Over the years, the Edgewood High School football team has put up many memorable moments on the playing field.

Courtesy of a gutsy effort on both sides of the ball, the Cougars added one more Friday night.

With their playoff lives on the line, the Cougars upset previously unbeaten and state-ranked Mt. Healthy, ruining the Owls homecoming with a 14-10 win.

“We talked to the players before the game about ‘defining moments’ and tonight the guys had one as a team,” Edgewood High coach Scott Clemmons said. “We played a great football team tonight but we wanted to make a statement as team and we did it. Our program, our community, our team, we had a defining moment tonight.”

Edgewood, 7-2, 4-2 Southwest Ohio Conference, set the tone early that the game would be a physical one, taking the opening kickoff in 12 bruising running plays in just over eight minutes to snag a 7-0 lead on a Eric Pelfrey 1-yard plunge.

Mt. Healthy responded by driving to the Edgewood 24-yard line but the Cougars held on fourth down. The game settled to a defensive battle after that, with Edgewood dodging a bullet with an end zone interception by David Jones with under a minute to go in the half after Mt. Healthy took over on the 15 on a fumbled punt.

Mt. Healthy, which played the game without injured Tyree Elliott, the league’s leading rusher, took the second-half kickoff nine plays in 4:28 but the Cougars held the Owls to a Mason Boltner field goal.

Leon Currie Davis led the Owls, 8-1, 5-1 SWOC, with 122 yards on 22 carries.

Greg Green took over the quarterbacking duties in the second half and gave the Owls a brief lead, hitting Antonio Grey on a 25-yard scoring strike in the fourth.

Edgewood responded with a bone-crushing drive, running right at the Owls before AJ Pieratt scored from 17 yards out to give the Cougars a 14-10 lead with six minutes left.

Mt. Healthy could manage only one first down before turning the ball over on downs and Edgewood ran the clock out.

“That is the best defensive effort we have had all year,” Clemmons said. “Mt. Healthy is a great football team but we are a good team, too. Our 25 seniors can look back at this moment and always remember it. “

Edgewood hosts Harrison next week while Mt. Healthy will play Northwest with the league title on the line.