Avon survives scare from upstart North Ridgeville

The loud noise heard in Lorain County on Oct. 13 may have been the collective sigh of relief from the Avon faithful.

Tony Eberhardt’s six-yard touchdown with 6:41 left in the game gave the host Eagles the lead. The defense held and Eberhardt and his offensive line ran out the last four minutes as the top-ranked team in Division II held on for a 19-14 Southwestern Conference win over North Ridgeville.

“I’m proud of our kids,” Avon coach Mike Elder said. “They won a close football game. Whenever you’re us and you win a lot of games; people get spoiled and think it happens automatically.

“This was an awesome opportunity to remind people the other team practices, too. They have good players, too. North Ridgeville played their butts off. But so did our kids.”

North Ridgeville (1-7, 1-6) took a stunning 14-13 lead early in the fourth quarter with Cade Riley getting on the edge and diving into the end zone to score from 29 yards out.

But Avon (8-0, 7-0) responded.

Overcoming a pair of penalties and leaning on the rushing duo of Eberhardt and Ryan Maloy, the Eagles took the ball into Rangers’ territory. Maloy (20-28, 186) hit passes of five (David Orlando) and 29 (Chris Mullins) to set up first-and-goal on the Rangers’ six-yard line.

On the next play, Eberhardt scored to give Avon a 19-14 lead after a failed twopoint conversion.

After leaning on Shomari Williams (34 carries, season-high 220 yards), the Rangers went right back

to him as they tried to regain the lead. Four straight runs by Williams took them to the Avon 29. But a fiveyard loss on a running play and two passes that went awry gave Avon the ball back with four minutes left.

Eberhardt, who finished with 72 yards on 13 carries, garnered a first down on two runs. After a penalty and a run by Eberhart, Maloy (11-71) sealed the win with a seven-yard scamper to record the final first down.

“We all knew we were going to run the ball,” Eberhardt said. “I looked at the line and told them I trust them and you trust me so let’s get after it … pound it down their throats.

“(After the score), I felt like the trust kept going up and up with me, the Oline and the team. The Oline was a huge part (in the win). I give them all the credit.”

Eberhardt gave Avon a 7-0 lead in the first quarter with an eight-yard run only to see Williams match the score with a one-yard plunge. Avon took a 13-7 lead into the half when Maloy hit Matt Kennedy from six yards out.

Though Williams’ efforts didn’t result in the win, he knew what his team accomplished.

“One thing which has been hurting us all year is that we one (play) one half of the game,” Williams said. “We did our 1/11th for the whole game. I am so proud of our team.’

After last week’s win, North Ridgeville coach Luke Durbin knew how close his team was to pulling off the upset for their second win of the year.

“We needed to make one more play,” Durbin said.