Avon football coach Mike Elder can become Lorain County's wins leader with a victory in the state semifinals

From his first game at Avon, Mike Elder knew what football program he needed to emulate. The upstart Eagles took on Avon Lake at Cleveland Browns Stadium to open the 2007 season. It was Elder's first game at Avon and he admitted his team wasn't quite ready. It lost 50-25 to Dave Dlugosz and the Shoremen, and Elder knew what needed to be done. Avon Lake piled up 518 yards on the ground. Avon's Ryan O'Rourke threw for 313 yards but it wasn't enough and Elder knew it. The game was won on the line of scrimmage. "To be honest, this game was won in the offseason," Elder said at the time. "That's a big, strong team. It's an indication of where we need to go." It didn't take Elder long to get Avon there. Elder is 214-32 in his 18 years with the Eagles, including a state title last year. Last Friday against Highland, Elder won No. 214, tying him with Dlugosz for the most in Lorain County history. Jeff Riesen, who coached primarily at North Ridgeville with stints at Elyria, Avon Lake and Amherst, is right behind at 213. Elder can break the tie tonight in the Division II state semifinal against Walsh Jesuit in Akron. At one time, Avon was a smaller school in a farming community, competing in the old Inland Conference and later the Lorain County Conference. The chief rivals were Brookside, Columbia and Keystone. Elder has made Avon Lake, or as he simply calls it "Lake," the big rival for Avon, whose community has grown leaps and bounds over the past couple of decades. The communities are now similar in size. Elder knew if Avon wanted to be big-time, it would have to compete with the bigger schools. Avon Lake was the No. 1 target. "When it comes to the actual record and tying Dave Dlugosz, I would say that's what makes it special," said Elder. "The person you're being spoken about in the same sentence, I would say Dave is the greatest coach to ever do this in this county. I think he remains that, personally. "He's done a remarkable job and when I got hired on, that's who I was chasing. I was watching him. I was seeing how he did things over there. I was trying to make that game important because we were chasing them. Because of Dave Dlugosz, I became a motivated, better coach." Elder turned the Avon-Avon Lake rivalry into the best in the county. Avon joined the Southwestern Conference in 2015, leaving the West Shore Conference. Starting in 2016, Avon has won or tied for the SWC championship. The Eagles tied Avon Lake in 2018 and Olmsted Falls in 2021. The other eight were won outright. "It's amazing the parallels where we were at Avon Lake 10 years ago when we had 10 conference championships in a row," said Dlugosz. "Mike's doing the same thing. I think he's got 10 in a row. Just to watch how things evolve. A lot of times you take a look at things and you see on the field what the product is, but it's all those things behind the scenes that really makes the program develop. He's involved as we were involved from fourth and fifth grade all the way on up." The similarities don't end there. Dlugosz had a close-knit and loyal coaching staff. Elder has the same. "Both of us have very supportive communities that get behind the program and have supportive administrative staffs," Dlugosz said. "Both of us have tremendous coaching staffs, as well. I was so lucky. All my coaches — they weren't just good coaches, they were all very close friends of mine. "They still stay in very close contact with each other and that just made coming to the office and doing the work that much more fun. We got along so well. One of the things that changed, and I'm not sure how it is in Avon, there's fewer and fewer people who teach that want to go into coaching because of all the demands that are involved. When I was coaching, almost all my staff was also teachers in the system and they kind of grew up with the kids they were coaching, which made it even more special." Avon defensive coordinator Jared Cecchetti confirmed the staff's loyalty to Elder is no different than what Dlugosz had. "Just from my point of view, he's the guy who hired me and stuck his neck on the line for me," said Cecchetti. "When I was first becoming a teacher and obviously job searching, he fought tooth and nail to get me here. I wasn't certified in health. I was only a P.E. teacher and they needed a health teacher. I wasn't going to be hired here because I wasn't certified in health but he fought tooth and nail to get me a supplemental license to be here. I'll always forever be loyal to him just for that." That loyalty and friendship extend further than the field. "The camaraderie that we do have, the time we spend with each other," said Cecchetti. "I don't know if anybody else in the state spends as much time together. If we have a free night on the weekends and things like that, we call each other and say, 'hey, let's go watch a football game.' "Our wives are friends, my parents and his parents know each other. It's almost like a family how loyal we are because it's a very family-like atmosphere with everybody. We vacation together. We do a group wives retreat. He always organizes it. There's so many things that go into that." Elder never wanted the spotlight on himself. "The only thing that matters is the next game," he said. "It should never be about me, it should be about the team. "What I will say, the game of football, and Dave would agree with this, you can't be a good football coach without a great staff and great players. I've been blessed with the best coaching staff and great players along the way. If anything, I'll reflect on that and say how lucky I've been to surround myself with those folks. Yes, I had something to do with surrounding myself with those people so I'll take credit for that." Contact Tim Gebhardt at (440) 329-7135 or timothygeb@msn.com.