High school football: Avon rolls over Elyria

ELYRIA — Avon's Luke Hamilton attended school in Elyria until the eighth grade, had plenty of friends on the other side and watched his father Steve coach the Pioneers many times at Ely Stadium, so Friday night wasn't just another game for the senior tackle. "I kind of had this game circled a long time ago," said Hamilton, who will play for the University of Michigan next fall. "It was just kind of surreal running out here for the last time because I always spent my time on (Elyria's) side watching (games). But just getting to see all my old friends from preschool up was really cool. Before the game it was all dap ups, during the game they were saying, 'Good block, Ham,' … it was just love the whole game. It was nice to see that." The Elyria players may have enjoyed Hamilton's presence but they certainly didn't take pleasure in what he and his Avon teammates did to them offensively during a 42-6 victory. The Eagles (4-0, 1-0 Southwestern Conference) scored on their first six possessions then sat on the sideline and watched the reserves burn through 24 minutes of running clock in the second half. For the second straight game, junior quarterback Nolan Good ran a near flawless offense. After a big performance in a win against Glenville last weekend, Good was 8-for-9 passing for 146 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran for a 13-yard score. "He's just getting more and more confident and he's turning into an outstanding quarterback," Avon coach Mike Elder said. "The more snaps you take at the varsity level, the more the game slows down around you, and he's got some great players around him. He knows that and it's fun to have the keys to the car with our offensive line and (running back) Jakorion (Caffey) back there and some receivers that can fly." Caffey also had a huge game against the Pioneers (0-4, 0-1). The senior running back and linebacker, who will play at the University of Cincinnati next season, gained 109 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries — all in the first half — and hauled in an interception that he returned to the end zone. The touchdown was negated by an Eagles' holding penalty on the return. "I'm just very blessed to be able to play both sides of the ball and help my team any way that I can," Caffey said. "I played a little defense and a lot of offense, but I'd do anything for my team." It took Avon less than two minutes to take the lead as Good found Cole Kepner deep down the field and Kepner separated from the defense for a 67-yard touchdown. Good scored with his feet on the Eagles' second drive and then found Matt Maxey across the middle for a 26-yard score that made it 21-0 at the end of the first quarter. "We've got a lot of doubters about the o-line," Hamilton said. "People say that we're not that good, but this game we kind of came out and tried to show that we can move people and we like to finish. We let JC do his job, hit the holes and then gave Nolan pockets to throw. They do it really well, so we think we executed very well." Caffey scored early in the second quarter — breaking about eight tackles to get through the 6 yards he needed for the touchdown — Tyler Kaufmann broke off a 39-yard sprint down the left side and into the end zone and Good connected with Ty Beerbohm for an 11-yard score to make it 42-0 at the half. Elder used three quarterbacks, three running backs and a host of role players he hopes will be making big plays earlier in games within the next few years during a rapid second half. "Our goal here today was to make sure we played a lot of guys, stayed healthy and played to a high standard," Elder said. "I thought we accomplished all those things. The second half, there's some things that we'll clean up, but other than that, it's never gonna be perfect. But I thought we did a great job tonight." Elyria spoiled the shutout when junior running back Kevin Jordan, who lined up several times in the Wildcat formation, burst through the right side of the line and sprinted 50 yards down the right sideline for a touchdown in the final minute of the third quarter. While the Pioneers have made progress through four games, coach Brian Fox lamented some penalties and personnel mistakes … and inconsistency with effort. "It's cleaning up a little bit and I think the kids understand their roles a little bit better, but we have some people who were just not on board," Fox said. "We had a senior leader trying — he'd thrown up all night, all day and between drives — and he came out and gave us a quarter. You've got kids like Laron (Anderson-Oliver) who when he gets angry he doesn't say give me the ball but says run it my way. You've got Xavier Church out here and he's cleaning the field (after the loss) … these are kids that we need to invest more in. "But it's hard when you look around for the people that you need, the people that you were counting on, and they aren't there." After the big win over Glenville, which was riding a 17-game win streak and captured the Division IV state championship last season, the Avon players could've lost focus against a hungry Elyria team. Elder said the senior leaders refused to let that happen. "We know we're going to be favored in every game (the rest of the regular season) but we don't want to let that get to our heads," Caffey said. "If you start sleepwalking through a game you could easily turn this into a fourth quarter game instead of a first half game. So every week we prepare like we're facing the best team in Ohio. Elyria has some great athletes so we felt like we had to play our best and keep them from getting an edge during this game." Contact Shaun Bennett at (440) 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @ShaunBennettct on X.