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North Olmsted threw a pretty good scare into the Shoremen Friday night, dominating the game for almost three quarters as they led 20-7 with four minutes left in the third period. The Shoremen helped the Eagles maintain their lead with penalties, a fumble, and a drop on a sure touchdown pass. But after the last North Olmsted score the Shoremen came to life. The Maroon & Gold scoring machine rang up 34 unanswered points, sending the homecoming crowd home happy and lowering this writer’s blood pressure by about 100 points.

North Olmsted started on offense, returning the kickoff to their 30. They mounted an 11 play scoring drive, helped out by a Shoremen offsides penalty that changed 4^th & 5 at the 33 into 4^th & inches at the 28. A one yard run picked up the first down, then Matt Vetrovsky took an option pitch from Keith Troyer going to his right, turned upfield, and cut back over the middle for a 27 yard TD run. The PAT made it 7-0 just four minutes into the game. The Shoremen answered with their own 10 play drive, moving from their 30 to a 4^th & 1 at the Eagle 14. Sean Oxley was all alone at the goal line but dropped Firment’s pass and the ball went back over to North Olmsted. The Eagles made one first down and punted. The Shoremen moved the chains a couple of times but turned the ball over on downs at the N.O. 38. The Eagles moved to the Shoremen 29 in just four plays, but a bomb into the end zone was under thrown and picked off by Peyton Armbrecht. With the ball spotted just 6 inches from the goal line, Firment faked play action and hit Steve Mares in stride around the 15. Steve outran a couple of pursuers and raced 99.8 yards for the score. Prendergast’s kick tied the score at 7 with under 5 minutes to go in the half. The Eagles weren’t impressed, though, and with the help of 35 yards in Shoremen penalties, marched down to score on a 12 yard sweep with 1:44 left in the half. The Shoremen were unable to get anything going on offense and the score at the half stood North Olmsted 14, Avon Lake 7.

Starting with the ball at their 30, The Shoremen opened the second half looking like they might take control of the game. Four runs moved the ball to midfield, then Tell turned right end for a nice gain. But Jeff fumbled the ball at the Eagle 35 and North Olmsted recovered. Not to worry, though, as Patrick Stokes picked off a Troyer pass two plays later and returned it to the 25. But on 4^th&2 from the seven, Firment’s pass zipped off Scherer’s fingertips and the Eagles took over again. Four plays later, Steve MacDonald took a handoff from Troyer, pulled up to throw, and hit a bomb to Bryon Price. The defender fell down and Price raced in for the score and a 20-7 lead as the Shoremen faithful were feeling pretty uncomfortable. That didn’t last too long, though, as Haddad gained 14, then Oxley caught a pass for 21 yards to the Eagle 45. A nice gain by Tell was negated by a holding penalty, setting up 2^nd & 20 at the A.L. 45. This time, Jeff took a pitch going to his right, cut back hard to the left, and raced 55 yards to trim the deficit to 20-14 with three minutes left in third quarter. The Eagles went three and out, punting only out to their 45.

Just 30 seconds into the final period, the Shoremen faced 3^rd & 5 from the Eagle 29. Firment faked to Tell, bootlegged out to his left, and floated a pass to Haddad in the flat. Mike shrugged off a tackle, turned up the sideline, and raced across the goal line. Prendergast’s PAT gave the home team its first lead of the night. Things went from bad to worse for North Olmsted when they fumbled the kickoff back to the Shoremen at their own 17. Two plays later Tell swept left end for a 13 yard score to build the lead to 27-20 with 10:26 left. A 13 yard sack on first down left the Eagles in another deep hole and when Scherer returned the punt to the N.O. 30, the Shoremen were back in business. Six plays later Haddad crashed in from the one and the game was finally under control. Again the Eagles went three and out, and again Scherer’s punt return set the offense up in Eagle territory at the 43. Firment then hit Ryan for 15 yards and a first down at the 28. After a five yard false start penalty, Mike Haddad burst through a tired Eagle defense and raced 23 yards for the final TD of the game. Both coaches sent in their subs to finish out the game with no further scoring

Notes:

· Haddad’s 3 TD’s give him a season total of 15. Mike’s 29 yard scoring catch was his first receiving TD of the year.

· Haddad and Tell both topped the century mark rushing. Jeff’s 164 yards on 17 carries give him 642 yards in six games; Mike’s 106 on 18 carries bring his season total to 875 yards.

· Firment came through with his usual 7-15 for 2 TD’s & no INT’s. Nick threw for a season-high 194 yards. His numbers through six games: 37-71 for 830 yards with 12 TD’s & no INT’s.

· The offensive line has not allowed a sack yet this year.

· The Firment to Mares 99 yard TD pass is the longest pass play in Shoremen history, breaking the previous mark of 95 yards set in 1983. It is also the longest scoring play ever for Avon Lake, eclipsing Bobby Doyle’s 97 yard TD run in 2004.

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Avon Lake	0	7	7	27	41
Olmsted Falls	7	7	6	0	20

	N.O.	A.L.
First downs	16	18
Rush Yds	142	276
Pass Yds	156	194
Passes att-comp-int	24-10-3	7-15-0
Fumbles-lost	2-1	1-1
Penalties	4-30	7-60

NO – Vetrovsky 27 run (Rodriguez kick)
AL – Mares 99 pass from Firment (Prendergast kick)
NO – Petro 12 run (Rodriguez kick)
NO – Price 71 pass from McDonald (kick failed)
AL – Tell 55 run (Prendergast kick)
AL – Haddad 29 pass from Firment (Prendergast kick)
AL – Tell 13 run (kick failed)
AL – Haddad 1 run (Prendergast kick)
AL – Haddad 23 run (Prendergast kick)