Sykora leads Eagles to dominant victory over Berea-Midpark, 52-21

Those who follow Avon’s football team are witnessing the birth of a quarterback right before their very eyes.

For weeks coach Mike Elder has been extolling the virtues of first-year signal caller, junior Trevor Sykora. However, the results haven’t always matched the hype.

Sykora is a rarity in the Avon program. The usual progression is to be the junior varsity quarterback as a sophomore, the back-up varsity quarterback as a junior and then the starter as a senior. But Sykora made the jump from JV starter to varsity starter in one year.

Not only did he make the huge leap in just one year, but he also took the job on the heels of consecutive All-Ohio quarterbacks who led the Eagles to state titles, Nolan Good, now playing at Kent State, and Blake Elder, the MVP of last year’s state championship game.

That’s a lot to take on, and the early results were mixed, to say the least. There was the high of a game-winning drive in the final moments of the opener, a one-point victory over St. Ignatius. But there were also way too many interceptions amid some questionable decision making.

All along, Elder has been saying what amounts to, just wait, he’s going to be really good.

After Sykora’s performance Friday in a 52-21 thrashing of visiting Berea-Midpark, it appears the wait is over. The junior completed 12 of 17 passes for 189 yards and five touchdowns to lead the Eagles to a big Southwestern Conference victory. In the first half alone, he was 11 of 15 for 187 yards and two touchdowns as Avon built a 42-7 lead.

“Trevor’s starting to settle in, as you can see,” Elder said. “Early on, he was making some bad decisions. We say there’s five criteria to being a great quarterback. One is arm strength, he has it. Leadership, he has it. Mobility, he has it. Accuracy, he has it. The last one’s decision making, and that comes with experience. He’s getting experience and he’s pretty good right now. He’s just going to continue to grow and get better.”

It appeared Sykora turned a corner in last week’s 58-33 victory over Olmsted Falls in which he passed for 325 yards and four touchdowns. But he only completed 8 of 18 passes and Elder said he missed some open receivers, especially in the first half.

But against the Titans, Sykora was spot-on from the outset.

“Obviously, I threw a good amount of interceptions at the start of the season,” he said. “It started to get to me. But as the season goes on, I’m gaining more confidence and more experience. It’s all really coming to me and it’s all becoming easy.”

Sykora had touchdown passes of 58 and 14 yards to Fin Jerdonek, 14 and 12 yards to Caeden Bennett and 2 yards to Gavin Koehler.

“Trevor’s doing great,” Jerdonek said. “He had a couple rough games, but he bounced back and he’s on fire right now. I can’t wait to see how he keeps going. He’s going to be good. He was slinging some darts today.”

Avon’s offense has developed into what appears to be an unstoppable machine. In the past three games the Eagles have scored 172 points, which is an average of better than 57 per game.

Part of the equation is balance. Against Berea-Midpark Avon had 187 yards passing and 191 yards rushing in the first half. Michael Colburn topped the Eagles with 85 yards and two touchdowns on just nine carries, all in the first half.

“We’ve got playmakers all over the field,” Jerdonek said. “It’s hard to stop us. We’ll run the ball down your throat with Mikey, and then when they start loading the box, we’ll air it over their head with me, Caeden, Gavin and Jackson (Palmer). We’ve got a lot of people to counter whatever a defense throws at us.”

Another part of the equation is explosiveness. Jerdonek opened the scoring on a 58-yard pass that saw him dart across the field after catching a screen pass, changing directions multiple times before finding the end zone. He’s had several explosive plays so far this season, as has Colburn.

“Fin is really good at the game of football,” Elder said. “And I think Michael Colburn has got some of that same stuff. When he gets out in the open, nobody can catch him. That’s the difference maker, and Fin’s the same way. You don’t look at Fin and think he’s fast, but he’s really fast. So, we’ve got two people who can run away from athletic people, and that’s a plus.”

While the Avon offense put on a show against the Titans, the defense stepped up as well. In the first five games this season, the Eagles allowed 166 points, including having two opponents top 40 points. Berea-Midpark entered the contest averaging better than 34 points per game.

But in the first half, the Titans scored just one touchdown and were held to 99 yards of offense, with 49 of them coming on their opening possession that ended with a punt.

“Coach (Jared) Cecchetti is a prideful guy,” Elder said. “He’s a really good defensive coordinator and his staff does a really nice job. I sat in on their defensive meeting a little bit this week and then I went down and spent some time with the defense, and I loved what I saw. There was an edge and an attitude there, and they knew they had a big challenge tonight and they were excited about it. They were not happy with the way they played against Olmsted Falls, but I thought the defense did a good job tonight.”

The Eagles will travel to Midview next week.