The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Rivals ready for a rematch
Avon, Avon Lake met in Region 6 final last year, and in Week 1 this season
For the second straight season, the Avon and Avon Lake football teams are set to square off in the Division II, Region 6 final.
Avon Lake defeated Toledo Central Catholic, 16-14, in a thriller, while Avon downed BrecksvilleBroadview Heights, 38-28, in both teams’ respective regional semifinals on Oct. 30. This will be Avon’s fourth straight regional final berth.
“It’s always a big week when we are playing them,” Avon coach Mike Elder said. “It’s funny, we always feel like ... we’ve beaten them in the regular season and always feel like, for some reason, we look around and feel like we were the ones who lost the game because there’s always something surrounding those games that lead people to believe that. I’m sure they are excited to play us, and I guarantee we’re excited to play them as well.”
Elder is right. Following their win over Central Catholic, the Shoremen vowed to be ready for the rematch with their rivals.
“It’s going to come down to mistakes,” Avon Lake coach Matt Kostelnik said. “In the last three outings, we made the mistakes. We have to come out firing, we have to come out getting after it, we have to come out and play a physical game and finish.”
The teams met in last season’s regional final in North Ridgeville, with Avon coming out on top, 20-3. This time, the Eagles will be on their home turf Nov. 6.
“We’re both really good football teams that are wellcoached and have great players,” Elder said. “Lorain County is lucky to have two programs like that because that’s high school football at its finest.”
The last time these two teams met was Week 1, with Avon rallying from a 24-7 halftime deficit to down Avon Lake on the road in double overtime, 33-30.
“We came out and played physical in the first half (Week 1) and then we were searching for that play in the second half and it never game,” Kostelnik said. “We have to figure out how to manufacture that and get after it.
“What we expect out of a well-coached Coach Elder team is that they are going to be physical and they are going to get after it, too. Winning third down and not making mistakes is going to be the key to the game against that team.”
There’s no doubt this game will be a good one with both teams looking for a win over their arch rival.
“We are going to patch everything up this week, limit turnovers, watch a lot of film and get our minds right,” Avon Lake senior Gage Duesler said. “We’re going to fight like hell to come out of that game victorious.”
Late reschedule
Brookside coach Scott O’Donnell and his team found themselves in a unique situation Oct. 30.
The second-year Cardinals coach had just finished teaching a class when Brookside athletic director Chris Adkins walked into his classroom and delivered a bombshell.
Their game against Clearview that was set to kick off in a few hours had been canceled due to a positive COVID-19 test from a Clippers staff member.
“Chris walks in to my class around 11:55 a.m. and he had his mask on and you could just tell, he had one
of those looks on his face,” O’Donnell said. “He said Clearview has to cancel but he said hold on, there’s another team that I think we can possibly go with. I said, ‘OK, let’s do it.’”
O’Donnell was on board for the ‘pick-up game’ because his team had been preparing all week to play a game. He also wanted to get his seniors on the field one last time, so the Cardinals hit the road and set off for Painesville to take on Harvey.
“We talk about finishing and we’re talking about (the seniors’) last game,” O’Donnell said. “My son (Matthew) is one of them, he’s a senior. So to go out and not have a game and not have that chance in your last game, that’s what I was thinking. That was a possibility and it didn’t happen, we ended up having a game.”
O’Donnell and his staff scrambled to gather as much information as possible on the Red Raiders prior to the start of their tilt.
“We got a couple of films and tried to do the best we could,” O’Donnell said. “Offensively, it was a lot different game plan that we would have had. We did soso on offense. Defensively, it was very similar. (Harvey’s) quarterback was a stud, just like Clearview, so it was
similar game plan-wise. It was crazy.”
Brookside held a 17-6 lead with just over seven minutes to go in the third quarter before Harvey stormed back. The Red Raiders scored 14 straight points to complete a 20-17 comeback victory over the Cardinals.
“On the hour ride home on the bus you reflect on it and just say, ‘ wow,’” O’Donnell said. “I put a tweet out there about Chris and the job he did. He came into my room already having that next idea and that’s huge. It was an unbelievable three or four hours.”
While Brookside finished with a 2-8 record for the second straight season under O’Donnell, he likes the direction his program is headed.
“I think if you look at the schedule going into our game against Clearview (that was canceled), we won one conference game last year against Oberlin,” O’Donnell said. “This year, if we beat Clearview, we have three conference wins.
“We’re in the games and I think everyone around us knows we are a different team and a different program. Teams can’t just throw their stuff out there and beat us. They have to play a game and we’re going to get after you.”