The Silver Rail Rivalry

Heading into 2018, the winds of change were blowing in favor of the Shoremen as a thrilling finish brought them their first regular season victory in the rivalry in years.  Avon Lake scored on a Jack Mikolich quarterback sneak with 30 seconds to go to lead the Shoremen 31-28 over the Avon Eagles.  Avon had overcome a 24-14 deficit with under 4 minutes left, to comeback and almost shock the Shoremen 28-24, but they left two minutes on the clock, and the Shoremen rallied in dramatic fashion.

Konnor Riggs had a big night once again, finishing with 180 yards on 32 carries. Riggs was a key factor on every Shoremen touchdown drive that evening. Riggs wasn’t the only Shoremen to have a big night, as they also received solid quarterback play out of Jack Mikolich who finished with 3 touchdown passes, on 15 of 26 passing for 215 yards.  He also had two touchdown passes called back on penalties.  He had the winning touchdown with his feet as well.

The biggest threats for Mikolich were Luke Fedders, 3 catches for 87 yards and a touchdown.  Cole Schraff 5 catches for 55 yards and Nathan Sidoloski with 5 catches for 62 yards and two scores.

Avon Lake started the game on the Avon 40-yard line after a short punt on the Eagles opening possession.  After a first down, they had to settle for a 43-yard field goal by Harry Hebert.  Coach Kostelnik explains the hot start of the Shoremen that night, “Looking back it was our ability to run the ball effectively , win third down, and match physicality that were the keys to that game. Riggs and the OLine were able to hit their stride early in the game and Jack delivered some big third down plays.”

The Eagles would switch to the hurry up offense on their next possession.  It worked well as they wasted no time in answering the Shoremen score with a 1-yard Mark Steinmetz touchdown rumble.  The score was set up after a key fourth down and 10 conversion on a Steinmetz catch.

The Shoremen were backed on the strong legs of Konnor Riggs, who dominated the Eagles defense on the ensuing drive.  Riggs had 4 carries of 8 plus yards each on the drive to put his team in the red zone.  The only pass on the drive would lead to the touchdown, as Jack Mikolich hooked up with Nathan Sidloski from 18 yards out to score and give the Shoremen the lead 10-7 as the first quarter ended.

After another impressive defensive effort by the Shoremen that forced the Eagles to have a 3 and out, they had two separate touchdown passes called back due to penalties.  The third would be the charm as once again it was Mikolich connecting with Sidloski for pay dirt.  This time it was a strike from 29 yards out to give them the 17-7 lead midway through the second quarter.  The half would end by that same score.

A scoreless third quarter would set up for a dramatic fourth quarter.  Ryan Maloy would not go down easy as he scored on the opening play of the quarter, with a beautiful 5-yard run that saw him spin off several tacklers.  The scamper cut the Shoremen lead down to 17-14.

The hopes of an Eagle comeback appeared to end shortly after however as Mikolich launched another touchdown pass.  This time a 46-yard bomb to Luke Fedders “appeared” to put the game out of reach at 24-14 with 8 minutes to go.  We were just getting started however.

The Eagles would have a last-ditch effort, as Steinmetz powered his way down the field, racking up over 50 yards on one drive to find the endzone again.  The Steinmetz power attack cut the Shoremen lead to 24-21 with 3:35 to go.  Steinmetz who received extra carries in place of the injured Nick Perusek finished with 108 yards and two touchdown runs.

In shocking fashion, the Shoremen fumbled the kickoff, giving the Eagles one last chance.  Maloy and the boys didn’t waste it.   A few players later it was Maloy hitting a wide-open Joey Allen to put the Eagles up 28-24.  A lead everyone may have thought was safe, before the last second dramatics of the Shoremen.

Coach Kostelnik explains what he was thinking during the wild Avon comeback that gave his opponents a sudden lead, “As coach you have to show that you can be calm in these situations. Kids feed off of leadership and I really hand it to our seniors in that moment. They knew what they wanted and went out and took it on that last drive. Coach Gerace called a great final drive and the boys executed plan and simple.

Jack had several come from behind victories in the final two minutes the year before so his ability to lead a drive was never in doubt. As I said about the season before, we were five plays away from being 9-1, but we were also five plays away from being 3-7. As coach Gerace always said getting that opening first down is always the toughest. Once we got rolling you could see Jack’s confidence rising.

Both Luke Fedders and Konnor Riggs great young men. If you gave Konner the ball hoping to get two yards he would get you five. Luke could always be relied upon to make a big play. Another wonderful young man that had an incredible work ethic and was crucial not only on offense but on defense as well.”

For unknown reasons exactly, the game was moved to week one starting in 2019.  It wasn’t pretty by any stretch, but the Avon Eagles clawed out a 13-12 victory to reclaim the Silver Rail Trophy.  For reasons no one is really sure why, this rivalry game was moved up to week one to open the 2019 season.  And both teams played like it was their first game as neither looked impressive on offense, and it was a defensive battle all night.

Coach Kostelnik touched on the challenges of playing your rival week one, “Playing week one our disadvantage is our depth. They have more kids than we do (working on changing that) and they do a great job getting their twos and threes ready to play. Advantage of that is recovery. We had a lot of injuries that first game that we were able to recover from.

We know it will always be a physical game no matter when it is played and weeks 1-3 are always the toughest as far as being in shape to play. Every year brings its own challenges and as a coach you have confidence in your ability to get these young men ready to rock.” 

Avon Lake graduated their incredible combo of QB (Jack Mikolich) & RB (Konnor Riggs) of a year ago, and they were hopeful the new starters could pick up where they left off.  They did their best but it made for a long and scrappy night as head coach Matthew Kostelnik rotated between Senior Harry Hebert and Junior Michael Corbo.

The Shoremen went with a duel quarterback attack as both players rotated in and out.  Starting behind center was Harry Hebert who went 6 of 8 for 74 yards and was sacked 3 times. He did his best damage with his legs and feet as he ran for 23 yards on 6 carries and kicked two crucial field goals that gave the Shoremen a late lead of 9-7, then 12-7.

Leading the two drives that resulted in those Hebert field goals was Michael Corbo who threw for only 30 yards and an interception on 3 of 10 passing.   To his credit, Corbo did hit several wideouts right in the hands, they simply dropped it.  Where Corbo did his best work was on the ground, running for 78 yards on 5 carries.

Coach Kostlenik talks about the quarterback combination and battle for the starting spot coming into the season, “It was Extremely hard to choose between those to fine young men. We were prepping for two different QBs in our offense which presented its own set of challenges. Both men handled it well and it’s a testament to their character more than anything else. “

Replacing Konnor Riggs in the backfield was Gage Duesler who ran for the only Shoremen touchdown.  He totaled up 53 yards on 12 carries.  Avon had many of the same problems Avon Lake did trying to move the ball.  First year quarterback Danny Zeh who was taking over for Ryan Maloy struggled at times.  Zeh went 15 of 22 for 146 yards with a touchdown, an interception and tasted the turf getting sacked 4 times.

Zeh’s touchdown pass was a 1-yard dump off that running back Nick Perusek took 23 yards for the score.  It was Avon’s first and only score of the first half.  It gave them a 7-0 lead at the time and they would take a 7-6 lead into half after the Avon Lake Duesler touchdown.

Perusek who didn’t play in the Eagle loss the prior year to the Shoremen, went for 85 yards on 18 carries, with two touchdowns.  Coach Kostelnik talks about why it was tough to stop Perusek, “The kid was very dynamic and could make you pay for mistakes. Any game against South is a game you have to be buttoned up and know that there are so many moments to make an impact. Perusek made the most of his in that opening week.”

The Shoremen used two long field goals in the third and fourth quarters by Harry Hebert to lead 12-7 late.  A clutch Avon drive helped out by some costly penalties, allowed Nick Perusek to burst one through from 16 yards out with 5 minutes left, to eventually win the game 13-12.

The game saw three touchdowns, and only converted extra point.  A game of defense and penalties on both sides of the ball.  Perhaps the schedule makers needed to consider moving this one further back on the schedule as Week One made both teams look rusty and not at their best.

At the time this was just another rendition of the rivalry game, little did I know that it would soon become “the rivalry” that would DEFINE Kee On Sports for many years to come.  Later that season I began a podcast called, “The Player Spotlight Series” and we wound up having numerous players from each team on the show.  It was during those episodes that the rivalry got taken to a new level and led to incredible drama as the year went on.

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