Box Score Jacksonville, Florida-The 2023 season did not open the way Edward Waters intended for it to as the Tigers dropped a disappointing 38-21 decision to rival Florida Memorial in the "Big Cat Classic" Saturday afternoon at Nathaniel Glover Community Field & Stadium. 

For the Tigers (0-1, 0-0 SIAC), the primary culprit in the loss was their issues with penalties. Edward Waters committed 12 penalties for 139 yards in the contest with many of them being personal foul infractions that costed them valuable field position. 

Edward Waters appeared to have the look of a team on a mission in their opening drive of the contest as quarterback Jyron Russell punctuated a 12 play, 65 yard opening drive with a 10 yard touchdown pass to tight end Raveon Moore to give the Tigers a 7-0 lead. Florida Memorial (1-1, 0-0 TSC) returned the favor on the ensuing drive with a touchdown pass of their own to knot the score up at 7-7 at the end of the first quarter. 

FMU took their first lead of the contest with 12:18 remaining in the second quarter thanks to a 22 yard field goal. The Tigers found paydirt once again on their ensuing drive with a 27-yard TD pass on fourth down from Russell to newcomer Arsiah McCorker to retake the lead at 14-10 with 9:35 left. Just before halftime, the Lions scored on a 24-yard TD pass to capture the lead again at 17-14 going into the locker room.

In the late stages of the third, FMU scored again on a long TD pass, this one of 53 yards to double up their lead to 10 at 24-21. 

Early in the fourth, running back Greg Mango got the Tigers back on the board with a 14-yard touchdown pass to cut the deficit to three at 24-21 with 13:20 remaining. Florida Memorial pushed their advantage back out to 10 with 9:30 remaining on a seven-yard TD pass, then later put the final nail in the EWU coffin with a 46-yard TD run to earn the 17 point victory and second straight win over EWU.

Edward Waters defensively had a difficult time stopping a vaunted FMU offense, giving up 419 yards to the Lions. On the other side however, the EWU offense was relatively balanced, posting 404 yards (217 passing, 133 rushing)

Russell finished his day going 27-41 passing for 252 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. Leading the squad through the air was wide receiver Johnny Jones with 11 receptions for 88 yards, McCorker adding 5 snags for 63 yards and Yanez Rogers also posting five catches for 66 yards. Mango ended up leading EWU on the ground with 10 carries for 73 yards and a touchdown, while DeShaun Hugee finished with 14 carries for 51 yards.

Defensively, linebacker Widmyer Garçon led Edward Waters with 11 total tackles including one for loss. Kamren Thomas also aided the EWU efforts recording an interception.

Edward Waters will look to regroup next Saturday afternoon as they will open SIAC play against the defending conference and Division II HBCU National Champion Benedict College Tigers. Kickoff is set for 4:00pm.

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