H.S. Football: Avon's 17-game win streak snapped in Florida

PORT ORANGE, Fla. — Avon fought back from an early deficit, took the lead for a second time in the fourth quarter and watched Jensen Petro's field goal attempt from 50 yards sail just left as time expired as the Eagles lost 25-22 to Spruce Creek at Pop Johnson Field on Thursday night.It was the first loss for Avon (1-1) since losing in the 2023 state semifinals — a span of 17 games."First off, kudos to Spruce Creek," Avon coach Mike Elder said. "We knew when we came in that they had great players and playmakers, and they proved that tonight. This is a tough, tough environment to play in, and we obviously didn't play our best football."The coaching needs to be better and I'm sure the players will want to do some things differently, but the flow of the game just always seemed to be interrupted and never on point."It was tough from the start for the Eagles, as Spruce Creek took the opening drive 74 yards on 14 plays and chewed up 7:42 of the first-quarter clock to take a 7-0 lead on a 7-yard pass from PJ Miller to Cameron Oxendine.The Hawks (2-0) increased their lead to 13-0 late in the first quarter with another Miller to Oxendine connection, this time for 58 yards.The scoring was just part of Avon's problems in the first half. Spruce Creek seemed to come up with a big play every time the Eagles put its back to the wall.On the first scoring drive Avon had a couple of nice stops and Spruce Creek was hit with a 10-yard holding penalty to bring up a third-and-29, and Miller threw a perfect strike to Tryce Mills for 33 yards to the Avon 24-yard line.After Avon's Jerry Clements stepped in front of a Miller pass for an interception at the Spruce Creek 30, the Hawks' Kameron Giddens intercepted Blake Elder's pass at the 4 on the next play.Avon finally got on the board in the second quarter thanks to a 14-play, 90-yard drive that ended with a 1-yard touchdown run by Cam Wendall.The Eagles took a 14-13 lead midway through the third quarter when Wendall broke loose for a 33-yard touchdown, but Spruce Creek answered on the ensuing drive when Jon'Trell Edwards scored from 2 yards with less than two minutes left in the quarter.Spruce Creek had kicking issues – missing the point-after attempt on the second TD – and opted to try a 2-point conversion, but the run failed and the Hawks led 19-14 heading into the fourth.Avon again put together a big scoring drive to take the lead, going 73 yards on 15 plays before Wendall completed the hat trick with a 3-yard touchdown run."We have two great backs that we love and Cam is one of them," Elder said. "He had a great game today and played his guts out. So it was just disappointing (that we lost)."Avon stopped Spruce Creek and forced a punt with three minutes remaining in the game, but disaster struck on third-and-10 when the football was fumbled on the exchange and Spruce Creek jumped on the loose ball.Six plays later Miller found Mills for a 13-yard touchdown to make it 25-22."That was one of the key moments in the game and in Ohio, the band can't play (during action on the field)," Elder said. "Their band played the whole time and that created an issue for us. I have to learn from that. If I'd have known that, maybe we take the other end to defend. Looking back, I wish we'd have just lined up and snapped it and made it easier for our guys to hear."The Eagles made things exciting as they marched down the field in the last minute-plus.Blake Elder hit Grant Barr on back-to-back passes for first downs to open the drive, then connected with Barr for a 34-yard gain on third-and-15 to the Spruce Creek 35.With seven seconds left, Petro lined up for the kick at the Spruce Creek 40 and it had plenty of distance, but just leaked to the left of the goal post at the last second."Now we're going to find out who we are," Elder said. "Now we're going to have to rally. We've got a really good Glenville team waiting for us, so there's not much time to feel sorry for yourself. We've just got to get back to work, and this isn't the last game of the season … although it feels like it's been awhile since we've lost."Contact Shaun Bennett at (440) 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @ShaunBennettct on X.