Without running back Tony Edwards the fourth-and fifth-grade Twisters might not have scored any points against the Chops.

Edwards scored two touchdowns to help his team defeat the Chops 15-6 Sunday at Youth Sports Inc.

Twisters head coach Roger Ross said Edwards did a good job of getting up the field.

“We stuck with our running game, and the O-line did a great job of opening up holes,” Ross said.

“My running back (Edwards) did a great job of reading those holes.”

The game didn’t start out with the Twisters gaining a lot of yards on the ground, though. It was actually the Chops that broke a long run in the first quarter.

Chops running back Trey Jimboy ran a sweep to the left and got around the corner to start up the sideline. He was met 5 yards downfield by a Twisters defender, but Jimboy threw a stiff arm with his right hand to shake the defender. He then ran 70 yards for the first touchdown of the game. A missed extra point attempt left the score 6-0 with three minutes to go in the first quarter.

The Chops may have held the lead but a troubling trend began for the Chops during the first quarter as well. The referees threw numerous flags because of holding penalties committed by the Chops during the quarter. The penalties continued throughout the rest of the game and cost the Chops valuable field position.

The second quarter is when Edwards turned on the heat. Five minutes before the break Edwards broke through one of his offensive line’s holes and cruised down the field for a 70-yard touchdown run of his own. The Twisters successfully completed their extra point attempt to grab a 7-6 lead.

The Twisters defense smothered all of the Chops’ offensive attacks during the second quarter. More penalties and a sustained drive gave the Twisters a chance to score with 14 seconds in the half. After the Twisters marched 40 yards down the field, a facemask penalty by the Chops set up one final play.

Twister running back Montana Locke breaks to the outside against the Chops on Sunday at Youth Sports Inc.

The Twisters ran the last play of the half from the 20 yard line, but came up short of the end zone to leave the score 7-6 at the break.

Neither team could put the finishing touches on the game during the third quarter, but that set up an exciting finish to the game.

With 5:45 left in the game, the Chops took over possession on the Twister 30-yard line. The Chops dropped the football on the first play of the drive but recovered 15 yards behind the line of scrimmage. The loss of yardage proved to be too much for the Chops to overcome, and the Twisters took over on downs.

The Twisters fumbled the ball on their second play and the Chops recovered.

The Chops had just 20 yards to go to take the lead, but they fumbled on the very next play to give the ball back to the Twisters.

Edwards had seen enough of the ball fumbling and took a handoff all the way down the field and into the end zone for six points. Twisters quarterback Austin Twombly then threw a two-point conversion pass to wide receiver Dominic Cole to finish off the Chops.