EDWARDSBURG – Those in and around the Edwardsburg football program knew 2026 would be a special year.
The Eddies’ job is far from finished, but after having not won more than seven games in a season since going 11-2 in 2022, they’re 8-0 and the No. 4 team in MHSAA Division 4 heading into the final game of the regular season. At a Monday, Oct. 19 practice, head coach Dan Purlee and senior Cam Hayden said all it took for Edwardsburg to turn a 6-4 2025 campaign into a hopeful deep state tournament run in 2026 was experience.
In fact, Hayden said the Eddies were “soft” at times last season. The Eddies took their lumps, losing to Vicksburg in a district semifinal contest to end the campaign without a state tournament win for the second time in three years.
Through eight games this year, however, Edwardsburg is giving opponents’ their lumps instead. Now, Hayden said the Eddies take the field for each play with "aggression."
“There’s no pressure at all,” Hayden said. “We know what we need to do. If we keep to our assignments and do it at 110%, we’re going to get the win.”
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While the MHSAA does not release its state tournament brackets until Sunday, Oct. 25, all three Division 4 teams ranked ahead of the Eddies were in the opposite end of the bracket last season. Rankings aside, the stats don’t lie when it comes to portraying Edwardsburg as a true state championship contender.
The Eddies have outscored opponents 356-129 through eight games and have only been held below 35 once, back in week four vs. No. 7 Paw Paw. They’re 8-0 for the first time since going on a 12-0 run to start the 2021 season until losing in a state semifinal contest. The last time Edwardsburg made the state championship game was when it won a title in 2018 with a 14-0 record.
Purlee took over as head coach prior to the 2023 season, and even he knew that once the Classes of 2027 and 2028 were in their senior and junior years, respectively, Edwardsburg was bound to be a force in Division 4. Leading the charge for the Eddies is junior Giovanni Orue, who has 1,336 yards and 16 touchdowns so far.
“We had the mentality from the beginning that this was going to be our year,” Orue said. “No one has missed a single workout. We want to fight for our brothers. Intensity’s a good word to describe our team. We’ve all just been putting in the hard work and play intense, hard-nosed football.”
Four of Edwardsburg’s wins have come against opponents with at least six wins, including two ranked victories and a triumph vs. the IHSAA’s Jimtown in week two. The Eddies have also already clinched at least a share of the Wolverine Conference thanks to its week eight win vs. No. 9 Vicksburg and aim to win the title outright by completing a perfect regular season with a road contest vs. Niles at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23.
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Winning a Wolverine Conference title is no easy feat, particularly in recent years. The league has been represented in the Division 4 final four each of the last two seasons, with Niles making a state championship appearance in 2024 and Vicksburg making a run to the state semifinal last season. Even though players like Orue, or even students in the hallways or in class, haven’t shied away from talking about Edwardsburg’s state championship aspirations, Purlee and the coaching staff have tried their best to keep tunnel vision.
So far, that approach has been flawless.
“When you have a senior class of 20 kids and you put together a good junior group, a lot of 17 and 18-year-old football players, that usually tends to fair well for you,” Purlee said. “This senior group, and even these juniors, have been working hard for the last few years. You’re working, as a freshman and sophomore, for that senior year or that junior year. It’s not by any mistake that we’re in this position. Hopefully we can be the team that can represent the Wolverine in a deep playoff run this year.”
Kyle Smedley is a sports reporter at the South Bend Tribune. Contact him via email at ksmedley@usatodayco.com or follow him on X @KyleMSmedley.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: How Edwardsburg football is nearing undefeated MHSAA regular season