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The Shoremen wrapped up the regular season with a spotless 10-0 record and won the undisputed Southwestern Conference title with a thorough 42-3 drubbing of Amherst on Friday night. Avon Lake scored twice before the game was three minutes old and never looked back, dominating the game behind the passing of Nick Firment and the running of Mike Haddad and Jeff Tell. The defense was spectacular, allowing just one field goal and less than 150 total yards while scoring a touchdown of their own.

Amherst received the opening kickoff but managed just seven yards of offense and were forced to punt. Starting at their own 27, Mike Haddad picked up 20 yards over the right side of the Shoremen line on the first play of the drive. On the next play Firment found Ryan Scherer running open down the left sideline and hit him in stride for a 53 yard TD. The PAT attempt was wide right and the Shoremen led 6-0 with 10:07 left in the first period. On second down and 15, Comet QB John Salter’s pass was batted in the air by Sean Oxley. Senior linebacker Dave Henderson picked the ball out of the air at the fifteen and raced into the end zone for six points. Jeff Tell picked up the two point conversion on an inside run and it was 14-0 with 9:21 left in the quarter. The rest of the first quarter passed with no further scoring as each team punted twice.

The Shoremen opened the second quarter with a drive starting from their 41. On 3^rd & 9 from the 42, Firment threw to Weimer on a post pattern. Dan laid out and made a beautiful diving catch for a 34 yard gain to the Amherst 26. Two plays later, Haddad pulled in a short pass in the left flat and rumbled 23 yards for the score, flattening the last defender as he crossed the goal line. Prendergast’s kick made it 21-0. After the kickoff, a personal foul on Avon Lake moved the ball out to the Comet 47. An inside run moved the ball to midfield, where Salter launched a bomb to Brandon Kish for 45 yards and a 1^st & goal at the five. But two runs went nowhere and when Salter was sacked for a five yard loss on third down, Amherst had to settle for a 26 yard David Cantu field goal to cut the lead to 21-3. The next Shoremen drive started from the A.L. 25, and three runs netted a first down at the 36. A pass over the middle to Scherer was good for another first down at the 47. Jeff Tell caught a pass in the left flat, broke a tackle, and raced to the Amherst six yard line where it was first and goal Shoremen with under two minutes to play in the half. After a 2 yard run on first down, two straight passes fell incomplete (that’s why Woody invented the fullback) and a fumbled exchange on fourth down sent the Shoremen away empty handed. The halftime score was 21-3.

Avon Lake got the ball to start the second half as Kevin Mansnerus ran the kickoff out to the 35. A run by Haddad and two by Tell left the Shoremen facing 4^th & 1 from their own 44. Haddad picked up two yards for the first down. Tell ran twice to gain nine yards, then on 3^rd &1 Haddad broke several tackles at the line and raced to the Comet seven. Mike ran twice, for two yards each time, and then Tell swept right end for the three yard TD to make it 28-0. After the Comets gained a first down on a 12 yard completion, the defense stiffened and an eight yard sack on third down forced another punt. A fine return by Scherer was wiped out by a penalty. A pass from Firment to Sean Oxley was good for a first down at midfield, but a run for no gain followed by two incompletions forced another punt by Andy Howell. Andy floated a beauty down to the 15, but a good return set up the Comets at their 40. A ticky-tack interference call moved the ball into Avon Lake’s end of the field at the 45, but on fourth and two the defense stopped Salter & the Shoremen took over at their 35. After a holding penalty moved the ball back to the 30, Haddad found a big hole over the left side on the fullback counter and ran 40 yards to the Amherst 30 where the quarter ended.

At the beginning of the fourth period, Scott Shaffer took a pitch to the right and looked to throw the ball back to Firment circling out of the backfield to his left. Amherst covered it well, so Scott took off across the field to the left sideline & managed a gain of eight yards. A few plays later, on 3^rd & 10 from the nineteen, Firment went back to his favorite target Ryan Scherer for 19 yards and a score to make it 35-3 with 9:27 left in the game. Coach Dlugosz sent out the guys in the clean shirts to mop up, and the Shoremen reserves held Amherst in check while adding one more score on a four yard run by Steve Mares. Nick Gamellia’s PAT made the final score 42-3.

Notes:

· The Shoremen have clinched the number 1 seed in Region 6 and will host Midview next Friday night.

· Haddad ran for 121 yards on just 12 carries. Mike finishes the regular season with 1,313 rushing yards and 24 TD’s

· Tell’s 96 yards on 23 carries put him into the thousand-yard club with a 10-game total of 1,023 yards. This is the first time Avon Lake has had two backs run for over 1,000 yards in the same season.

· Not to be outdone, Firment’s 194 yards passing push his totals on the year to 1,330 yards and 15 touchdowns with just one interception.

· And how about that O-line that produced two rushers over 1,000 yards and yielded just two one* sack all year!!!
*Messrs. Uszak and Coyne have informed me that the other sack was on Jeff Tell, not the O-Line.

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Avon Lake	14	7	7	14	42
Amherst	0	3	0	0	3

	A	A.L.
First downs	9	17
Rush Yds	63	232
Pass Yds	82	194
Passes att-comp-int	13-5-1	16-9-0
Fumbles-lost	2-0	1-1
Penalties	0-0	6-60

AL – Scherer 53 pass from Firment (kick failed)
AL – Henderson 15 interception return (Tell run)
AL – Haddad 23 pass from Firment (Prendergast kick)
A – Cantu 26 FG
AL – Tell 3 run (Prendergast kick)
AL – Scherer 29 pass from Firment (Prendergast kick)
AL – Mares 4 run (Gamellia kick)