Boys Lacrosse: Avon finishes strong to knock off Avon Lake

AVON — One good rally deserved another. Avon Lake seemed to take control of its rivalry matchup against Avon with five unanswered goals, but the Eagles got the last laugh as they responded with four goals in the final 13:49, including the clincher by junior Will Conley with 34 seconds left to cap a 7-6 win Tuesday evening. "I was just so excited to see all my boys together," Conley said. "We went through so much adversity, and to come back and beat this team coming off a hard loss last year is great. It felt amazing just to celebrate with my team." Avon Lake (3-3) outshot Avon 11-9, including 5-4 in the first quarter. But the Eagles managed to take an early 3-1 lead with 37 seconds left in the opening period thanks to goals from Fin Jerdonek, Jude Theibert and Jackson Brokaw, who also assisted on Theibert's goal. But the Shoremen closed the quarter with a goal from Jackson Sumner with seven seconds to spare. Avon Lake opened the game with a goal from Mason Brown. The second quarter only produced one shot on goal — from Avon Lake in the final minute — but Avon (5-2) had a golden opportunity to push its lead further. The Eagles held possession for a five-minute stretch that produced three shots, none on goal, until a turnover and a foul gave Avon Lake a man advantage for the final 1:36. The Shoremen didn't capitalize until 7:43 in the third quarter when Drew Cheon set up Nate LePrevost with a point-blank finish. Cheon gave Avon Lake the lead nearly a minute later with a goal of his own that came on a man advantage. Sumner and Michael Kemer scored later to give Avon Lake a 6-3 lead with 3:14 left in the quarter. "We were patient," Avon Lake coach Kevin Bresnahan said of the second and third quarters. "We took what was given to us. We had some man-up opportunities and changed things up. That was successful. Defense was making some stops and we cleared the ball well, but we were patient and did the smart thing." Evan Juergens gave Avon some life with 1:49 left in the third, connecting from 20 yards out on a goal that cut Avon Lake's lead to 6-4. The Shoremen looked as if they were going to hold on until Avon struck again with 4:25 left in the fourth on Theibert's second goal of the evening. Theibert would tie the game, and complete his hat trick, off a beautiful feed from Juergens with 2:23 left. Conley's heroics came on a 15-yard shot with 34 seconds left. Avon Lake's Justin Varga got off a good look from about 15 yards with eight seconds left, but Lucas Deacon made the save and Avon ran out the clock. "We came out hyped up," Theibert said. "We scored one and we were just off to the races. We let it go. We made some adjustments and just came together as a team. We came out at the half and just went crazy." Contact Chris Sweeney at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com. Follow him @CSweeney1686 on X.