PEPPER PIKE — The young Edgewood gridiron squad grew up in a big way at Orange on Friday night and almost pulled off a classic comeback.

However, the Warriors came up a couple of yards short of possibly giving themselves a chance to tie the game. Two yards short by estimation and the Warriors were outlasted by the Lions, 34-26.

The Warriors (0-3) rallied after being behind 27-12 at intermission. They held Orange in check for most of the second half defensively, allowing just 68 yards after surrendering 284 yards at the midway point. Edgewood passed for 178 yards and totaled 117 on the ground in the game.

Stefan Dobriansky rushed for a team-high 60 yards.

In the meantime, the Warriors closed to within 27-26 following a 12-yard touchdown pass from Marc Bartone to Ricky Kaydo in the third quarter and a 24-yarder from Bartone to Justin Rodrigues with seven minutes left in the game.

Kaydo (four catches, 63 yards, two TD’s) caught the two-point conversion pass from Bartone as Edgewood was without the services of placekicker Joey DiTirro all night because of an injury.

The key to it all was a 17-yard interception return by defensive end Ethan Colby to the Lions’ 44-yard line.

Orange (2-1) countered the Edgewood score with the help of a Nate Terhune 41-yard kickoff return to the Warriors’ 24. Terrance Thomas bulled in six plays later for a three-yard TD run.

The final chance for Edgewood came with four minutes left in the contest. At their own 26-yard line, the Warriors first converted a 21-yard pass to the Lions’ 38 from Bartone to Devin McCaleb on a fake punt with two minutes left.

Using great clock management and showing the confidence of a veteran team, Edgewood got a pass interference call on Orange that moved the ball to the 23 and stopped the clock at 34 seconds to go. After an incomplete pass on first down, Bartone picked up a first down on an 11-yard run. The game looked to be over after Bartone was sacked back to the 23 on the very next play with just eight seconds left.

The Warriors then rolled Bartone (9-15, 178 yards, two TDs) out to the right and his pass was tipped but fell into the hands of teammate Devon Anderson at the 14. Anderson sprinted across the field, only to be knocked out of bounds at the 2-yard line as time expired.

“We felt we could beat them (down the field),” an exhausted first-year Edgewood coach Joe Kearney said about the last series. “We just didn’t get the ball in the end zone (on the last drive). We ran out of time.

“The idea was to throw the ball on a sprint out by Bartone to the outside. If the guys weren’t open, he could run. He did run down there (on the one play). We have a couple of good receivers (in Devon Anderson and Ricky Kaydo). We came awful close.”

Orange had taken an early lead on touchdown passes from Bitzer of 75 yards to Scott Piro and Thomas for 50 yards. Edgewood countered with a 31-yard interception return by Devon Anderson and a 27-yard TD pass from Bartone to Kaydo.

Orange scored twice in the second quarter on a Thomas 4-yard run and a 20-yard TD strike from Bitzer to Ronelle Lovelace.