Greatness isn’t an adjective used lightly sports. Being great is an attribute every team and every player strives for, but very few actually achieve greatness. This year the Tiger football team is well on their way to doing just that.

With multiple fresh faces in the starting lineup for the Tigers this year, the team began the season with a lot of question marks. Appointed to starting quarterback this season, junior Dan Marinko has done his best to turn those into exclamation points.

After being named the player of the week by the Belleville News Democrat two consecutive weeks to start the season, Marinko gained the confidence he needed to lead his team to victory against the once No. 2 team in Illinois, East St. Louis.

Edwardsville Team Manager Dave Caulk even made the claim that Marinko is the “future of Edwardsville football.”

With the support of an incredible defense, and a backfield and receiver lineup that consists of multiple Division 1 prospects including seniors Darius Crochrell, Craig James, and D’Anthony Knight to name a few, the Tigers are definitely earning their stripes throughout the state.

The Tigers are trying their best to not let their early success get to their heads.

“Be humble, but be real. That’s the road to success,” Knight said via his twitter account.

Currently ranked No. 11 in the state, they still have a bit of a climb to reach their ultimate goal of a state championship, but with the way the Tigers have looked so far this season its definitely a reasonable goal.

With blow out wins over Hazelwood West, Soldan and Alton, and a nail-biting victory over an East St. Louis team stacked with Division 1 recruits, the Tigers have all the makings of being a great football team.