by On a night where one strange thing happened after another, the Avon Lake Shoremen played lights out defense for the final 22 minutes of the game, as they defeated the Elyria Pioneers 16-14. Elyria had cut the lead to 16-14 with 10:10 left in the third quarter, and then couldn’t cross midfield again for the rest of the night. They reached it once more by penalty, but the Shoremen defense sent them back the very next play.
Also, Avery Viancourt was everywhere tonight folks, exploding through the line to knock down a screen pass at one point in the fourth and then exploding through the line to make a stop in the backfield of Lance Glover on the very next play. Viancourt created havoc the entire second half.
If the Shoremen are going to once again make waves in the playoffs, they need to solidify a strong run game, and they continued that process tonight as they look for an identity. Jared Krukowski rushed for 67 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries.
They needed to run the ball well in bad weather as it was tough to pass. Jeremy Dzik did his best to try however, as he went 7 of 19 for 69 yards. Several passes where dropped however in the wet conditions. Nathan Schillinger was his lead target as he pulled down 4 balls for 53 yards.
The Shoremen defense had it’s hands full coming in against a feisty Elyria Pioneer offense, but managed to do well as they held Pioneers quarterback Desmond Whitfield to 129 yards on 7 of 17 passing. The Shoremen defense stepped up against the talented Pioneer tailback Lance Glover, as the kept him under 60 yards on the ground tonight. Glover did have a few nice runs however that created points for the Pioneers.
After forcing a Pioneer punt, the Avon Lake Shoremen started their first drive at midfield. They have been focusing on establishing a run game the last few weeks, and they did that on the drive with 7 straight touches for 47 yards by Jared Krukowski. This set up a third and goal at the 1. They tried sneaking it with Dzik, but were stuffed. On the next play however, it was Jeremy Brausch finding the endzone to make it 6-0. The ensuing extra point was missed, and it remained 6-0 with
The Pioneers would make the interesting choice to go for it on 3rd and long on their next drive from their own 47, and fail to convert. This once again gave the Shoremen excellent starting position. They almost wasted it as they were faced with a fourth and long to start the second quarter, however they converted it with a 20-yard rocket pass from Dzik to Nathan Schillinger, that he took another 20 yards from the point of catch, all the way inside the five-yard line.
Then, for the second time in as many possessions, a sure looking touchdown run from Jared Krukrowski was called down at the one. He very easily could have and should have had two touchdowns by that point in the game. The line judge saw something different, I guess. It wouldn’t matter however as Krukowski punched it in on the next play anyways. All of this, gave the Shoremen a 13-0 lead after the Wiley kick with 10:04 left to play in the half.
The Pioneers would get on the board with a little under 5 minutes left in the first half. It was Desmond Whitfield firing an absolute over the shoulder strike to Andrew Palos down the left sidelines. Palos had a step on his man and Whitfield put the ball right on the money. Whitefield would then convert a two point conversion with his legs right after that to cut the lead to 13-8 with 4:04 to go in the half.
Two straight 15-yard penalties against the Pioneers would help the Shoremen drive the ball right into their territory in no time flat to start the final drive of the first half. Just when it looked like the Pioneers would get a stop, yet another 15 yard penalty was called for a facemask on the sack of Dzik.
Then, in what is a first in my time covering this great sport, there was yet another 15 yard penalty assessed before another play could even be run. I will not mention the young man’s name, but it was costly.
It took less than 30 seconds for the Shoremen who didn’t do anything but snap the ball, to pick up 60 yards on penalties in a matter of moments. Again, I’ve never seen anything like it. Despite all of the yardage being handed to them, the Shoremen still couldn’t break the plain, and would settle for a 29 yard Wiley field goal as the game went to halftime with them up 16-8.
The Shoremen would start the second half with the ball, go backwards 5 yards and then have their punt blocked. The Pioneers wasted no time in taking advantage of the great field position. A few players later it was Lance Glover taking it to the house from 13 yards out to finish the nights scoring at 16-14 as the two-point conversion failed when Whitfield kept it but Broc Buchanan made an incredible open field tackle to stop the conversion.
That’s right, with 10:10 left in the third quarter, the scoring on the night was done. As George Costanza once said, “nothing happens, that’s the show”. Actually, all joking aside, a lot of strange things happened. Wide open passes were dropped, short pickups weren’t converted and nothing seemed to go right for the offenses of both teams. Perhaps it was the weather, perhaps it two very good defenses stepping up.
The Shoremen missed a connection on fourth and short from midfield and then the Pioneers turned around and tossed an interception to a leaping Keegan Rudduck of Avon Lake moments later. The Shoremen had two roughing the kicker penalties that kept drives a live instead of getting the ball back. It was a strange second half, but again, no team would even come close to scoring for the final 22 minutes.
Avon Lake is now 6-2 and will look to stay hot next week as they travel to Olmsted Falls. The Pioneers will look to rebound as they host the winless Amherst Comets.
