as Dunbar junior quarterback Zionnez Spencer delivered an outstanding performance, scoring three touchdowns in the first half. Spencer threw two touchdown passes and rushed for another as he recorded more than 250 total yards of offense in the first half.
But the Red Storm defense made adjustments at halftime and put a stop to Spencer and the Poets’ offense, shutting out Dunbar through the entire second half. With Dunbar contained offensively, Edmondson-Westside began its comeback, first cutting the lead to 22-14 with a long touchdown run by Bilal Omar in the third quarter. Edmondson-Westside later tied the game at 22-22 after Red Storm sophomore quarterback Michael Taylor darted into the end zone on a short touchdown run just minutes before the end of regulation.
In overtime, both teams played tremendous defense, holding each other out of the end zone for two overtime periods. Taylor finally snuck past Dunbar’s defense in the third overtime period to secure the victory for Edmondson-Westside.
Edmondson-Westside will finish their regular season campaign with a road matchup against the similarly undefeated Mergenthaler Vo-Tech Mustangs (8-0) on Nov. 7; kickoff time has not been announced.
