High school football: Avon's defense picking up steam after a rough start

AVON — It was the second week of the season. Medina had just scored on a 61-yard pass to pull within 43-42 with time running out. The Bees had shredded Avon's defense for 624 passing yards and five touchdowns. All Medina needed was a 2-point conversion but the Eagles stopped it. "We had a lot of juice because it was an important play in the game," said senior defensive lineman Austin Mitchell. "It just happened." "We all knew we needed a big stop right there," said linebacker Gavin Ehrhardt, Avon's leader with 32 tackles on the season. "We just came together as one and did whatever it took. We knew we had to get pressure on the quarterback to make him throw quicker than he usually does and cause a bad throw. That was big." "It all came down to our preparation," said senior defensive lineman Amin Abdul. "We try to get every scenario down so when we get to a 2-point conversion, we run that in practice so we're ready for that when the time came." Avon's defense began to jell when the Eagles played their biggest rival Avon Lake on the road to start the Southwestern Conference portion of the schedule. Tied 14-all at half, the Eagles took the lead on Jakorian Caffey's short run in the third quarter, but the Shoremen quickly answered on a 99-yard kick return from Wade Nelson, who already had an 81-yard TD run. As it turned out, those were the last points Avon Lake scored. Avon's defense made sure of that in a convincing 42-21 victory. The Eagles (5-1) have outscored opponents 139-13 since the kick return against Avon Lake and own a 3-0 record in the SWC heading into tonight's showdown with Olmsted Falls (5-1, 3-0 SWC). The only stain on Avon's season is a 27-21 loss to Glenville in Week 3. Since the game with the Shoremen, Avon has chalked up a 48-6 win over Elyria and knocked off North Ridgeville 63-7 last week. "The beginning of the year, we were a little rocky," said Mitchell, who has three sacks and 15½ tackles, with four of them for losses. "Nothing was really flowing as well as we wanted it to. In practice, we started focusing on that a little more." "Yeah, defense started out slow," said senior defensive back Matt Fischer, who has an interception and 28 tackles. "It took a couple games to get it together. We're playing really well right now." "It's just a product of our practice," Abdul said. "Our first couple of weeks, we weren't practicing the way we need to play. We changed up. We ramped up the practices and we're playing better than ever." Abdul leads the Eagles with 4½ sacks. He's caused a fumble and has 15 tackles — 3½ for loss of yardage. "Defense has really come together the past three, four weeks," said Ehrhardt, who also lines up in the offensive backfield and has scored 44 points on seven touchdowns and a 2-point conversion. "Started off a little bit shaky but those were difficult games (Medina and Glenville). I think with coaches pushing us harder each week and working on tackling and all that stuff, we've become a lot better. I'll do whatever for the team. We'll do what it takes." Ehrhardt, a lefty pitcher and outfielder, will play baseball at the University of Cincinnati next year. Avon is hoping to win its 12th straight against Olmsted Falls since the two began playing in the SWC. Twice, Avon has beaten Olmsted Falls in playoff action. The defense will be the key. Can the Eagles stop the Bulldogs' vaunted triple-option offense again? Olmsted Falls returns hard-nosed senior tailback Rocco Conti and his sidekicks Michael Candow and Jack Pinchek. They've made a habit of running over and around people all year. "They're tough to go against," said Abdul. "They have great players, Rocco Conti, Dom Rivera (6-foot-7, 320 pound two-way lineman), great players but we prepare for that. We have a game plan just prepared for Olmsted Falls, so I think we'll be ready to go." "There's a lot of preparation going into it," Fischer said. "It's kind of tough at first but once you get it down, it's pretty simple." "Olmsted Falls is a little bit different," said Mitchell. "They kind of pride themselves on kicking your butt a little bit. We've been practicing with a high-level of focus. We're trying to match their speed with our scout team, which is hard to do. Hopefully, we'll be ready." "Our defense has been playing exceptionally well, without question," said Avon coach Mike Elder. "That Medina game was humbling. They scored a lot of points on us, but they do something that's non- traditional that you don't see a lot of. When you only see it once a year, it's tough to defend. I think if our coaches had another crack at that, schematically we'd do some different things. "We face another offense just like that this week, triple option. Thankfully, we've seen it enough times, but they do a great job of adding wrinkles and changing some things up but at least it's not foreign to us. We've seen it every year now." Elder feels confident in his defense, especially with two-year starters like Mitchell, Ehrhardt, Abdul and Fischer, along with others with plenty of experience. "Those are all returning starters, guys that from a year ago played at a high level on a state Final Four team, a conference championship team," he said. "What you expect when you have a returning starter is they'll be better than they were last year. I think every one of those kids are better versions of themselves than last year, which says a lot because each and every one of them were great players for us a year ago as juniors. "They're definitely the leaders of the defense. Cam Santee (19½ tackles) is another young man who's a big part of our defense. He's committed to play football at Holy Cross next year." Contact Tim Gebhardt at 329-7135 or timothygeb@msn.com. AVON-OLMSTED FALLS SERIES 2013 Avon 21, Olmsted Falls 14 2014 Avon 28, Olmsted Falls 13 2015 Avon 49, Olmsted Falls 28 2016 Avon 42, Olmsted Falls 19 2017 Avon 31, Olmsted Falls 7 2017* Avon 44, Olmsted Falls 14 2018 Avon 52, Olmsted Falls 14 2019 Avon 24, Olmsted Falls 14 2020 Avon 35, Olmsted Falls 32 2021 Avon 41, Olmsted Falls 29 2021* Avon 49, Olmsted Falls 21 *State playoffs