The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Big second half lifts Avon into next round
Eagles advance to face Brecksville-Broadview Heights in regional semifinal
AVON 35, HIGHLAND 14
The Avon football team showed no signs of slowing down after another dominant playoff performance.
The Eagles (8-0) used a big second half to down Highland (4-3), 35-14, in a Division II, Region 6 quarterfinal. Avon advances and will host fifthseeded Brecksville-Broadview Heights on Oct. 30 in a regional semifinal.
“I couldn’t be more proud,” Avon coach Mike Elder said. “We were able to get our kids excited about the game of football and play a lot harder in the second half. I think that was the difference.”
Avon got its offense going early and often as the Eagles jumped to a 21-0 lead with a little over nine minutes remaining in the second quarter. The ground game was working for the Eagles as all three first-half scores came via long touchdown runs from Gavin Ehrhardt (18 yard run), Devon Hunter (29 yard run) and Niko Pappas (36 yard run). Running back Desmond Kelly added 23 rushing yards on five carries in the contest.
“Desmond Kelly and Devon Hunter are tremendous backs,” Elder said. “They are physical, big and strong backs. They are both are 210 (pounds) plus. Then you have Niko doing some stuff off the read option and he’s an elusive kid himself. I’m very proud of them.”
Despite trailing by three scores, Highland didn’t go away as the Hornets fought back in a hurry. Following Avon’s third score of the first half, Highland engineered a seven-minute scoring drive that ended with a Lukas Stiles one yard TD run. On the ensuing kickoff, the Hornets recovered an Avon fumble on the Eagles’ 32-yard line.
Highland took full advantage of the turnover and scored another touchdown just before the half to pull within seven points when Aaron Filips connected with Max Kohmann on a six-yard TD.
The second half was a different story as Avon came out with energy and set the tone early.
“It was (all about) effort and energy,” Elder said. “It’s easy sometimes for
teenage kids without the fans to fall asleep. I feel like we are a good team when we play with a lot of emotion, energy and effort. Credit to our opponents, they got in the hole 21-0 and I think our kids might have thought they were going to lay down for us. That’s not what’s going to happen in the playoffs against any team.”
Avon forced a Highland three-and-out on its opening possession of the second half and never looked back. The Eagles cruised the rest of the way and scored two more times to close the game out. Hunter scored on touchdown runs of 15 and three yards en route to a 124 yard performance on the ground.
“We followed our blocks and the offensive line did great,” Hunter said. “I give all the credit to them.”
Avon’s defense clamped down in the second half, forcing Highland to punt twice and turn the ball
over on downs twice in the Hornets’ four possessions of the second half.
“We started to take our foot off the gas a little bit in the first half,” Pappas said. “We went into that locker room and said ‘let’s go, it’s the playoffs.’ (On defense), we fixed what we had to in the locker room. Some people weren’t in the right gaps so we talked it up and we came out ready to play.”
Avon will get back to work at practice this week as the Eagles prepare for their fourth straight regional semifinal appearance. Coach Elder and his Eagles will look to minimize the turnovers and play a complete game against the Bees next week.
“If you’re going to turn the ball over — and we turned it over twice in the first half — against a good team, you end up in a really close football game like we were at halftime.”