The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Bulldogs win squeaker over Shoremen
Avon Lake’s two-point conversion attempt fails in overtime
A back-and-forth Southwestern Conference slugfest came down to a two-point conversion attempt that was no good, as Olmsted Falls added a tough road victory against Avon Lake, 21-20, to its resume on Oct. 20.
In overtime, after Avon Lake answered Jack Spellacy’s twoyard touchdown run with a
7-yard touchdown run from Konner Riggs, coach Matt Kostelnik made a big decision.
For him, it was a no-brainer; go for the win.
“Really it was just a simple two-point play, trying to run a pick route and they covered it well, and we sailed it over the top a little bit,” Kostelnik said. “They had it covered well. It is what it is, but I figured being at home with the momentum, why not take a shot?”
Olmsted Falls coach Tom DeLuca had a feeling Avon Lake was going to go for the win..
“Yeah, I thought he would, and I would have to,” DeLuca said. “I think he made the right call. I would have done the same thing, in fact we did it last year.” Olmsted Falls edged
out Avon Lake, 29-28, last season.
The Bulldogs (8-1, 7-1 SWC) took it to Avon Lake early on with a ground-and-pound style offense, racking up dozens of yards. While Spellacy and Luke Lombardo established their dominance early, Olmsted Falls had nothing to show for it as their first couple of drives ended in an interception and a turnover.
Spellacy finished with 10 carries for 85 yards and one touchdown, while Lombardo had seven carries for 73 yards and one touchdown.
DeLuca thought his team came out aggressive early on.
“I thought we did an excellent job coming out and establishing what we wanted to do. We were inside the 30 on our first two series,” DeLuca said.
While Avon Lake’s defense had their hands full with a potent Bulldog rushing attack, the Shoremen offense got on the board first with a twoyard rushing touchdown run from quarterback Jack Mikolich. The junior went 12-of-23 for 157 yards, while adding nine carries for 54 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Before the Avon Lake players could finish celebrating, the Bulldogs’ Michael Howard had them jumping up and down for different reasons as he took an 83-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, quickly evening up the score at 7-7.
Howard finished with five carries for 30 yards.
After an Avon Lake fourth-and-9 conversion was broken up in the end zone by Olmsted Falls’ Lombardo, both teams settled for a 7-7 tie headed into the half.
The Shoremen (6-3, 5-3
SWC) gave the Bulldogs a little bit of their own medicine in the second half, delivering their own version of the ground and pound.
“Absolutely, our run game is the best part of our offense. They did a great job of just keeping steady, keeping steady, and then our quarterback had a great run in the second half too,” Kostelnik said. “The goal was to just keep boning up and play good defense. They had us on the ropes a little bit in that first half, but we were able to catch them with a couple of good opportunities.”
One of those opportunities was Mikolich’s 27yard quarterback keeper up the middle that put the Shoremen up 14-7 midway through the third quarter.
The Shoremen defense came up strong all night, but perhaps no one had a bigger night than Mike Sacco. The senior was all over the field, including two interceptions.
“He was incredible! How about that one handed one, right,” Kostelnik said. “Turnovers against a team like this, it’s great.”
Olmsted Falls found itself stumbling in the third quarter, as three consecutive penalties sent them backward.
DeLuca was understandably frustrated.
“I don’t think we lost the momentum, I think it was lost somewhere out there, but we didn’t lose it,” DeLuca said.
The Shoremen took momentum into the fourth quarter with a 14-7 lead, but a bobbled snap by the punter gave Olmsted Falls the field position they would need. The Bulldogs capitalized with an eightyard pass from Teddy Grendzynski to Spellacy with 8:55 left in the game.
It was the first of two touchdowns for Spellacy.
“It was good, our line, they picked us up and our quarterback executed. They did well,” Spellacy said.