by Amherst, OH: Senior QB Cole Norris passes Tyler Brizina for most career TD passes in Amherst school history during Amherst’s 44-10 victory vs Elyria. Norris would have to wait to break the record. Fellow senior JR Bires would get Amherst on the scoreboard first on their first possession of the night. Bites ran the ball five times on the first drive for the Comets for 51 yards, and the last rush for 3 yards gave the Comets a 7-0 lead.
Elyria would punt their next possession, but Amherst would fumble on the return; picking up that fumble would be Elyria’s Teo Perez. He would take the fumble recovery to the 28-yard line, aided by a 15-yard penalty on Amherst, which gave the Pioneers their best field position of the night. Sophomore kicker Lex Brunner, made a 27-yard field goal to cut the Comet lead to 7-3. Brunner would also go on to make a PAT later in the game. Her counterpart, Maddie Gates, would go six for six on PATs for Amherst.
On the next Amherst possession, it would be Bires again; he would rush three times for 68 yards, which included a 43-yard TD run to give the Comets a 14-3 lead. On the next Amherst possession, Norris would enter the history books. He would rush twice on the drive for 36 yards before throwing career TD pass number 31 to Cael Charles. That would make it 21-3 in favor of the Comets.
On the next Comet drive, Bires would run three times for 42 yards before his QB, Norris, would run a QB sneak into the end zone to extend the Comet lead to 28-3. On the next Amherst possession, senior RB Charlie Lippus would join the Comet TD parade as he would have a 7-yard TD run to extend the lead to 35-3.
Amherst wasn’t quite done in the first half. The Comets would get the ball in Pioneer territory and march again down the field. Junior Peyton Gilles would get into the mix with three rushes for 27 yards, including an 11-yard run that would score 6 points for the Comets, extending their lead to 42-7, which they would bring to halftime.
Cole Norris would show off his leg differently in the second half. He would have a punt of 49 yards that pinned Elyria at their own two-yard line. Following a negative play on the first play of the possession, Levi Springer would get the ball on a run and be unable to get out of the endzone, resulting in a safety for Amherst, extending their lead to 44-3.
The next Elyria possession would go a lot better for the Pioneers. Pioneer QB Antonio Pride would go 4 for 5 passing for 79 yards on the drive, which ended in a 56-yard TD pass to Springer to make it 44-10, which would be the game’s final score.
With the win, Amherst gets back on track and now sits at 6-2 on the year, including a 3-2 record in SWC play. They have their toughest test of the year next week as they play undefeated Avon.
For Elyria, the loss puts them at 0-8 on the season, 0-5 in SWC play. They will head home for senior night as they will host Midview.
Players of the Game
Amherst: Cole Norris, the senior QB, set the Amherst career passing TD record with his 31st passing TD of his career. Tonight, he would finish 2/4 passing for 14 yards and TD number 31 of his career. He would rush seven times for 68 yards and a TD. He also had a 49-yard punt, leading to a Comet safety. He would only play in the first half on offense, but that is all he needed to make history.
Elyria: QB Antonio Pride, the junior QB in his 2nd ever start, would show a massive improvement from a week ago. He would finish 13/22 for 116 yards with his first career TD pass. After his first start, where he would throw for negative passing yards, Pride battled all night for his team and never gave up, even after he lost his starting RB.
Lex Brunner is not a female kicker. He is a boy. Please correct your articles information.