It was the biggest play of Chase Westra's season to date and he wasn't even sure of its outcome.

With his team trailing in the waning seconds of Friday's Southwestern Conference game at Collinsville, the Edwardsville junior quarterback stuck it into the end zone from two yards out with nine seconds left to lead the Tigers to a 13-12 comeback victory.

“I was on my back in the end zone and couldn't really tell if I was in or not,” Westra said. “I heard that whistle and it was just nuts. It was an exciting play. I was ecstatic.”

The win halted a two-game skid for the Tigers and gave them their first SWC victory of the season against a pair of losses, while boosting their overall mark to 3-2.

“That was the ugliest win I think I've had in 15 years as a head coach, but it's a win,” Edwardsville coach Mark Bliss said. “After going two weeks without a win, just to find a way to fight back and get a win is huge.”

Meanwhile, two weeks after an exciting win over Belleville West on the final play of the game, Collinsville lost its homecoming game in heartbreaking fashion and fell to 1-4 overall and 1-2 in SWC play.

“My hat's off to Edwardsville,” Kahoks coach Mike Liljegren said. “They had to be frustrated with the way the night was going, but their kids hung in there and they stuck it in the end zone to win the game.”

Collinsville can hang its hat on the fact its defense was outstanding Friday. The Kahoks limited the Tigers to just 56 total yards in the first half and just 229 for the game and also scored a defensive touchdown.

“That had to be one of the best defensive efforts that we've seen around here in a long time,” Liljegren said. “That was just a great job by the defensive staff.”

The two teams played to a scoreless first quarter. That happens all the time in high school football and wouldn't be a big deal except when you consider last year's game was 21-14 after one quarter on the way to a 59-28 final score. The 2009 version of Edwardsville at Collinsville couldn't have been more different than the 2008 version.

“Both defenses played amazing,” Westra said.

The Kahoks broke the ice 4:38 into the second quarter with the defensive score.

Chris Tidwell made a leaping interception of a Westra pass at his own 44 and ran it back 56 yards for a 6-0 lead, as Jeremy Coulson's PAT was blocked.

Meanwhile, the Tigers were being stymied. Playing without standout junior running back Rodney Coe, they looked like they were stuck in neutral with just the 56 total yards in the first half.

But, the halftime break was a revelation for Edwardsville, as junior Reggie Box – Coe's replacement in the backfield for at least three weeks as a broken hand limits him to defense and special teams only – went straight up the gut for a 65-yard TD run on the first play from scrimmage in the second half.

“We found out what they were doing to us and we drew up a couple little wrinkles to try and give our kids a chance and it worked,” Bliss said. “Reggie's gonna have to be that guy to step in and do it for us. He's a breakaway threat when he gets the opportunity and he showed it tonight.”

Collinsville forged back ahead late in the third quarter with a quick five-play, 73-yard drive that included a 47-yard catch by Tre Lewis and was capped off by Chris Marshall's six-yard TD grab of an Austin Hails pass. The two-point conversion run failed and the Kahok lead stood at 12-7 entering the fourth quarter.

It was still 12-7 when the Kahoks took over at their own 28 with 6:50 to play and an opportunity to chew on some clock.

“I wanted to try to sit on it, but, I don't know, maybe that's not the right thing to do,” Liljegren said. “Maybe I should have thrown it and tried to make some first downs. But, we didn't and we went backwards and punted the ball and gave them that opportunity.”

On the Tigers' previous series, Bliss pulled Westra and inserted backup Mason McBride.

“It was just to try to cool him down and say 'hey we've got to find somebody that wants to win the game, someone that's gonna lead us and get the job done,'” Bliss said. “So, on that last series, I made the choice to put him back in and said 'Chase, you've got to get it done for us' and he said 'yes, sir.' Chase struggled tonight, but on that last drive, he found a way to get it done. I'm proud of him for that.”

The game-winning drive began at the Collinsville 49 and included some big moments. Westra hit Gabe Carpenter with an 18-yard pass on third-and-11 early in the series and later Edwardsville converted not one, but two fourth downs, including a nine-yard run by Westra on fourth-and-five at the Kahok 12. Three plays later, the 5-foot-11, 178-pound signal caller was in the end zone with his brief moment of not knowing whether or not he had scored.

“I hadn't been playing as well as I should have been,” Westra said. “I let my guys down a little bit, so I knew I needed to pick it up for them.”

And with it, came heartache for the Kahoks and their big homecoming crowd.

“John Blaylock, our defensive coordinator, made the comment after the game that it's tough because you get stop after stop and then you just can't get the one that'll keep them out of the end zone to win it,” Liljegren said. “I tell you what, the defense played lights out. They really did for the whole game. They had the one play to start the second half and they had the drive at the end. Other than that, we really did a great job of shutting them down.”

guptain@yourjournal.com