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With the playoffs drawing near, the focus remains on teams such as St. Edward, Mentor, Hoban, St. Ignatius, Kirtland and Avon.
However, for my money, the best team in the state right now is Avon Lake. The Shoremen dominated tonight as they never let the Eagles first team offense cross their own 35-yard line in a 35-0 blowout.
This Shoremen defense may be one of the most dominant and impressive in SWC history, they are that damn good! It was touchdown, defensive stop, touchdown on a short field! It didn’t change all night and the Avon Lake Shoremen just keep rolling!
While the defense once again stole the show, the offense put up some nice performances as well. Gage Duesler scored twice. He only carried the ball 7 times, but made it count with the two scores and 32 yards.
It was once again the steady play of quarterback Michael Corbo leading the way. Corbo ran for a touchdown and finished with 62 yards on 6 carries. He also threw for 84 yards in a limited number of attempts.
Wide receiver Creed Bolognia who had some limited targets coming into tonight, busted out well and showed forms of last season. Creed went off for 3 catches, hauling in 58 yards and a touchdown.
They didn’t need a ton of yards tonight as almost each scoring drive started on the Eagle side of the 50-yard line. It is a night the North Olmsted Eagles will have to try and forget about as they look to bounce back next week at Berea-Midpark. The Shoremen will host the Olmsted Falls Bulldogs in what should be a battle for playoff seeding.
The Shoremen took advantage of their opening drive starting at the Eagle 18-yard line after a stop and terrible punt. Avon Lake only needed to plays to score after a Corbo RPO keeper, and then a Gage Duesler touchdown run!
Their next scoring drive was similar to the first as they just pounded a way like a hot knife through butter with little to no resistance.
Corbo cannot be stopped when he decides to keep it on any fake or RPO. He faked about 8 Eagles out of their cleats as he sped towards the endzone from 22 yards out to put the Shoremen up 14-0.
Avon Lake put things away for good in the second quarter as touchdown runs by Griffin Lidyard and Gage Duesler, with a halfback touchdown pass from Cikalo to Bolognia sandwiched in between, sealed the deal.
High School and College football are both trending towards the spread offense and plenty of flashy points. That is all well and good, but this smashmouth defense of the Shoremen may just be the formula to hoist championship gold this season.
You can listen to the game here https://keeonsports.podbean.com/e/hs-football-avon-lake-at-north-olmsted/
What a great team Avon Lake! Keep up the great effort, working as a united group of players in order to win! Go Shoremen!