Avon Lake Defeats North Olmsted 49-14 behind Riggs’ Big Night

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AVON LAKE, OHIO– The Avon Lake Shoremen defeated the North Olmsted Eagles 49-14 in a dominating statement victory by Avon Lake.

The Shoremen had this one marked on their calendar after a heartbreaking loss in double overtime last season to the Eagles that ultimately kept them out of the playoffs.

“That game is going to haunt me for a long time,” Avon Lake Coach Matt Kostelnik said. “Three turnovers on the goal line.  We had this marked on the calendar, we owed them.  All credit to them, they played tough but we had a mission.”

Avon Lake started the scoring early after a four-minute drive capped off by a Konner Riggs touchdown from 7 yards out.

North Olmsted came right back with a 22-yard touchdown run from Darren Anders who had just seven carries in the first half.  An interception from Austin Murphy gave North Olmsted the ball and it looked like the Eagles had all the momentum.

North Olmsted punted on the drive and it looked like the Shoremen took the lead on a 60-yard touchdown pass but the touchdown got taken off the scoreboard due to a holding penalty.

The following North Olmsted drive, the Shoremen got a key takeaway inside of the Eagles’ territory. Avon Lake took a 14-7 lead after a 29-yard touchdown pass and scored again on their following drive following a Riggs 1-yard touchdown run.

Riggs finished his monster night with 263 yards on 34 carries. Avon Lake got the ball on the 47-yard line thanks to a 15-yard personal foul against North Olmsted with just 31 seconds left in the first half.

Two plays later, Jack Mikolich completed a 27-yard touchdown pass to give the Shoremen a commanding 28-7 lead heading into halftime, the drive was only 15 seconds long.

Avon Lake scored once more late in the third quarter.  Guess who? Riggs ran it in again for the Shoremen to give them a commanding 35-7 lead and essentially end the game.

North Olmsted wasn’t giving up though, and the Eagles scored following a three-minute drive on a Liam Fay 9-yard touchdown pass to Sean Elbin to cut the Shoremen’ lead to 35-14 early in the fourth quarter.

The play of the night came on the ensuing possession.  Riggs trucked a North Olmsted defender very hard and was on his way to a 54-yard touchdown carry, his fourth of the evening.

“I saw him there I knew it was a would-be tackler, I think it was number twenty-one, I don’t know what his number was, he was on the ground and the end zone was clear, I was gone,” Riggs said of the play.

The Eagles will host the Midview Middies next week (1-1) while the Shoremen will host the Avon Eagles (2-0).

Player of the Game:

There is no question as to who the player of the game was, Konner Riggs, who rushed for 263 yards on 34 carries and had four touchdowns.