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For the second straight week, the Shoremen blew away a traditional SWC rival, shutting out Amherst 52-0. Avon Lake’s defense was dominant again, as the secondary played their best game of the year. The DB’s held the Comets’ air attack to just 61 yards on 12 completions, while intercepting three passes. Brett Bass returned one pick for the first score of the game, Colin Lucas tallied two rushing TD’s, and Brad Brill added 10 points with seven straight PAT’s and a field goal. Quarterback Chris Jedlicka had another big game, passing for 158 yards and pulling in a 47 yard TD pass from tailback Mickey Steiner on a throwback. The win gives the Shoremen the outright SWC title. Unfortunately, all the dominoes fell just right for Whitehouse Anthony Wayne, and Avon Lake will barely miss making the playoffs.

Avon Lake kicked off and Amherst came out throwing, hitting a bunch of short passes to move into Shoremen territory at the 41 yard line. But the drive stalled there, and the punt flew into the end zone for a touchback. The Shoremen managed a couple of first downs before punting to the Amherst 20. On third & two, Bass stepped in front of a Comet receiver in the flat at the 28 and cruised into the end zone to make 7-0 with four minutes left in the quarter. Amherst went three & out, with Bass returning the punt to the Comet 39. The Shoremen couldn’t move the ball, turning it over on downs at the 30. The next Comet possession ended with a fumble at midfield. Jedlicka hit Danny Robinson for 30 yards to the 17, but two plays later The Shoremen fumbled it right back to Amherst at the six. After one first down, the Comet quarterback rolled right under heavy pressure and threw deep down the right sideline. Jimmy Hessel picked it off and returned it to the three, and Lucas scored on a counter on the next play. Brill added the extra point for a 14-0 lead. Again Amherst had to punt from their end of the field, and Bass came up with another good return to the Amherst 48. On 2^nd & 9, Steiner took a pitch and started around right end, pulled up, and threw a strike back across the field to Jedlicka. Chris caught the ball in stride at the 40 and outran everybody for the touchdown to make it 21-0 with three minutes to play in the half. The Shoremen “D” stoned the Comets again, but roughed the punter to give them a first down in at the A.L. 44. Amherst couldn’t take advantage, as another long pass was intercepted by Hessel at the 18 with about a minute left in the half. Jedlicka found Joe Pappas on back-to-back stop and go routes to move to the Amherst 21. A screen to Lucas was good for a first down at the 10, and Brill drilled a 27 yard field goal as time expired for a 24-0 halftime lead.

After having little success running the ball in the first half, the Shoremen made some adjustments at halftime. Starting from their 36, Smith ran over the right side for nine yards on first down, then back the same way on second down for a 56 yard touchdown. Just 45 seconds into the third period, Avon Lake was up 31-0 on the stunned Comets. The teams exchanged punts, then the Comets turned the ball over on downs at the Shoremen 46. Two plays later Jedlicka found Jimmy Hessel running open on a post for a 50 yard score. The next Amherst possession ended in a failed fake punt. Lucas broke through two would be tacklers at the line of scrimmaged and he too was off to the races, rumbling 46 yards to make it 45-0. The Shoremen got the ball back at the Comet 16 after a blocked punt, and Steiner closed out the scoring with a 16 yard run on the last play of the third quarter. The Shoremen reserves played the entire fourth quarter, keeping Amherst out of the end zone to preserve the shutdown.

Notes:

· That’s 12 in a row over Amherst, who last beat the Shoremen in 2000.

· Brett Bass completed the touchdown quin-fecta. This year Brett has scored TD’s by rushing, receiving, punt returns, a kickoff return, and now an interception return. I’ll have to strain my memory & do some research to be sure, but I don’t recall any one else ever doing that in a single season for the Shoremen.

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Avon Lake	7	17	28	0	52
Amherst	0	0	0	0	0

	A	A.L.
First downs	14	11
Rush Yds	133	173
Pass Yds	61	205
Passes att-comp-int	23-12-3	16-8-0
Fumbles-lost	6-1	1-1
Penalties	4-25	2-20

AL – Bass 28 interception return (Brill kick)
AL – Lucas 3 run (Brill kick)
AL – Jedlicka 47 pass from Steiner (Brill kick)
AL – Brill FG 27
AL – Smith 56 run (Brill kick)
AL – Hessel 50 pass from Jedlicka (Brill kick)
AL – Lucas 46 run (Brill kick)
AL – Steiner 16 run (Brill kick)