by For the second year in a row, perennial playoff football teams Chardon and Avon Lake are playing each other.
When the squads meet at 7 p.m. Friday at Avon Lake, some believe it will be a matchup of teams that are somewhat playing against character.
But will it?
First of all, Chardon and coach Mitch Hewitt lost more than 30 seniors from a team that made a fifth consecutive run to the regional finals last year, winning state titles in 2020 and 2021. But Avon Lake coach Matt Kostelnik knows that his team will be facing the same, old Chardon, just with different players.
“Across the board, they look like Chardon,” Kostelnik said. “They are who they are. They tend to just reload. Mitch has it working over there. He does a great job. It’s going to be more of the same.”
On the other hand, Avon Lake is a team that is seeking its seventh consecutive playoff berth and also has a state title in 2003 on its resume. There have been some recent struggles for the Shoremen, who lost four of their last five games last season and followed a season-opening victory over Strongsville with a 40-16 loss to Benedictine last week. But Hewitt knows better than to think Avon Lake is going to just hand the game to the Hilltoppers.
“They’re talented,” Hewitt said. “They’ve got more Power Four guys on their roster than we’ve had in probably 10 years. They play in a tough league, and they’ve won consistently.”
The frontline players for Avon Lake are junior offensive lineman Max Riley, who has offers from just about every major program in the country, and receiver Luke Stuewe, who is verbally committed to Virginia Tech.
The teams met last year at Chardon, with the Hilltoppers taking a 28-10 decision. Hewitt said the final score was what he refers to as a “deceiving score,” as the game was closer than the final numbers would indicate.
“Avon Lake came to our place last year, and it was sort of a lopsided score, but it was 0-0 at the end of the first quarter,” he said. “We punted six times in that game, and I don’t think we punted six times in a game the rest of the year. They had our number defensively for a considerable portion of the game. So now, the shoe is on the other foot. We’re going to their place, and I have to imagine revenge is on their mind. We have to make sure our kids are ready.”
Kostelnik said revenge isn’t foremost on the minds of the Shoremen, who are instead focusing on what they can learn from last year’s loss and how they can avoid the same things this year.
“For us, it’s about knowing where we went wrong last year,” he said. “We had four possessions inside their 30 in the first half and only came away with seven points. When you’re playing a team that’s physical and disciplined like Chardon, you have to take advantage of those opportunities inside the red zone. Our primary focus is finishing drives and putting points on the board when we have opportunities.”
Avon Lake has the unenviable task of bringing a new quarterback into the starting lineup to face Chardon, as Alex Affolter, who threw for nearly 2,000 yards last year, broke his hand early in the second quarter last week against Benedictine. The senior might be able to return late in the season, but for now, the quarterbacking duties have been handed to senior Owen Fach.
“He took over last week and he played a little bit last year, especially toward the end when we kind of mixed it up a little bit,” Kostelnik said. “So, he has a little bit of experience. He played mostly JV quarterback last year until we needed him to play a lot more linebacker. He’s got some experience under his belt, and he does some things very well. We’re excited to see what he’s going to bring to the table.”
The change at quarterback also brings about a change in the offensive game plan.
“We live by players, formation, plays,” Kostelnik said. “That’s our motto. So, we’re going to have to change things up in order to maximize what Owen can do. We have our base that all of our quarterbacks are expected to be at, but whoever is at the helm, we want to call plays that cater to his strengths.”
No matter what the game plan is for either team, both coaches agree that this one will come down to the usual—the play at the line of scrimmage.
“They take great pride in their people up front and we take great pride in our people up front,” Hewitt said. “The game’s won and lost there each and every week. To me, the trenches will decide the game. It’s cliché, but it’s true.”
Avon Lake has four experienced players on the offensive line, probably the strength of the team. Hewitt said that the Hilltoppers have to be concerned with defending receivers Stuewe and Aiden Stewart. Chardon’s defense is led by linebackers Alexander Ash and Jayden Buth, who had 14 tackles and an interception last week in his team’s 42-0 beatdown of Tiffin Columbian, a team that defeated Chardon last year.
Chardon had nine different players carry the ball against Columbian and their top four rushers have combined for 567 yards in two games. The Hilltoppers will throw the ball every once in a while, but their bread and butter is the power running game, led by Drayton Allgood with 255 yards on 24 carries, an average of 10.6 yards per carry. Fullback Vinny Colombi has scored seven touchdowns already for Chardon.
“We’ve got to control the line of scrimmage, and we have to play physical from start to finish,” Kostelnik said. “We also have to maximize points on the board. We left too many points out there last year. When you play a team like that, the goal is to get up and make them uncomfortable. If it’s neck-and-neck in the third quarter, that’s their wheelhouse. That’s where they want to be. We have to match their physicality, and we have to put the ball in the end zone. That’s our priority.”
Magill’s pick: Chardon. Maybe a change at quarterback can bring new life to an Avon Lake offense that has scored just 37 points thus far, but that seems to be too much to overcome against a Chardon team that appears to be firing on all cylinders.
