Shoremen Rout Eagles In SWC Clash

story by Mark Theis

Shoremen Head Coach Matt Kostelnik has a lot of very gifted players, who play a selfless brand of team football. They are strong and disciplined in every phase of the game.

With standout defensive performances from Fedders and Lidyard North Olmsted never got anything going. Avon Lake had a sack attack in the first half. Anytime North Olmsted had a couple good plays, Avon Lake came right back with a sack that took the life out of the North Olmsted Eagles team. Avon Lake is clearly one of the best teams in Northeast Ohio.

The North Olmsted Eagles football team knew that it was going to be a difficult task to take down the Avon Lake Shoremen. With the Eagles having senior night, they had hopes of a Friday night stunning victory. It was a beautiful night at North Olmsted Stadium for the 7:00 kickoff.

Avon Lake kicked off to the Eagles and # 5 Sophomore WR Jared Kelley stunned both sides of the Stadium when he broke a tackle and streaked up the right sideline for a 65 yard opening kick return. Then the Eagles converted a first down on a 4th and 11.

After a couple of failed running plays and a 12 yard scramble for loss by Guercio, the Eagles were forced to punt which went into the end zone for a touchback.

On the Shoremen’s first offensive possession Senior QB Mike Corbo handed off to # 5 Senior Gauge Duesler off tackle for a big 20 yard gain. Corbo then went to work with passes to Seniors Mitchell Fedders, and FB Griffin Lidyard for 25 yards.

Lidyard caught the pass in the right flat and rumbled up the sideline with Eagle tacklers just bouncing off of him as he refused to be brought down. Two plays later Corbo ran it in from the 3 yard line and the conversion from kicker Owen Wiley. Shoremen 7-0 over North Olmsted.

On the second Eagle possession again their offense was able to make some positive yardage and first downs. This included another nice catch from Roman for 16 yards, and runs from QB Guercio, and Junior RB # 24 Bryson Burgess.

Once again two sacks stalled the drive including a 10 yard loss from Senior DE Kadyn Viancourt. North Olmsted was hanging in there only down by a touchdown at the end of the first quarter.

Avon Lake had another 14 yard pass caught by Fedders. One particular play in the drive showed how selfless and dedicated to victory the Shoremen were.

On a pitch play to Duesler the QB Corbo became the lead blocker 10 yards down field for a 15 yard gain. On the very next play Corbo found Fedders again for 17 yards to the 1 yard line.

Duesler dove in for the score. With 6:30 to go in the half Avon Lake was now up 14-0.

The rest of the quarter netted two more Shoremen touchdowns thanks to a blocked punt by Senior Tackle Jacob Sintic at the 4 yard line which he also recovered for the TD.

Then late in the quarter a huge sack from # 70 Junior DT Hunter McHugh for a 12 yard loss, led to another huge pass from Corbo to Mitchell Feders for a 75 yard TD. The halftime score was 28-0 Shoremen, and the blowout had begun. Eight QB sacks by Avon Lake in the first half spelled doom for the North Olmsted squad!

Duesler had a 20 yard touchdown to open the second half, erasing all doubt about the outcome and Avon Lake inserted their second team players for the rest of the game.

Sophomore QB Jeremy Dzik got some work in as the future of the program. Also RB Sean Summers and Jared Krukowski got plenty of action in the second half. One standout play was a beautiful pass from Dzik to # 84 Sophomore TE Matthew Stuewe for a huge gain and TD.

In the meantime every time North Olmsted made some good plays it was always followed by more QB sacks, often the sacks came on back to back plays. It was a very frustrating night for the home team Eagles as they were overpowered by a team of standout talented Shoremen players.

Avon Lake had all the usual suspects contributing to an amazing first half as they took a commanding 28 to nothing lead. Corbo, Fedders, Duesler, and Lidyard all had excellent contributions. Corbo to Fedders alone had five completions. As good as Avon Lake’s offense is, their defense was just as tough last night.