EDWARDSVILLE — Kankakee turned a five-point halftime lead into a 28-7 season-opening football victory over Edwardsville on Friday night, Aug. 21, 2026, at Tiger Stadium, as quarterback Phil Turner threw two touchdown passes and the Kays’ defense shut down the Tigers, especially in the second half.
Kankakee led 12-7 at halftime, then scored a safety on the second play from scrimmage in the third quarter and did not allow Edwardsville to regain momentum. The Kays added an 8-yard touchdown pass from Turner to Isaiah Robinson in the third quarter and a late touchdown run by Jyheir Sutton to close the scoring.
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Edwardsville coach Kelsey Pickering said the Tigers have work to do before next week’s game at Jackson, Mo.
“Yeah, and that’s always with Week One,” Pickering said. “Back when we used to have scrimmages, it would be nice. You’d be able to make your corrections then. Now, we’ve got to make them off a game. But, yeah, from the coaching side, it’s positive, win or lose. After Week One, you usually find out a lot of things: either the kids are missing, things we’re not coaching well, and things we need to fix.
"As we’ve always talked about around here, the biggest growth should happen this next week. And so, that’s the goal. We don’t like the result here, but it’s already on to the next one. It’s we’ve got to get better for Jackson, and we have to have a great week of practice.”
Edwardsville stopped a long Kankakee drive to open the game, but the Kays broke through on their second possession. Sutton scored on a 3-yard run late in the first quarter to put Kankakee ahead 6-0 after the conversion was missed.
The Tigers answered with a long touchdown drive, capped by a 1-yard run from Cohen Followell. The conversion gave Edwardsville its only lead, 7-6.
Kankakee took the lead for good on the next possession when Davion White caught a pass from Turner and scored from 48 yards out, putting the Kays ahead 12-7 with 3:38 left in the first half.
Edwardsville had a chance to cut into the lead near the end of the half, but a botched field goal attempt ended the opportunity.
The second half shifted quickly. On the first play from scrimmage, an Edwardsville player was tackled in the end zone for a safety, extending Kankakee’s lead to 14-7. Robinson’s 80-yard touchdown catch from Turner made it 21-7, and Sutton later finished a long drive with a 2-yard touchdown run with 1:40 remaining.
Edwardsville had one final possession, but an interception ended the drive.
Pickering said special teams were among the areas that need improvement.
“I bet I could find five other things that impacted the game more than the special teams game," the coach explained. "Do we have to be better? Hands down, we’ve got to be better. It’s one of the things we talked about; we talked about it before we came out here that we have to win special teams tonight to ensure the win. I don’t think we did it on a three-phase night. All three phases did not meet the challenge to get the W.”
Pickering also credited Kankakee.
“They are a good program,” Pickering said. “That’s why we wanted them on the schedule. We knew they would show us weaknesses, and they would be great competition for us, especially in a Week 1 game. So, hats off to them. They came down, they made the trip, and they did it right and walked away with the victory tonight.”
Kankakee is 1-0 and hosts Frankfort Lincoln Way East next Friday, at 6 p.m. Edwardsville is 0-1 and plays at Jackson, Mo., next Friday, at 7 p.m.
