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The two-headed monster that is Avon Lake’s rushing attack took control of the game early, leading the way to a 34-9 win over Midpark.  Between them, Jeff Tell and Mike Haddad averaged over seven yards per carry.  The Shoremen defense came up with 3 interceptions to offset a couple of lost fumbles by the offense. Although the “D” yielded a good bit of yardage, they kept the Meteors out of the end zone until late in the fourth quarter when the game was well in hand.

Midpark received the opening kickoff and kept the ball for almost six minutes using a nice mix of passes and runs.  The Meteors’ 11-play drive stalled at the Shoremen 34 when a fourth down pass sailed incomplete.  Avon Lake came right back with a ten play drive that ended at the one yard line when Midpark recovered a fumble.  After two runs left Midpark with 3rd and 8 at their three, Sean McCann burst through and hit the arm of QB Chad Tibbitts as he threw.  The result was a “wounded duck” that floated out to Scott Shaffer at the 18.  The first quarter ended in a scoreless tie with the Shoremen facing 3rd and 9 at the 17.  

With no one open, Firment threw the ball away to open the second period.  Then on fourth down, Nick found Ryan Scherer in the left corner of the end zone for six.  Prendergast’s PAT split the uprights to make it 7-0.  Again, Midpark embarked on a methodical, time-consuming drive, this one lasting 15 plays.  It ended with a 24 yard field goal by Bobby Grace, who kicks with a square-toed shoe like a real football player.  Now the Shoremen offense started ripping off big chunks of yardage on every play, driving 76 yards on nine plays.  Haddad scored on a one yard run and it was 14-3.  Midpark managed one first down and then punted the ball to the A.L. 39 with 54 seconds left.   A nice screen pass to Haddad moved the ball well into Midpark’s end of the field, but the half ended when Firment’s pass with three seconds left was intercepted. 

The Shoremen opened the third quarter on offense and continued to shred the Meteor defense on the ground.  But after making a nice cutback run down to the Midpark 34, Tell coughed the ball up as he was fighting for extra yards and Midpark recovered again.  Four plays later, Kevin Mansnerus made a nice leaping interception around the Shoremen 35 and ran it all the way back to the Midpark 17.   On the next play, Firment rolled to his left and found Scherer near  the left sideline inside the 10. Ryan made a couple tacklers miss with a nice spin move and dove into the end zone for his second TD of the night and a 21-3 Shoremen lead.  This time, the defense forced a three and out, getting the ball back for the offense at their own 32.  Once again, Midpark could find no way to stop the Shoremen runners.  Haddad capped the nine play drive with a one yard plunge to extend the lead to 25 with under a minute left in the quarter.

The Meteor offense managed a couple of first downs but once again they had to punt the ball away.  As they had all night, the offensive line opened big holes for Haddad and Tell to run through.  This drive covered 73 yards on nine plays, the last one a 27 yard touchdown burst for Mike Haddad’s third score of the night.  Midpark still had some fight left, though, and Tibbitts’ arm moved them quickly to the Avon Lake 29.  From there, wideout  Anthony Merriweather took a handoff, faked a sweep to his left, and hit Kevin Zellman for a 29 yard touchdown.  The kick was low and the score stood at 34-9.   Midpark then recovered an onside kick, but a couple plays later Matt Mudry picked of a Tibbitts pass and returned it near midfield.   With sophomore tailback Mike Mansnerus carrying the ball, the second team offense moved the ball to a first down  the 22.  But four more runs netted just 7 yards, and the ball went over on downs at the 15.  The Meteor subs finished out the game from there.

Notes: 

·       Haddad’s 3 TD’s give him a season total of 18.   Scherer’s two scoring catches brings his touchdown total to six.

·       For the second straight week, and the fourth time this year,  both Tell (165 on 20 carries) and Haddad (150 on 22 carries) surpassed the 100 yard mark.  Mike now has 1,031 yards for the year.  Jeff has 807.

·       The two sacks by Midpark were the first given up by the Shoremen this year;  Firment’s interception on the final play of the first half is the only one he’s thrown this year.  Nick has thrown for 14 touchdowns through seven games. 

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Avon Lake

0

14

14

6

34

Midpark

0

3

0

6

9

 

 

 

M

 

A.L.

First downs

 

15

 

26

Rush Yds

 

63

 

349

Pass Yds

 

191

 

88

Passes att-comp-int

 

28-15-3

 

14-5-1

Fumbles-lost

 

0-0

 

2-2

Penalties

 

4-26

 

3-25


AL – Scherer 17 pass from Firment (Prendergast kick)
M – Grace 24 FG
AL – Haddad 1 run (Prendergast kick)
AL – Scherer 17 pass from Firment (Prendergast kick)
AL – Haddad 1 run (Prendergast kick)
AL – Haddad 27 run (pass failed)
M – Zellman 29 pass from Merriweather (kick failed)