by Heading into the 2017 season, the Shoremen saw a switch of head coach as Dave Dlugosz decided to retire. The reigns of the historic program were turned over to 32-year-old and former Avon Lake Shoremen Matthew Kostelnik.
The new coach had grown up in Avon Lake, idolizing such sports stars as Sandy Alomar, Mark Price and Troy Polamalu. He played wide receiver and safety for the 2003 State Champion Avon Lake Shoremen. From there, he went to play at Mount Union where he played on two national championship teams as a player and one as a coach. Kostelnik brought a winning tradition with him to the Shoremen.
He explains why playing for Avon Lake helped him in college and also why he decided to return and coach at Avon Lake, “Mental toughness. During those days you had to wait to play at Avon Lake. It was rare that a sophomore saw the field. Combine that with the success of the program Coach Dlugosz set me up to be successful.
Coach Kehres offered me a job coaching LB in the spring of my senior year. Spent two seasons with the Raiders and got a job at Notre Dame College. My three season there I was recruiting coordinator, LBs, safeties, and my last season I was defensive coordinator. The next two years were spent at Beachwood as defensive coordinator. Came home after that spending one year as an assistant and one year as offensive coordinator before taking over as head coach.
I enjoy helping kids and this was the next logical step in the process. The opportunity to take over your alma mater is an incredible way to give back to the community and program that helped me on my path in life.
It gets over looked how lucky I have been to take over an established program with a rich history like Avon Lake. Tweak a program, rather than having to build something new, is such an advantage to early success and continued positive growth. Coach Dlugosz has helped me so much along the way, taking my calls whenever I need him. I think the motivation to keep building on the strong foundation that Coach Dlugosz and the other Shoremen coach’s built is pressure worth having.”
As we began 2017, the Avon Eagles were led by Maloy and sudden sensation at running back Nick Perusek in a game that they had thought about nonstop since the past November when an errant pass ended an unbeaten season.
The teams traded early touchdowns as Avon used a 4 play 30-yard drive for a Tony Eberhardt 8 yard touchdown scamper. The Shoremen wasted no time answering as they bolted 82 yards in 10 plays, capped off by a 10-yard run from quarterback Jack Mikolich to pay dirt. The Shoremen missed the extra point however, and then would never recover as it was Eagles from there.
The Eagles would not let up. On the ensuing possession, Avon drove 63 yards on 12 plays, scoring on a 4-yard run by junior running back Mark Steinmetz making the score 14-6. Minutes later after forcing a 3 and out, the Eagles were back on the attack and looking to end all doubt. They did just that as they drove another 93 yards which was capped off with a 19-yard touchdown pass from Maloy to wideout Kyle Kudla to give the Eagles a 21-6 lead. From there, it was their quarterback slash placekicker David Orlando accounting for the next 10 points to put the game out of reach 31-6 by halftime.
In his first start of the rivalry, Ryan Maloy finished the night going 10 of 13 passing for 106 yards with a touchdown and pick. Nick Perusek took over in the second half as he ran 15 times for 88 yards and showed us just how good he could be.
Matthew Kostlenik talks about his first taste of the rivalry as the head coach in 2017, “My first taste of the rivalry was back in 2015 as an assistant coach. As a player at Avon Lake, we never played Avon and to see what Coach Elder and his staff had built was impressive to say the least.
As head coach preparation in mindset to get ready for that game is crucial. The kids know how big the game is and how many people will be there but we have to attempt to simulate that level of physicality and pressure in practice. After the butt kicking, I took that first year, I realized that we had to up our game. I think that doing our best to simulate the physicality and pressure of the rivalry is the most important thing we can do to prepare for the big game. “
Despite the result of that game, the 2017 Avon Lake team had plenty of growth and got better as the season went on. Two reasons for that were the play of quarterback Jack Mikolich and running back Konnor Riggs. Coach Kostelnik touched on their growth that season as well, “Both young men are fantastic hardworking kids. More importantly was their leadership in the weight room in the off-season. Combine that with a Ryan Beckman upfront and you have a recipe for success.”
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