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After
a week of criticism & questions, the Shoremen defense provided all the
answers Friday night. The defensive backfield, much maligned for giving up some
big plays in the opener against Avon, did an excellent job disrupting Dover’s high-powered
spread offense. Combine that with a
bruising ground game and a deadly passing attack, and you have a hard fought
25-13 win over the Crimson Tornadoes.
Dover opened the game on offense and managed just one first
down on a pass interference call before punting. Taking over at their own 12 following a
penalty on the return, Avon
Lake tallied one first
down on a pass from Nick Firment to tailback Jeff Tell. When the Shoremen punted the ball back to Dover, The Tornadoes’
return man fumbled and the Shoremen recovered.
Dover
again packed their defense in tight, looking to keep the Shoremen running game
in check. But this time Firment faked
play action and found Kevin Mansnerus 15 yards past the nearest defender. Kevin pulled in the pass and cruised in for
an easy six. Joe Prendergast’s PAT made
the score 7-0 with 4:56 left in the first quarter. After the kickoff, Dover’s offense began to click as QB Corey
Lisowski spread the ball around to different receivers on a variety of short
passes. The quarter ended with the ball
on the Shoremen 2, and Shane Lester plowed up the middle for a TD on the first
play of the second period.
The
Shoremen went three and out after the kickoff, and the momentum was building
for Dover as
they moved quickly from their 40 to the A.L. 30. On 2nd and seven, Lisowski went
for the kill, heaving a bomb into the end zone.
But Peyton Armbrecht made a leaping interception in the end zone for a
touchback to end the threat. The teams
exchanged punts, and then Mike Haddad took a handoff over the left side on a
counter and sprinted past Dover’s
secondary for a 70 yard score. The PAT
kick was wide left, leaving the score at 13-7.
After one first down on the next Dover
drive, back-to-back sacks forced the Tornadoes to punt from deep in their own
territory. Ryan Scherer returned the
kick to the Avon Lake 48 and the Shoremen offense took
the field with 1:09 to play in the half.
After a two yard loss on first
down, Scherer made a nice over-the-shoulder catch on a deep fade, good for 35
yards to the Dover
19. Firment the hit Haddad for 14 yards
to the 5. After a running play moved the
ball to the 3, Nick rolled left, pulled
up, and zipped a strike to Dan Weimer two yards deep in the end zone for another Shoremen score. The two point conversion run came up short
and the score at the half stood 19-7.
The
Shoremen had the ball to open the second half and began pounding the Dover “D” with a steady
barrage of power running. But as strong
as the guys in Maroon & Gold seemed, they could not overcome the shower of
flags tossed about by the officials.
Another Haddad touchdown run - this one 59 yards - was called back on a
holding penalty, and two other first down runs were negated by the zebras. Dover took over on downs and despite a couple
of sacks and a couple more passes batted down at the line, the Tornadoes
managed a 56 yard touchdown drive with Lester scoring from the one to open the
fourth quarter. The kick failed and the
Shoremen lead was 19-13.
Starting
from their 25 yard line with 11:40 to play in the game, Avon
Lake continued to pound the ball
inside, moving steadily to the Dover
36. Firment then found Scherer at the
11on a deep fade that was a carbon copy of their second quarter hookup. From there, two Haddad runs gave the Shoremen
another TD. The two-point try failed
again, making it 25-13 with a little over five minutes left. Dover
mounted one last threat as Lisowski hit Rinehart for 47 yards down the left
sideline. Lisowski was sacked on the
next play and three passes later the Shoremen took over on downs and ran out
the clock.
Notes:
·
Dan Weimer’s TD
was his first varsity score.
·
Haddad carried
for 189 yards as he topped the 100 yard mark for the second week in a row.
·
Nick Firment was
had the finest game of his Shoremen career, hitting 8 of 14 passes for 142
yards, 2 touchdowns, and no INT’s.
(Home) (Photos)
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Avon Lake
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7
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12
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0
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6
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25
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Dover
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0
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7
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0
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6
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13
|
|
|
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D
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A.L.
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|
First downs
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16
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15
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Rush Yds
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14
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252
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Pass Yds
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216
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142
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Passes att-comp-int
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23-38-1
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8-15-1
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Fumbles-lost
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3-1
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3-1
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Penalties
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10-93
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AL – Haddad 70 run (kick failed)
D – Lester 2 run (Rinehart kick)
AL – Mansnerus 45 pass from Firment (Prendergast
kick)
AL –Weimer 3 pass from Firment (Prendergast
kick)
D – Lester 2 run (kick failed)
AL – Haddad 5
run (run failed)