H.S. Football Opening Night: Avon capitalizes on turnovers, beats St. Ignatius to start title defense

AVON — Give a team like Avon enough extra chances and eventually it will capitalize. St. Ignatius opened the second half with three turnovers on four snaps, and the Eagles scored 13 straight points to run away with a 40-14 win in the season opener for both teams Thursday night. Last year the teams opened the season at Huntington Bank Field, home of the Cleveland Browns, with Avon winning 42-21. "I'm proud of everybody," said Jakob Weatherspoon, a North Carolina commit. "We put a lot of work in this offseason, not knowing who's going to start where, but I think everybody did their one-eleventh, which is all you can really do. We played to our best of our ability. We just have to come out next week and do the same thing." Avon's last regular-season loss was Week 3 of the 2022 season, 27-21 to Glenville. The Eagles have won their last 28 regular-season games and, as the defending Division II state champions, their last 17 overall. Weatherspoon had arguably the biggest play of the evening. After Avon's offense couldn't capitalize on St. Ignatius' first turnover, the senior safety took a pick 20 yards to the Wildcats 5-yard line. Two plays later, running back Cam Wendell recorded his second 1-yard touchdown to give Avon a 21-7 lead. "I was in Cover-2 and I saw the formation they were in," Weatherspoon said. "I was like, I watch film, too, it's got to be curl. The quarterback dropped back and looked straight at me, I put my foot in the ground and picked it off." The Wildcats' nightmare didn't end there. St. Ignatius fumbled the snap on the ensuing play, setting up Avon with a 35-yard field. Three plays later, Blake Elder found wide receiver Caden Clapham for a 34-yard touchdown that gave Avon a 27-7 lead with 7:03 left. Everyone who scored for Avon ultimately did so twice. Elder found Clapham again in the fourth quarter, and senior running back Quiante' Smith also ran for two touchdowns. He led Avon with 45 yards on 10 carries. However, the Eagles only ran for 131 yards against a stout St. Ignatius front. "We didn't run the ball as well as Avon normally runs the ball tonight and that makes it tough sledding," coach Mike Elder said. "A lot of that is a credit to St. Ignatius. They have three really good linebackers, guys that we think are really good. We made enough plays, but the story was our defense." The Wildcats also broke off some long kick returns that set them up with solid field position. St. Ignatius also blocked two extra-point kicks. But just like last year, Avon's defense made up for the slow start in the other two facets. The Eagles held St. Ignatius to 195 total yards and 33 rushing yards and forced four turnovers. The Wildcats had three other fumbles that they recovered. "I want to dig into the film and actually watch to see," Elder said. "I don't want to be too quick to rush to judgment, but obviously kickoff coverage was not good tonight. So we have to fix that. There are some other things on special teams that have to be a little bit better." Contact Chris Sweeney at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X.