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On a muddy night
when it took the offense a while to get going, The Shoremen “D” came up with 6
turnovers and a blocked punt
as they celebrated Homecoming with a 42-7 win over Berea. The yardage and first down stats are
deceiving, as the ball never left the Braves’ end of the field in the second
and third quarters. The Shoremen started consecutive drives from Berea’s 27, 29, 33, 32,
15, and the 50. Avon
Lake’s backups played the last 16
minutes of the game, when Berea
got over half their yardage and first downs plus their only score.
Things started
slowly as the Shoremen received and went three and out. Punter Jake Janicek made a nice play, chasing
down a snap that sailed over his head and kicking on the run down to the Berea 31. The Braves managed a couple of first downs on
the ground before stalling at the A.L. 38 and punting to the 18. Avon
Lake made two quick first
downs but had to punt again, this time to the 25. The Braves went three and out, but the
Shoremen returned the favor and the Braves started the second quarter at their
26. After two runs produced a first down
Nate Clapp caught the ball carrier in the backfield and jarred the ball
loose. Dan Schneider recovered at the
27. The Shoremen still couldn’t move the ball,
and turned it back over on downs at the
Braves’ 20. Three running plays gave Berea a first down at the
32, but the defense stiffened to force a punt from the 35. This time Schneider came off the left edge to
block the kick and the offense went back to work at the 29. Mansnerus gained eight, Marinkov picked up
five, and Toy carried for five to the 11.
Mansnerus found a nice hole over the left side and sprinted in for the
TD. Brad Brill’s PAT made the score
7-0. On the second play after the
kickoff, things went from bad to worse for Berea as their tailback couldn’t handle a
pitch and John Rogers recovered.
Starting from the 33, it took just three plays to score. Trent Toy threw to Ronnie Willoughby who took
the short pass down to the 11. Mansnerus
powered in from there and it was 14-0.
Disaster struck the visitors again when a bad shotgun snap was recovered
by the Shoremen
at the 32. Mansnerus picked up a key
first down at the twenty on 4th & 3, then
carried twice down to the one with 24 seconds left. Toy spiked the ball to kill the clock, then crashed into the end a zone on a sneak. A botched snap on the PAT attempt left the
score 20-0 at the half.
Berea’s nightmare continued in the third quarter. The Braves returned the kickoff to the 30,
and gained four yards on the option on first down. After Brian Walborn blew up a toss sweep for
a four yard loss on second down, the Braves tried a halfback pass. The passer was sacked and lost the ball as
yet another fumble went to the Shoremen at the 15. On second down Marinkov powered 14 yards for
the score and the Shoremen lead 27-0.
The Braves went three and out after the kickoff, punting to the midfield
stripe. The Shoremen struck quickly as
Toy found Willoughby
running a skinny post. Ronnie caught the
prefect throw on the dead run and outran the secondary for the touchdown to
make it 34-0 with four minutes left in the third period. Coach Dlugosz cleared the bench as the
Shoremen reserves held their own for the rest of the game. Berea’s
starters did manage a long scoring drive against them, but Ian Groesel’s kick return gave the Shoremen great field position
at their own 45. Chris Jedlicka swept
left for seven yards, and Craig Goodwin did the same for 23 yards, down to the Braves
25. On the next play Craig burst through
a nice hole on the left side and rambled 25 yards for the final score
of the night.
Notes:
·
Mike Mansnerus
carried for 79 yards on the night, giving him 1,004 for the year. Mike is now fourth on Avon Lake’s
career rushing list, trailing only John Schroeder, John Berner, and Bobby
Doyle.
·
Brad Brill is
first on his family’s all time scoring list (by a lot).
·
The “rugby punt”
is a dumb play.
(Home) (Photos)
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Avon
Lake
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0
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20
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14
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8
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42
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Berea
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0
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0
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0
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7
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7
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B
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A.L.
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First downs
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10
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11
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Rush Yds
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98
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174
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Pass Yds
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53
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67
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Passes att-comp-int
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18-8-1
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5-2-0
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Fumbles-lost
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6-5
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5-0
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Penalties
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3-15
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1-5
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AL – Mansnerus 11 run (Brill kick)
AL – Mansnerus 11 run (Brill kick)
AL – Toy 1 run (pass failed)
AL – Marinkov 14 run (Brill kick)
AL – Willoughby
50 pass from Toy (Brill kick)
B – Sensel 5 run (McGee kick)
AL – Goodwin
25 run (Brill kick)