by #2 Ranked Avon Lake (3-1)
One year later, and it is second verse same as the first. They can look back at Week One and ask, “what if?”. What if Mason Wheeler didn’t have to leave at halftime? What if they had a full roster?
What if they didn’t let a 24-7 lead slip through the cracks against their rival Avon? However, in the world of sports, “what if” doesn’t exist. You either win or you don’t, and for the Shoremen, they now have a bigger chip on their shoulder than ever and are ready to make the rest of Division Two pay for it!
This team is stacked up front on both sides of the ball. While young men such as QB Michael Corbo, tailbacks Gage Duesler & Mason Wheeler along with wideouts Nathan Cikalo, Sam Mikolich, Mitchell Fedders, Aidan Grabowski, Michael Stuewe, Jared Krukowski and Billy Simpson grab the headlines, it is the big men along with Griffin Lidyard at fullback paving the wave.
Speaking of Lidyard, he may be one of the most agile big men I have ever seen on both sides of the ball. At 6’1, 233 pounds, this tank is a force out there.
He along with defensive back Sean Summers continue to be the heart and soul of this team. But that’s just it, they play as a team, not worried about headlines and stats, they just want to win.
They have Nathan Cikalo, a duel threat, who has already shown he can score on defense as well as offense. They have one of the best one two punches at tailback in all of Division II with Gage Duesler and Mason Wheeler once the latter returns full time. Michael Corbo runs the RPO like he has been doing it since birth, and tight end Michael Stuewe is willing to make a catch in any crowd.
Special teams won’t be a problem either as Owen Wiley has been extremely accurate this season, and has power to go with the accuracy as well. With Sintic, Viancourt, McKinley amongst others controlling the line of scrimmage, there is almost no stopping this team from dominating the trenches.
Head Coach Matthew Kostelnik won a state title during his playing days with Avon Lake. He went on to win a National Championship in college playing for Mount Union.
He has already shown he can coach Avon Lake to victory over Avon during week three of the 2018 season. Will he need to beat Avon one more time to bring the Shoremen closer to a State Title bid? Time will tell….
Remaining Schedule – at North Olmsted, home vs Olmsted Falls.
Nice article.