Avon's Nolan Good wins Golden Helmet Award as top senior football player in Lorain County

AVON — His last name says it all. He's Good, Nolan Good, and he's this year's Lorain County Golden Helmet Award winner, presented annually to the best senior player. The award has been around since 1965 when Elyria linebacker Randy Stevenson won the first. Good, Avon's quarterback, becomes the 60th winner of the prestigious honor, which was presented by Don Vincent, who was representing the award's sponsor WOBL and WDLW radio. Good will continue his career at Kent State next season. He's the sixth Avon player selected. Last year, his teammates Jakorian Caffey won the award. "I always wanted to win the award but if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen," Good said. "I'm grateful to having received it, especially after playing with (Caffey) and watching him get that award." Avon coach Mike Elder could see the potential when Good was a freshman. "We moved him up as a freshman and I remember talking to his dad, telling him we wanted him to come up as a freshman," Elder said. "We wanted to start developing him as a quarterback because we thought he could be a quarterback for our team down the road. "I think his dad really wasn't sure his son was a quarterback because he thought he was more of a skilled athlete. He wasn't wrong about that. Nolan started for us as a sophomore at corner(back). It's hard to play for the Eagles as a sophomore." With his teammates chanting "Nolan, Nolan, Nolan" at Wednesday's team meal following practice, Good accepted the award. His parents, Brandon and Hallie, and his sophomore teammate brother Brooks were on hand for the presentation. "I'm just grateful really," Nolan Good said. "There's no better way to be able to celebrate something like that with the guys that I've worked so hard with this entire season. It's a true brotherhood that we have here at Avon. I'm just so grateful. "You can't have that mentality that it's about you because it's not. I cannot do this without them, without my coaches, without a supporting cast. My family, my parents, there's so many little things that go into something like this. I can't thank everybody enough for all the things they've done for me from the bottom up." Good has no doubt been special for this year's undefeated Eagles, who will take on unbeaten Highland on Friday at Ely Stadium for the Region 6 championship and a trip to the state semifinals. Going into Friday's game, he's completed 176 of 270 attempts (65.2 percent) with 28 touchdowns and only seven interceptions. On the ground, Good has rushed for 528 yards and nine scores on 52 attempts, averaging 10.15 per carry. For his career, he's thrown for 5,347 yards, 53 touchdowns and only 10 picks. Good ranks among the top four in school history in yards, completions (346) and touchdowns. "He was a student of the game," Elder said. "He takes coaching well. No one's harder on Nolan than Nolan is on himself. Sometimes, that can be one of his weaknesses. He's too hard on himself. You can't be perfect, but he's trying to be." Good suffered a separated shoulder last season during Avon's playoff run but he continued to do what he could to help the team. He worked hard to rehab his arm and joined the basketball team in January. "Some people might forget about that because he's had some honors and some things he's received this year, awards," Elder said. "I'll never forget that part about Nolan, when he broke his collarbone and (Elder's son) Blake had to come into a game as a sophomore and play against Olmsted Falls. On the sidelines right after breaking his collarbone, he was there breathing confidence every step of the way. "He had the surgery, came back and was at every practice, breathing confidence into him, supporting him and leading him, leading our team. Because he wasn't able to play, he was still leading the football team. Some kids would never do that, but it was that important to him, and his teammates mattered that much to him that he did that." Contact Tim Gebhardt at 329-7135 or timothygeb@msn.com. Lorain County Golden Helmet Winners Year Player, School, Position 1965 Randy Stevenson, Elyria LB 1966 Ralph Holloway, Oberlin FB/DL 1967 Dick Wakefield, Avon Lake WR 1968 Jim Svoboda, Lorain WR/LB 1969 John Husband, Elyria FB 1970 Kurt Schumacher, Lorain FB/DT 1971 Ike Maxwell, Elyria TB 1972 Bob Hyatt, Keystone HB Gus Mecera, Clearview OT/DT 1973 Bruce Yeager, Elyria Cath FB/DL 1974 Tim Burns, Wellington TB Steve Holovacs, Firelands TB 1975 Virgil Williams, Lorain HB 1976 Greg Jones, Elyria West TB 1977 Bryan Thomas, Elyria Cath TB 1978 Craig Best, No Ridgeville TB 1979 Jon Burger, Elyria LB/PK 1980 Jeff Mey, Vermilion TB 1981 Vince Villanucci, Lorain OL 1982 John Berner, Avon Lake TB 1983 Bob Calamari, Ad. King QB Brian Schneider, Elyria Cath. FB 1984 Al McKinney, Elyria Cath. TB 1985 Jeff Seasor, No. Ridgeville LB 1986 David Lyons, Clearview FB 1987 Tyrone Nelson, Elyria West TB Dennis Washington, Lorain TB 1988 Steve Tovar, Elyria West LB 1989 Tony Godbolt, Elyria TB 1990 Erik Engel, No. Ridgeville TB 1991 Ron Leshinski, Vermilion TE 1992 Ty Grude, Firelands QB LaRon Trice, Elyria West TB/DT 1993 Tim Schumacher, Avon Lake OT/DT 1994 Jerel Klue, No. Ridgeville LB 1995 Ricky Schneider, Amherst QB 1996 Zach Mitchell, Avon FB/LB 1997 Ryan Myers, Wellington FB/LB Erik Rogers, Vermilion TB 1998 Matt Wilhelm, Elyria Cath. TB/LB 1999 Dan Rozanski, Midview TB/LB 2000 Jeff Strauch, Avon Lake TB 2001 Brian Cesear, Amherst FB/LB 2002 Dustin Intihar, Columbia TB 2003 John Schroeder, Avon Lake TB 2004 Trey Stross, Avon Lake WE/DB 2005 P.J. Mahone, Elyria TB/DB 2006 John McGraw, No.Ridgeville TB 2007 Mike Haddad, Avon Lake TB 2008 Ryan O'Rourke, Avon QB 2009 Anthony Hitchens, Clearview TB 2010 Danny Reaser, Elyria Cath. QB 2011 Matt Eckhardt, Avon WR 2012 Tracy Sprinkle, Elyria DE 2013 Jay Banyasz, Columbia QB 2014 C.J. Conrad, Keystone TE 2015 Logan Bolin, Midview WR 2016 Dustin Crum, Midview QB 2017 Justin Sturgill, Lorain QB 2018 Brandon Coleman, Columbia TB 2019 Jacob Shackelford, Keystone QB 2020 Niko Pappas, Avon QB 2021 Gideon Lampron, Keystone TB/LB 2022 Levi Ellis, Elyria Catholic TB/LB