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The boys in maroon & gold got a bonus chance to play on their home field, and man, did they ever make the most of it! After a season of slow starts and battling from behind, Avon Lake dominated every aspect of the game right from the start. The Shoremen scored on their first two possessions, building a 14-0 lead just four and a half minutes into the game, and never looked back. The offensive line was particularly good, paving the way for 411 yards on the ground. Dontez Smith had 206 yards on 23 carries, Collin Lucas had 128 on 13 tries, and Chris Jedlicka ran for two scores. The defense contained Olmsted Falls high-octane spread offense from start to finish, with Brett Bass and Jimmy Hessel each picking off a Brennan Laird pass. It all added up to a 42-13 win and clinched at least a share of the SWC title for the fifth straight year. It’s the 14^th SWC title in 15 years, and the 17^th in Dave Dlugosz’ 20 years as coach.

The Shoremen kicked off and right away, Brad Brill sailed a high beauty into the end zone for a touchback. Laird threw a quick slant good for 11 yards and a first down. Two plays later he was flushed out of the pocket and his long throw down the left sideline was intercepted by Bass, who ran it back to the Falls 49. Smith gained 10 on a toss sweep left, then sprinted through a gaping hole off left tackle for 38 yards to the one. The Bulldogs bit back, holding the Shoremen out of the end zone on three straight runs. But on fourth down Jedlicka kept on a quarterback sneak for the score, and the first of Brill’s six PAT’s made it 7-0. Laird hit a 43 bomb into Shoremen territory, then threw for a first down at the A.L. 29. But after a gain of 7 on Laird scramble on first down, the defense stiffened and Falls turned the ball over on downs at the 23. On the next play, Jedlicka hand off to Smith off left tackle, and Dontez broke free for a 77 yard TD with 7:21 left in the first period. The next couple of Shoremen drives came up short deep in Falls territory, but with just under eight minutes to play in the half Collin Lucas ran a fullback counter to the right, broke a tackle at the line, and outran everyone for a 61 yard score. Meanwhile, the Bulldog offense could generate nothing as the Shoremen were all over every screen pass, consistently stopping the receivers for losses. After Falls punted to the Avon Lake 32, the Shoremen mounted a nice drive that used up most of the time remaining in the half. Jedlicka capped the drive with a 30 yard TD strike to Hessel to make the halftime score 28-0.

Wyatt Ohm returned the second half kickoff to the 37, and the Shoremen pounded the ball down the field with Smith, Bass, and Lucas ripping off nice chunks of yardage. Lucas crashed in from the nine for a 35-0 lead. Falls managed a nice kick return out to the 42, but couldn’t move the ball at all and punted to the Shoremen 15. Jedlicka made his only mistake of the night as his short pass over the middle was intercepted and returned to the four. Laird ran it in from there, the extra point attempt sailed wide right, and the Bulldogs were on the scoreboard 35-6. Avon Lake stayed on the ground on the next drive, with Jedlicka tallying his second score of the game on a 21 yard bootleg run on the first play of the fourth quarter. The Shoremen reserves finished up from there, allowing one more Falls TD on a two yard pass from Laird to Meketa accounting for the final score.

Notes:

· The game was scheduled to be played at Olmsted Falls, but was moved to Memorial Stadium as the Bulldogs’ grass field was unplayable due to this year’s record rainfall.

· It was the second time this year the Shoremen had two 100 yard rushers in one game. Smith & Bass each topped the century mark against North Olmsted.

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Avon Lake	14	14	7	7	42
Olmsted Falls	0	0	6	7	13

	OF	A.L.
First downs	13	19
Rush Yds	74	411
Pass Yds	156	63
Passes att-comp-int	32-18-2	7-4-1
Fumbles-lost	1-0	2-1
Penalties	2-20	5-26

AL – Jedlicka 1 run (Brill kick)
AL – Lucas 61 run (Brill kick)
AL – Smith 77 run (Brill kick)
AL – Hessel 30 pass from Jedlicka (Brill kick)
AL – Lucas 9 run (Brill kick)
OF – Laird 4 run (kick failed)
AL – Jedlicka 21 run (Brill kick)
OF – Meketa 2 pass from Laird (Ferster kick)