Eagles remain unbeaten against Olmsted Falls, move on to next round

<a href="https://x.com/i/status/1986957303694688518" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Elder to Barr for 6!!</a>When is a rivalry not a rivalry? When one of the teams has never beaten the other. Okay, so technically Avon versus Olmsted Falls may not be considered a rivalry. But it has all the characteristics: two very successful programs from the same conference who have state championships on their resumes and play each other all the time. In fact, Friday’s Division II, Region 6 quarterfinal at Avon was their 19th meeting since 2013. But here’s the thing. As a result of their 46-13 victory over Olmsted Falls, the Eagles are now 19-0 against the Bulldogs. That’s right, Avon and coach Mike Elder have never lost to them. Next up for the Eagles is a regional semifinal at Wadsworth next Friday. The drubbing of Olmsted Falls answered a question that dogged the Eagles since the regular season ended—how would a bye week affect them? That was answered quickly, as Avon led, 26-0, after one quarter with the defense holding the Bulldogs to just 13 yards of offense and three consecutive drives of three-and-out. “I think it really didn’t matter,” said wide receiver Grant Barr, who had touchdown receptions of 63 and 33 yards. “I would have liked to play a game, but I think we did a good job in preparation. So, I don’t think the bye week affected us, really.” According to Elder, in some ways the week off helped. Olmsted Falls employs a run-heavy triple option offense that can give opponents fits and the Eagles took advantage of the extra prep time. “We tried to prepare for the triple option, and it was awesome that we had an extra week to do that defensively,” he said. “I’ll be honest. I hated the bye week in a lot of ways, but not when you’re playing the triple option. I felt like we were as good and as well-prepared for that as we’ve ever been.” Avon held the Bulldogs to 204 yards of offense, with just 54 of them coming on the ground. This was a team that put up 69 points last week in a first-round trouncing of Fremont Ross. “We saw that all week at practice,” said linebacker Ryan Stolarski. “We knew they put up 70 points. So, the defense was locked in all week. I think we just came out here and played pretty much almost a perfect game. Not a perfect game, but almost. We got off the ball pretty fast. I think we all held our leverage really well, and we were flying around everywhere.” While the defense was doing its thing, Avon’s offense also was humming. The Eagles gained 370 yards in the first half, which ended with the hosts holding a 32-6 lead, and ended the night with 471 yards. Quarterback Blake Elder completed 15 of 19 passes for 257 yards and two touchdowns, and running backs Quiante’ Smith and Cam Wendell returned to the lineup after missing more than a month with injuries. Smith finished with 47 yards and two touchdowns on seven carries, and Wendell had 15 yards on five carries. Actually, the bye week did have one effect on the game. It caused Avon to take the ball after winning the opening coin toss instead of deferring as usual. “We wanted the ball because, historically, we can’t practice their offense at the speed they do it, and they always go down and score on the first drive,” said Elder. “I didn’t want to fall behind. If anything, I thought while we were adjusting on defense, I wanted it to be 7-7. We went up 7-0, and, obviously, our defense ended up playing exceptionally well tonight.” The Eagles took the opening kickoff and pieced together an eight-play drive that covered 75 yards and took 3 minutes, 16 seconds off the clock. The drive started with three consecutive passes to Fin Jerdonek sandwiched around a personal foul against Olmsted Falls and ended with a 3-yard TD run by Smith. The senior also scored Avon’s final touchdown of the first half on a 7-yard sprint. “I feel great,” said Smith. “It was an amazing atmosphere to get back out there with my guys. It was everything I could ask for, being able to win my last game on my home field. Not playing was really hard. I didn’t feel like I was letting my team down when I was out that long, but me and my buddy Cam, we took that time to grow stronger and just take it week by week. We would just watch our guys grind, watch them play. And eventually, we got our chance to get back out there.” After forcing a punt, Avon needed just two plays to find the end zone once again, this time on a 63-yard pass from Elder to Barr, who appeared to be well covered down the field. Two defenders came up to play the ball, and when Barr came down with it, there was nothing but green turf between him and the end zone and the speedster took advantage. Then, another Falls punt led to a one-play drive that consisted of Jerdonek scoring from 64 yards on a reverse. “Both (Barr and Jerdonek) are studs,” said Elder. “They have great speed and quickness and tremendous hands. We have wonderful weapons. I think that’s the deepest position on our team. We have a lot of great wide receivers who can make plays.” The only struggles for Avon came following their touchdowns. After the first score, the snap was mishandled on the PAT, resulting in a failed run. The next TD was followed by a failed PAT pass, and after Wendell successfully scored on a PAT run, the Eagles were unsuccessful on their next two PAT attempts. After the two TDs in the second half—a 2-yard run by Michael Colburn and a 10-yard run by Dean Andress—Avon went the traditional route with Jensen Petro booting PAT kicks. But on this night, a few dropped points just didn’t matter. The Eagles were dominant and now look forward to playing undefeated Wadsworth, the second seed. “Now we get to go on the road and play at Wadsworth,” said Mike Elder. “We’re the three seed, so it is what it is. We play a pretty hard schedule. I took my kids 1,000 miles away from home and we lost the game, and as a result, we have to go on the road and play at Wadsworth. We’re excited, and we can’t wait to do that. I promise you, we’ll be there with bells on. It’ll be fun.”