STRAFFORD — Facing a 3rd-and-goal while trying to ice the game, Strafford quarterback Jourdyn Edelstein took the snap and stuck the ball out to his running back as he kept his eyes on the defense.
His running back wasn’t there.
Realizing the miscommunication immediately, Edelstein started to scramble. When starting as a sophomore, extending plays wasn’t something he was too comfortable with. Now a senior, playing the best ball of his career on one of the area’s best teams, it is somewhere he excels.
Edelstein rolled to his left, set his feet and threw the ball up to his 6-foot-6 tight end, who brought it down for a touchdown.
“I messed up that play,” Edelstein laughed. “That was a freak accident. But I found a guy in the back of the endzone and it somehow worked.”
Almost everything seems to be working for Edelstein right now after leading Strafford (9-1) to a 42-20 win over St. James (4-7) to advance to next week’s Class 3, District 5 championship against Mount Vernon (8-3). A win would give Strafford its first district championship since 2014.