The Paw Paw Red Wolves finished up the 2023 regular season ranked number 7 in the state and faced Edwardwardsburg in the opening round of the playoffs. This was a night for defense and Paw Paw’s hard-nosed defenders stepped up all night.
The first half was a battle for both teams' offenses, and Edwardsburg finally got on the board first, taking advantage of a short field to go up 7-0. They maintained the advantage and held the momentum until late in the second quarter, when the Red Wolves' Gunnar Goodell connected with Troy Vandenburg on a 35 yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 7.
That swing in momentum seemed to wake up the Red Wolves defense, who then pressured the Eddies deep in their own zone, culminating in a Landon Buhl sack of Edwardsburg’s Ezequiel Pegura for a safety, and Paw Paw all of a sudden led 9-7 at halftime.
Paw Paw opened the second half with a five minute scoring drive capped off by a PJ DeYoung touchdown run and Paw Paw extended their lead to 16-7. Neither team was able to cross the line again, and this ended up the final score.
Paw Paw is now one of the final 16 teams left in the state and will face Niles this Friday night. PJ Deyoung led the offense with 96 yards rushing. The defensive standouts were Dom Hernandez with 7 solo tackles, Cody Conolly had 6 solos, Landon Buhl recorded 2 sacks, Darrin Strey had two tackles for loss, and Bryson Newell and Gavin Turk recorded sacks of their own.