In spite of another shaky start, the Shoremen scored their second victory of the year Friday night, shutting out the Shaw Cardinals 49-0. The defense held things together through three first quarter fumbles and several rhythm-killing penalties by the offense. But once the Shoremen attack got on track with halfway thought the second quarter, they scored on six straight possessions and the rout was on.

The first two scores came on the ground to give Avon Lake a 14-0 halftime cushion at the half. Tailback Bobby Doyle, who had another big night running behind the blocking of the Shoremen line and fullback Sean Murello, scored on runs of 16 and 10 yards. Doyle finished the night with 139 yards on 19 carries.

In the third quarter, the Shoremen scored on a 5 yard pass from Mike Tift to Trey Stross, a 68 yard scoring pass from Tift to Andrew Means, another run by Doyle, and a strange punt return. That play began when Stross fielded a nice punt from Shaw, started to his right, & then cut back to the left sideline. After a nifty return of about 40 yards, Trey fumbled as he was going down. The ball rolled forward & was picked up by Scott Bennett, who never broke stride as he raced into the end zone.

The defense played very well again, with the only significant Cardinal gains coming on keepers by their two elusive quarterbacks, and a few decent pass plays. Shaw's attempts at establishing an inside running game went for naught, and the DB's did a good job running down their speedsters when they tried to get outside. Stross made a great leaping interception around the Shoremen 20 and returned it about 70 yards deep into Shaw's end of the field to set up Doyle's second TD touchdown. Stephen Zywotek had a monster game at defensive end as Shaw's big, fast tailback Omar Powell was held to -12 yards rushing on the night.

The Shoremen reserves took over late in the third quarter, and put up a score of their own on a Ben Willson TD run after a nice drive. Shaw threatened to score late in the game as they were deep in Avon Lake's end of the field after a 72 yard run by the Cardinal QB. But the second team defense stepped up and held the Cardinals on downs to preserve the shutout. Backup defensive tackle Jimmy Coyne was outstanding for the second straight week.

The victory was the 17th in a row for the Shoremen, tying the record 17 game unbeaten streak set back in 1966 and 1967. (That streak included an 8-8 tie with Rocky River in 1966.) 

(Home)

(Photos)

 

Avon Lake

 0

14

28

 7

49

 Shaw

 0

0

0

0

0

 

 

 

Shaw

 

A.L.

First downs

 

9

 

14

Rush Yds

 

122

 

192

Pass Yds

 

118

 

140

Passes att-comp-int

 

7-21-1

 

5-11-1

Fumbles-lost

 

3-1

 

4-2

Penalties

 

16-136

 

6-53

 

 

 

 

 

AL -- Doyle 16 run (Lyons kick)
AL -- Doyle 10 run (Lyons kick)
AL -- Means 68 pass from Tift (Lyons kick)
AL -- Stross 6 pass from Tift (Lyons kick)
AL -- Bennett 22 fumble recovery (Lyons kick)
AL -- Doyle 12 run (Lyons kick)
AL -- Willson 1 run (Lyons kick)