The Silver Rail Rivalry

2022 Edition

Attendance – 5,575

The Eagles revenged a close loss last year in the Silver Rail Game with a 42-21 victory tonight in Avon Lake.  The Eagles either led or were tied all night, but never trailed in the big win over their rival.

Jakorion Caffey who helped the Eagles pull away late, finished the night with 86 yards on 19 carries while scoring twice.  Caffey also caught two balls for 47 yards in a fine performance.  He also had a sack on defense as well.

Quarterback Sam DeTillio had an up and down night but still made the big plays when he needed too.  He finished with 279 yards on 16 of 24 passing with 2 touchdowns and two picks.  He also ran the ball 9 times for 44 yards.

His main receiving threat was Cam Santee who hauled in 4 passes for 102 yards and a touchdown.  Cam Santee had help in the form of Ethan Holbrook who two catches for 48 yards and a touchdown.  Drew Lindsay stepped up big with two catches for 68 yards.

Avon Lake had several big plays tonight, but just couldn’t seem to get enough in the second half as the game and temperature continued to heat up.  Wade Nelson had 101 yards rushing on 9 carries with an 81 a yard touchdown.  He also had a massive 98-yard kickoff return for the Shoremens only second half points.

Quarterback Jeremy Dzik threw for 149 yards on 14 of 22 passing. He was picked off once and had a 12-yard touchdown to Luke Stuewe.  Dzik also ran the ball 6 times for 39 yards in the loss.

As mentioned, his touchdown pass was to Luke Stuewe who finished with 2 catches for 20 yards even.  Luke’s older brother Matthew caught 9 balls for 68 yards as he continued his big season. Derrick McCrum had a huge night for the Shoremen and kept them in several times with two big interceptions as well as two catches on offense.

The Eagles first possession began at midfield after Avon Lake had to punt from deep in their own territory.  They wasted no time finding the scoreboard when Sam DeTillio connected with a wide-open Cam Santee from 30 yards out as the Shoremen defense bit on the run and left the middle of the secondary uncovered.  It was a 6 play drive that made it 7-0 Avon.

Both of the Shoremens first two drives were muddled by holding calls and sacks.  The second time, it set up Avon at the Shoremen 29-yard line to start their drive.  This time around however, it was Avon moving backyards as the Shoremen defense refused to bend and kept it at 7-0. That was a huge stop at the time for Avon Lake as they avoided a big deficit early.

The Shoremen couldn’t take advantage of the momentum swing as Dzik was hit from behind and fumbled near midfield.  Dzik, who had completed a few to Stuewe on that drive to get the Shoremen coming, never saw the hit as he got blasted. This allowed the Eagles to start their third drive of the game in Avon Lake territory.

The Eagles faced a fourth and three from the 11-yard line with 51 ticks of the clock left in the first quarter when they lined up to go for it. The Shoremen defense stood tall again as Avery Viancourt batted away a DeTillio pass over the middle. The Eagles spent the entire first quarter deep in Shoremen territory and only walked away with 7 points as the clock turned into the second quarter.

The Shoremen took advantage of their new life to begin the second quarter as Wade Nelson put it in another gear and raced down the field for an 81 yard sprint to score.  Breaking tackles though the secondary as Nelson floored it almost the entire distance of the field to tie the game.

The Eagles were forced to start at their own 20 after the score and put together a tremendous passing attack to move the ball down the field quickly with connections to Abe Saleh, Austin Mitchell and Cam Santee to fly down the field.  Then, Sam DeTillio got hit while he threw but still managed to get it to Ethan Holbrook for a 39-yard touchdown strike over the extended Shoremen arm, making it 14-7 with 7:22 to play.

Yet again, the Eagles would begin their next drive in Shoremen territory at the Avon Lake 40 to start their possession with 2:31 to go. The Shoremen defense stepped up again, as Drek McCrum got his second pick of the game, and raced downfield to the Eagle 13 in stunning fashion. That made 6 Eagle possessions starting deep in Shoremen territory with only two resulting in points. Avon Lake would convert it into points on a Dzik to Luke Stuewe 16-yard touchdown catch as went into the half tied at 14 each.

Avon began the second half with a 51-yard pass completion to Drew Lindsay who spead down the field to put the Shoremen’s backs against the wall yet again. A few players later it was Jakorion Caffey taking 4 Shoremen on his back across the goal line to make it 21-14 Avon minutes into the third quarter. The lead, lasted seconds as Wade Nelson took it 98 yards to the house on the kickoff to tie it again! My goodness, who wouldn’t love this rivalry?  It is the stuff of legend!

A little later on, Avon Lake looked to take their first lead of the night as Dzik launched one off his back foot that Keegan Rudduck leapt up and snagged for a dramatic 28-yard catch, placing the ball at the Eagle 20-yard line.

That drive would get snuffed out via interception from the Eagles moments later.  The Eagles would capitalize as they ran a no huddle offense to race their way back down the field, and cap it off with a Sam DeTillio 6-yard touchdown scamper to make it 28-21 Eagles with 1:41 to play in the third quarter. The game would go to the fourth quarter with that same score on the books.

Sam DeTillio gave the Eagles their first two score lead of the game, as he rumbled in for 7 easy yards to make it 35-21 Eagles with 10:15 to go in the game.  DeTillio’s run was set up by a beautiful Gavin Ehrhardt 39 yard run right before that.

The Eagles would go on to win 42-21.

Avon player of the game – Cam Santee with 4 catches, a TD and 102 yards

Avon Lake player of the game – Wade Nelson with 101 yards and two touchdowns, including over 200 total yards.