Avon demolishes Olmsted Falls, 31-7

OLMSTED FALLS, OHIO– On a cool and crisp night that mirrored an early October chill in the air, the Avon Eagles came into Olmsted Falls fresh from a huge early season win in Florida, to convincingly dismantle Olmsted Falls 31-7 in front of a chilly capacity crowd.

Led by QB Ryan Maloy, 12-19, 180 yds and 2 TD, the Eagles scored on the game’s first drive and were really never threatened. Any semblance of a letdown was non-existent, and the thought of looking ahead to Avon Lake next week was the furthest thing on their minds.

Avon was fast, precise and most of all, dominant. They took the opening drive and quickly capped off a six-play, 54-yard drive with an unbelievable one-handed catch in the end zone by Sr. TE Vlasi Pappas, an early season candidate for catch of the year, making the score 7-0 (watch the video below courtesy of Kyle Goodwin at Ohio Sports Net).

It was evident that the Bulldogs would have a long night defending Avon’s spread offense.

The teams traded punts for most of the first quarter, but with 2:05 to go Avon went on a seven-play 59-yard drive that wascapped off by a 23-yard FG by David Orlando. Orlando’s night, however, was just getting started.

After both teams again traded punts, Olmsted Falls’ Michael Howard returned Avon’s punt 46 yards, and with a personal foul penalty tacked on, Olmsted Falls had a first down at the Avon seven-yard line. What ensued was the turning point of the game.

On the very next play the Bulldogs fumbled and recovered by safety Coby Choat, who ran 91 yards into the end zone, before a block in the back negated the touchdown.

Later in the quarter, Orlando scored on a 10-yard run to make the score 17-0 at the half. Before the game, head coach Mike Elder reiterated the need to be much better on special teams than they were in Florida. Ironically, Olmsted Falls’ biggest plays of the night were two kick returns netting 86 yards, Howard’s and a 46-yard return by Eric Grimm.

The third quarter started similar to the first. After a three-and-out by Olmsted Falls, the Eagles went on a quick four-play 46-yard drive with Orlando scoring again, this time on a 24-yard pass from Maloy. The Bulldogs’ only score came from RB Jack Spellacy capping off a nine-play drive scoring from a yard out. Spellacy carried the ball 11 times for only 35 yards.

The fourth quarter saw Connor Walsh score the game’s final points when he scampered 68 yards with 11:01 to go. Olmsted Falls was defeated by that point by a very stout defense led by Avon’s line backing corps, who also recovered two fumbles on the night.

Olmsted Falls will lick their wounds and travel to Westlake to meet the Demons next Friday night at 7 p.m. Meanwhile, Avon begins the home portion of their schedule by hosting none other than their arch rival Avon Lake.

 

Avon-  7 -10-7-7

OF-      0-0-7-0

 

Scoring Summary

Avon- Pappas 21 pass from Maloy, kick good

Avon- Orlando 23 FG

Avon- Orlando 10 yard run

Avon- Orlando 24 pass from Maloy, kick good

OFalls- Spellacy 1 run, kick good

Avon- Walsh 68 run, kick good