High school football: Avon Lake defense making fast work of the opposition

Wonder how Avon Lake's defense has been so dominant in the Southwestern Conference this season? Take a look at the Shoremen's defensive line. OK, maybe that won't do it. The Shoremen actually don't look all that dominant ... at first look. Senior Nick Marsh is the biggest of the group at 6-foot-3, 220 pounds. Junior Jacob Sintic is 5-10, 175, while senior Zak Kovacs is 6-1, 200 and senior Jack McCrum is 6-2, 190. When you see them run, however, it all makes sense. In a conference notorious for big, bruising offensive linemen and hard-hitting defenses, Avon Lake has used speed to put up the kind of defensive numbers that usually lead to playoff berths. Last year in 10 games against SWC opponents (nine regular-season games and a playoff rematch against Olmsted Falls) the Shoremen defense gave up 18.8 points per game. Avon Lake actually surrendered 28 points four times against conference foes, including 34 in a regular-season loss to the Bulldogs and 31 in a loss to border rival Avon. This season, in four SWC games heading into tonight's home clash with Amherst, Avon Lake has given up 19 points total, while allowing just 185 total yards per game. The Shoremen have also allowed just 42 first downs in five games. "We're playing to our defensive strengths, maximizing our potential and our speed," Avon Lake coach Matt Kostelnik said. "(Defensive coordinator Bob) Brickley and his staff have done a great job of putting things together and we've been really good at taking away what the other team is good at." Marsh leads the team with six sacks while Sintic has five. McCrum is tied for the team lead with 26 tackles, including four for a loss. Kovacs has 20 tackles and four quarterback pressures. Junior strong-side linebacker Nate Cikalo, who had a pair of interception returns for touchdowns on back-to-back possessions last week against North Ridgeville, said the speed of the Shoremen up front has been the lynchpin to the team's defensive success. "The defensive line is so fast, they move so quick and get to the quarterback," Cikalo said. "Our secondary is really fast and our linebackers are really fast, too. "It makes the secondary's job so much easier. We can usually get a couple of turnovers every game because they cause the quarterback to make a bad read and feel like he has to get rid of the ball quick. They cause so many turnovers." Sintic, a first-year starter, said the defensive line is entirely different from last season. "Last year the defensive line definitely was not as fast as us," he said. "They were big boys that held the offensive line at the line of scrimmage. Our defensive line is stunting every single play and our linebackers and defensive backs are super-fast." Brickley said that was evident to the coaching staff during preseason practice and made it an easy choice to build the defense around that speed. "We've tried to focus on what we do well, and we're fast and extremely athletic," Brickley said. "We want to put our guys in good positions and in our entire camp we focused on flying to the football. We did this knowing we had to take advantage of what we do well. "We're small, but we're fast. I've got linebackers that are smaller than some corners. The mindset that we instilled early was that we're going to play fast, we're going to play loose and we're going to let our speed dictate. "Our base defense, and our ability to play it extremely fast, has paid off for us." It's worked so far. Brickley also pointed out that his defensive line has been sternly tested in its first five games this season, playing against offensive tackles with big-time college ability. "We've played against a bunch of Division I offensive tackles," Brickley said. "Berea has (6-4, 305-pound offensive tackle Jared) Bycznski, and he's phenomenal. Avon has two guys that are Division I … Ball State and I think Toledo. Clinton-Massie had a big boy, a Division I kid. "Three of our five games have been against Division I offensive tackles, and we're 200 pounds. It's a mindset. Jack McCrum is having an outstanding year. Marsh has been phenomenal. Sintic, phenomenal. Kovacs has been great. "We've got four defensive ends out there, essentially, and our speed, aggressiveness and technique has paid off against some really good players. "We're fast, we're aggressive and we're disciplined." Even with a smaller defensive line, Avon Lake's defense has dictated what opposing offenses can do. That's been a huge advantage, Kostelnik said. "We played one team that had never run option before, it was third-and-5 and they ran the option," Kostelnik said. "They fumbled the ball. I told the kids that was from a game's worth of them playing hard and dictating to the offense. "They had to go to their fourth-tier play that they weren't going to be very successful at. That's one thing as a signal-caller … I never want to get to my fourth-tier play. Avon did that to me in our first game ... we were running empty (no one in the backfield). Fifteen times we ran empty. That's what good defenses do, they force you to go to those third and fourth-level plays on your call sheet. "The whole defensive line … what they've been able to do has been impressive. The idea is that we continue to execute like that moving forward." Contact Mike Perry at 329-7135 or macsportstalk@gmail.com.