The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Long balls prove too much for the Tribe
Sam Travis and Tzu-Wei Lin hit their first major-league home runs and the Boston Red Sox tied a team record more than a century old with their 105th win, beating the Indians, 7-5.
Avon went into the home of Southwestern Conference foe Midview and dominated in a 49-6 win Sept. 21.
Not only did the Eagles have to overcome a desperate Middies team looking for their first win, but they had to overcome 17 penalties for 170 yards.
Avon (4-1) rushed for 320 yards, led by Aaron Endrizal’s 142.
“A sloppy game in the first half and a lot of penalties,” Avon coach Mike Elder said. “A lot of things I don’t agree with. It has nothing to do with either team. Bottom line is Midview played really hard and hung in there. But the officiating in this game was like any other I’ve ever been a part of. It was frustrating, but at the same time hats off to Midview.
Those kids played very hard.”
Eagles quarterback Ryan Maloy completed 14 of 20 passes for 150 yards, 116 in the first half, and rushed for 78 yards and a touchdown.
The Middies rode starter Andrew Gooch throughout the night, and he finished with 22 of 46 for 278 yards and an interception.
The theme for Midview was missed opportunities in the first half, including failing on a fourth-and-9 play at Avon’s 15-yard line in the second quarter and botching an opportunity to score at the end of the half with two bobbled snaps at Avon’s 27-yard line. They trailed at the half, 21-6.
“I feel like every time we get into the red zone, we’re overly confident,” Gooch said. “But teams have been stopping us and we need to fix that.”
Avon opened the second half with a 97-yard punt return touchdown from Joey Lance with 9:33 that opened the floodgates.
It was Lance’s first career punt return touchdown.
“They didn’t really punt where they usually punt it,” Lance said. “I thought I had some space, picked it up, had some good blocks and found the lane and scored. It’s all momentum in high school, offense played well, defense and special teams.”
Maloy capped off a strong day with a 38-yard rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter with 8:31 remaining for a 42-6 lead.
Wide receiver Isiah Johnson provided a bright spot for Midview, posting 104 yards on seven catches.
“We got in the red zone on them and weren’t able to convert,” Midview coach DJ Shaw said. “That’s a good football team and we tried our best to give them the best game we could. We’ve shown glimpses this year that we can be good. We’re looking for consistency and we have some talented kids and just haven’t put together for a whole game.”
Elder understands a win is a win, but won’t let the penalties slide as Avon looks to have a strong second half of the season.
“I have to lead that and I didn’t do a very good job of leading that,” Elder said about the penalties. “There were some things I didn’t react to very well that I should have done a better job of. I have to lead and have them ignore that (officiating) and just play the football game.”