The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Avon Lake wins thriller; Amherst routs Clippers
Jack Mikolich hit Caleb Burr with a 6-yard TD pass to give Avon Lake a 21-20 win over Elyria and Khennedy Scagliozzo scored four TDs in the Comets’ 41-6 win.
Avon Lake has given new head coach Matt Kostelnik his first win of the season.
The Shoremen (1-0) kicked off opening night with a hard-fought home victory over the Elyria Pioneers (0-1), 21-20, in a nonconference matchup at Avon Lake Memorial Stadium on Aug. 25.
Kostelnik was still catching his breath after watching the thrilling way to open up his tenure at Avon Lake.
“Yeah, I mean that was intense all the way to the end, but I told the guys that they really played like a team tonight. We were down on certain parts and then defense picked us up. Then we were a little gassed and here comes the offense marching down the field,” Kostelnik said.
The Pioneers and Shoremen were locked in a backand-forth affair for most of the evening. With both teams struggling to muster a consistent offensive rhythm. The close contest made its way into the fourth quarter, where the Pioneers took the lead off a Tristian Arno quarterback scramble. But Avon Lake, as resilient as they are, wasn’t done yet. Junior quarterback Jack Mikolich led the team down the field and connected with receiver Caleb Burr for a 6-yard touchdown to give the Shoremen back the
momentum, tying the contest at 20-20.
“It feels great. This is my first time and most of the guys really went through it. That was a team win and we really fought through it. We grinded hard during two-a-days and we knew we could come out with the win,” Burr said.
He finished with two catches for eight yards and one touchdown.
A Noah Fowkes extra point, his third of the evening, gave the Shoremen a 21-20 lead.
Mikolich had an upand-down evening but shook off some opening night jitters to finish 11 of 31 for 196 yards and two touchdowns.
“My line did a great job tonight. They got me a lot of time to throw at my receivers and we just connected and ended up winning,” Mikolich said.
Avon Lake grabbed the lead late in the first quarter with a Konnor Riggs 17-yard touchdown run. Riggs tallied 31 carries for 87 yards and one touchdown on the evening.
Elyria hung tough all evening, despite injuries to their starting quarterback and kicker.
“We lost our kicker (Caleb Lewis), our punter and our quarterback (Dontae Beckett) all in 48 hours. A soccer match took our kicker ... It is what it is guys,” coach Sean Arno said.