Boys basketball: After lengthy football season, Avon's ready to go

While some teams are assessing how they fared during the first quarter of the season, Avon is just gearing up for opening day. The Eagles will finally begin their defense of last year's Division II district title Saturday at home against North Olmsted. The success of Avon's football team, which won its second consecutive state championship Dec. 4, forced the basketball team to delay the opening of its season. "It's kinda what we're used to, we've been doing this for a while now," Eagles coach Mike Fitch said. Unlike previous years when half, or more, of the Avon roster was trading in its shoulder pads for sneakers at the end of the football season, the 2025-26 Eagles have 10 varsity players who have been practicing since Oct. 31 preparing for their first game. "Our guys who have been in the gym for over a month have bought in and I give the credit to our coaching staff that have made those expectations known," Fitch said. Junior guard Joey Ziegler, who emerged as one of the leading shooters in the Southwestern Conference last season averaging nearly 15 points a game, said the Eagles are in a better position to begin the season this year than it was a year ago when they started the year 4-6. "We're already steps ahead of where we were last year," Ziegler said. "We're not going to fall back and fall behind just because the football players come back. Honestly it starts with our mentality in practice, it's been totally different this year and everyone is really ready to go." Avon originally slated its season to begin Dec. 9 against North Olmsted but that game was pushed back to Saturday. The Eagles game at North Ridgeville, which was scheduled for tonight, was moved back to Dec. 30. The backloaded schedule will force Avon to play three days over winter break, including two at home against Westlake and at North Ridgeville, on Tuesday afternoons. Fitch embraces the unusual schedule and thinks it will make his team better come tournament time. "We had a lot of different weird games last year and that helped out down the stretch," he said. "On a Tuesday night we drove an hour and a half to play Boardman in a district semifinal game with nobody there from Avon except parents and a couple of kids and we came out and performed well. "I think it's good to face adversity and see how we respond to that. Sometimes you take early season losses or early struggles to gain that experience so it's actually nice to play different teams and at different times." Avon's first home game will come Tuesday against Olmsted Falls. "Obviously, we're going to have to knock some rust off in that first game against North Olmsted, but we're going to be ready to go by the time we face Olmsted Falls," Ziegler said. Like his coach, Ziegler continues to find the positives in the Eagles' late start. "We've had a chance to watch these other teams play and they haven't seen anything from us yet," he said. Avon only has one back-to-back on its schedule — Jan. 9-10, when it faces Amherst and Lakewood — but with 10 games in the month of January the Eagles will have limited opportunities to get in good practices during the heart of the season. Fitch said he and his players have already prepared for that eventuality but are trying to put in most of their installs early in the year. Despite the challenges it presents for the basketball program, Fitch said there is nothing like being a part of a school that has had the level of success Avon has had in the last 12 months. "When you win three championships in one year at a school, it's just amazing for the community," Fitch said. "Obviously, there is no one more proud than me. My grandpa graduated from Avon in 1941, my parents in 1972 and I graduated in '04, and I have many other family members who graduated from here, too. It's just been awesome to see all of the success at Avon." After watching his classmates win yet another state title, Ziegler is ready to keep the championship hardware coming back to Avon. "Watching the football team win was fun," he said. "We know it's our turn now." Contact Todd Shapiro at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chronciet.com.