High school football: Avon rallies to top rival Avon Lake

AVON — If fourth-down efficiency is something Avon coach Mike Elder deems important, his Eagles made him proud Friday night in the season opener. Avon had a long passing touchdown on its opening drive, then a big touchdown run up the middle late in the fourth quarter — both fourth-down conversions and both by senior running back Nick Perusek — as the Eagles rallied for a 13-12 victory over top rival Avon Lake. "That happens a lot in high school football when people are packing the box and trying to get a tackle for a loss," Elder said. "It's feast or famine in those situations and sometimes they get you and sometimes they don't." Avon was facing fourth-and-3 from the Avon Lake 23-yard line on its first drive when Danny Zeh threw a swing pass to Perusek on the right side, and Perusek weaved through a couple of Shoremen defenders and into the end zone for a quick 7-0 lead. Avon was unable to duplicate the success against a swarming Shoremen defense that kept Perusek bottled up for most of the game and harassed Zeh in the backfield. The Eagles did put together another solid drive in the second quarter, but Avon Lake came up with its biggest defensive stop of the game. After Perusek drove the ball to the Avon Lake 1, the Shoremen stood him up twice at the goal line before senior defensive back Kai Kuwalu intercepted Zeh's third-down pass in the end zone. Avon Lake marched down the field after the turnover and junior running back Gage Duesler capped the eight-play, 80-yard drive with a 4-yard touchdown run. "That was huge," Avon Lake coach Matt Kostelnik said. "(Kuwalu's) one of our captains and he sets the tempo and the mood of our team. It was a huge moment and a great play by a young man that got us the momentum and sparked our offense." Avon maintained the lead, however, when Harry Hebert's extra-point attempt was blocked. Hebert, Avon Lake's starting quarterback, made 30- and 34-yard field goals in the third and fourth quarters to give the Shoremen a 12-7 lead. The Avon Lake second-half scoring drives were highlighted by several big plays by junior Michael Corbo, the backup quarterback who used his feet and arm to get Hebert into range. "Both guys played really well at times," Kostelnik said of his quarterback tandem. "It was by design. Harry was going to take the first two (series), Corbo was going to take the third and then we were just going to go." Avon Lake might have seen more success on its early drives if the offense wasn't hit with numerous false start and holding penalties that continuously derailed its momentum. "(We have) three juniors and two sophomores on the offense line," Kostelnik said. "A play here, a play there, a missed play ... we can't beat ourselves ultimately." After Hebert connected on his second field goal, Avon put together its best drive of the night. The Eagles marched down the field in 13 plays and Perusek ran for a 16-yard touchdown on fourth-and-1. "You could just see it in the kids' eyes, the guys who have been there and been in that moment, they're looking at you with a great deal of confidence and the other guys just followed them," Elder said of the winning drive. "You grow up a lot from Week 1 to Week 2, and we're going to get better as a football team, we always do. We're not where we need to be, but we were good enough tonight to beat our rival and that feels really good." Perusek managed just 73 yards on 19 carries, but scoring twice in a win against Avon Lake was enough to deem the performance a huge success. "This might have been the best game I've ever taken part in, definitely the most fun game I've ever been a part of," he said. "The (Avon Lake) defense was doing a really good job of stuffing the run for a lot of the game, I'll give that to them." Contact Shaun Bennett at 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @ShaunBennettct on Twitter. Avon 13, Avon Lake 12 Avon Lake 0 &emsp;&emsp;6 &emsp;&emsp;3 &emsp;&emsp;3 &emsp;&emsp;— &emsp;&emsp;12 Avon&emsp;&emsp;&emsp; 7 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;0 &emsp;&emsp;6 &emsp;&emsp;— &emsp;&emsp;13 Scoring A — Nick Perusek, 23 pass from Danny Zeh (Nathanial Vakos kick) AL — Gage Duesler, 4 run (kick blocked) AL — Harry Hebert, 30 field goal AL — Hebert, 34 field goal A — Perusek, 16 run (pass failed) TEAM STATISTICS &emsp;&emsp;AL &emsp;&emsp;A First downs 10 &emsp;&emsp;12 — by rushing 6 &emsp;&emsp;6 — by passing 3 &emsp;&emsp;6 — by penalty 1 &emsp;&emsp;0 Yards rushing 138 &emsp;&emsp;74 Yards passing 97 &emsp;&emsp;131 Total offense 235 &emsp;&emsp;205 Passes att./comp. &emsp;&emsp;17/7 25/16 Intercepted by 1 &emsp;&emsp;0 Fumbles/lost 1/0 &emsp;&emsp;0/0 Penalties/yards &emsp;&emsp;14/95 &emsp;&emsp;5/45 Individual statistics RUSHING — (AL) Michael Corbo 7-71, Gage Duesler 14-45, Harry Hebert 10-17, Matt Oehlstrom 1-4, Sean Summers 1-1. (A) Nick Perusek 19-73, Cole Zambrosky 1-4, Danny Zeh 11-(-3). PASSING — (AL) Hebert 4-7-70-0-0, Corbo 3-10-27-0-0. (A) Zeh 16-25-131-1-1. RECEIVING — (AL) Nathan Sidloski 2-38, Duesler 2-15, Nick Marsh 1-26, Oehlstrom 1-12, Jared Krukowski 1-6. (A) Perusek 5-36, Kam Erskine 5-35, Tommy Purcell 2-7, Joey Lance 2-7, Michael Ptacek 1-33, Andrew Smith 1-13.