Eagles storm past Strongsville in boys lacrosse, 15-3

The skies were ominous Monday evening during Avon’s boys lacrosse tournament game against Strongsville, but not as ominous as the prospect of having to face the red-hot Eagles.

In a rematch of the season-opener that saw Avon win by three goals, the Eagles won their seventh consecutive contest, scoring eight consecutive goals at one point on the way to a 15-3 victory that improved their record to 13-3 as the Mustangs got caught up in the storm that is the Avon boys lacrosse team. The skies never really opened up, but the Eagles certainly did.

“We’re just clicking on all cylinders,” said junior Finn Jerdonek. “We’re able to move the ball, beat our guys, find the open man and connect on shots. It was a good night overall.”

Four Avon players had at least a hat trick, led by Will Conley with four goals and an assist. Jerdonek added three goals and three assists, Evan Juergens had three goals and one assist, and Jude Theibert had three goals. In addition, Jackson Brokaw had one goal and three assists, Jace Barton had one goal and two assists, and Carson Smith had one assist.

It was a radically different outcome from the season-opener on March 17, which saw Avon take an 11-8 victory.

“It was the first game of the season,” explained Avon coach Rod Wright. “We’re a different team and they’re a different team. We’ve grown a lot: the maturity level that we have on the team, the consistency, and we’re playing on both sides of the ball. Now we’re at full strength. We didn’t have a lot of games at full strength throughout the season for various reasons.”

When asked to expound on how the team has grown, Wright said, “Maturity. There’s a few games that we probably would have lost early in the season that we ended up winning late in the season. We’re keeping our heads, keeping our composure a little bit, playing for one another, playing really, really good team lacrosse, sharing the ball. Defensively, we’re staying out of the penalty box so we’re able to play six-on-six. In the beginning of the season, we stayed in the penalty box a lot.”

That sounds like a team that is loaded with experienced seniors, but the fact of the matter is that Avon only started one senior against Strongsville and there are only two seniors in the rotation. The rest of the team consists of juniors and sophomores. Among those who scored a point for the Eagles, only Brokaw is a senior.

Avon, which is seeded ninth in the tournament, got off to a quick start, as Juergens scored unassisted less than 90 seconds into the game. Forty-five seconds later, Theibert scored a wraparound goal off an assist from Jerdonek, and the Eagles were flying.

“That was super-important,” Wright said. “Like I said, they’re a different team than what we saw earlier in the year, and they beat two teams late in the season that we lost to, which cost us in the seeding and in the conference. So, it was very important for us to get a really good, quick start and then carry that momentum all the way through four quarters.”

Strongsville, the 12th seed, scored a goal to cut the margin to 2-1, but that was all the Mustangs could muster until the final minute of the half, which ended with Avon on top, 10-2. The lead was up to 14-3 after the third quarter, and Juergens put the icing on the cake with a goal early in the fourth that activated a running clock for the remainder of the contest.

Along the way, Avon goalie Lucas Deacon showed why he’s been crucial to the team’s success, recording his 385th career save, which is the most in program history. It was the second consecutive tournament game in which the opponent was held to just three goals and the seventh time the Eagles have held a team to five goals or fewer.

“He’s special,” Wright said of Deacon. “That’s why he was voted captain as a junior. He’s a special kid, a special player. He wears his heart on his sleeve, and when it comes to practice, he holds everybody, including himself, to a very, very high standard, and it shows when we’re on the field.”

Deacon, a junior who was credited with five saves against Strongsville, was quick to credit those who play around him.

“It’s really special, but I really can’t do it without my defense,” he said. “My defense is everything. They’ve helped me throughout it all. Even when I’m having bad games, they bring me up. Obviously, to put in all that work and everything, it’s really special to have that record.”

So now it’s on to the regional quarterfinals for the Eagles, who will travel to North Canton Hoover Thursday to face the Vikings, who are seeded third and sport a 13-5 record.

“We need to come (Tuesday) and have a really good practice, really take a hard look at Hoover,” Wright said. “They have a phenomenal program. We’ve never beaten them in program history, so we’ve got to make sure we do that. We’ve got to study them, look at ourselves, fix a couple of things that we can be better at, and then just really be solid.”

Or, as Jerdonek put it, “We just need to keep going, to believe in ourselves, knowing that we can beat a very good Hoover team. Just coming together as one brotherly love team. Just go out there and play our game.”