The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Avon Lake holds off Avon’s late game rally
Eagles suffer first conference loss since 2018, fall to 2-2
One of the area’s fiercest rivalries again came down to the wire on Sept. 10.
Avon and Avon Lake met in the Southwestern Conference’s opening week and left it all on the field. An explosive first half turned out to be the difference as Avon Lake came out on top, 30-24.
“It’s crazy. I couldn’t have scripted a worse first half. But our kids fought back and clawed back. And in the end we had a chance,” Avon head coach Mike Elder said.
Early miscues cost the Eagles as they were left playing catch-up for most of the second
half. They almost pulled it off, scoring two touchdowns and shutting out Avon Lake in the second half, but another late fumble gave the game right back to the Shoremen.
The win sends Avon Lake to 4-0 and puts them squarely in the driver’s seat for the outright Southwestern Conference championship with five weeks to go.
Avon falls to 2-2, suffering it’s first conference loss since 2018 — when Avon Lake knocked it off in the SWC opener.
The Eagles went ahead on their first drive as sophomore Jakorion Caffey took three handoffs in a row ending with a 34-yard dash to the end zone.
After that it was all Avon Lake.
“The problem was that we just needed to settle down and settle in,” Avon Lake head coach Matt Kostelnik said. “We knew that they are a good football team, we just needed to get into what we needed to do.”
The Eagles turned the ball over four times in the first half — including three fumbles that resulted in points for the Shoremen.
Avon Lake’s starting quarterback — who normally starts at wide receiver — Jake DePaul managed an efficient Shoremen offense. DePaul was five-for-six in the first half with 126-yards and a pair
of touchdown passes in the first half. He also added seven carries for 30 yards and a score.
“I’m just thankful to be a part of this team. I’m thankful for these coaches, my linemen and my receivers,” DePaul said.
Both of DePaul’s touchdowns went to Matthew Stuewe, who finished the game with five catches for
111 yards. Stuewe made a spectacular catch on the goal-line to set up DePaul’s rushing score and later caught an 11-yard touchdown from his quarterback.
“I couldn’t even see him when I threw it to him,” DePaul said of his first touchdown to Stuewe. “He makes my job so easy, all I have to do is throw it to him. I’m just thankful that kid
worked his butt off all offseason and it’s paying off now.”
The second half saw Avon storm back with explosive plays. Starting quarterback Sam DeTillio threw a pair of touchdown passes to Caffey in the final 24 minutes — including a 66-yarder that got the Eagles back within a score.
Avon forced a punt with Avon Lake backed up deep in its own territory late in the fourth quarter and a stellar return set the Eagles up with outstanding field position. But the turnover bug struck again as Avon fumbled the ball back to the Shoremen with just under three minutes remaining.
Avon Lake converted one first down and received another on a face mask penalty to ice the game.
“The beauty is we’ve seen these guys in the playoffs the last couple of years and we hope that you don’t have to live with this for 365 days and you get another crack (at them),” Elder said.