H.S. Football: Avon separates in second half for win over Berea-Midpark

BEREA — Avon's quest for a 10th straight Southwestern Conference title rolled on Friday night with a 55-27 win over Berea-Midpark, though it was by no means a simple victory."When you're playing in the SWC, you've got to play four quarters," said Avon coach Mike Elder. "I thought their offense did a nice job eating some clock and moving the ball, and they kept it close for a half."The Titans (4-2, 2-1) certainly did, trailing by just seven at the break after it had looked early on as if they were headed for a blowout.The Eagles (5-1, 30) led 21-7 in the second quarter and were driving to take a three-score lead when quarterback Blake Elder was picked off by Titans junior Nick Reece, who returned the ball into the red zone to set up a short touchdown.Avon responded with another touchdown drive, but Tyson Clay returned the ensuing kickoff 95 yards to cut the lead back to seven. It was his second touchdown of the night, the first coming on an 86-yard catch-and-run from junior quarterback Dylan Papushak.After a missed Avon field goal to end the first half, each team turned it over on downs to start the third quarter before Elder hit Caden Clapham for a 69-yard touchdown, an emphatic response to his first-half interception."The interception was rough," Blake Elder said. "But I knew we still had to play another half. We had to put the drives together, we had to respond, and that's what we did."The teams traded touchdowns on their next two drives, then a Berea-Midpark fumble set up Avon up inside the 10, and junior Michael Colburn found the end zone for the third time to put the game out of reach.Elder, who finished with 321 yards through the air, added one more touchdown late in the game, giving him three for the night and two in the second half. But it was clear what Avon's game plan had been coming out of the break."We challenged them to stop the run," Mike Elder said. "We came out and pounded the football, and they had trouble standing in there with our guys."With star running backs Quiante' Smith and Cam Wendell sidelined, Avon has had to lean on players like Colburn, sophomore Adrian Ramirez, who had two touchdowns Friday, and junior Dean Andress.Colburn, Ramirez and Andress combined for 204 yards and five touchdowns on 27 carries, and the Eagles rushed for 264 yards as a team."When you have 107 guys on the team and they work as hard as our guys, you're going to develop depth, and we need it right now," Mike Elder said. "There's no replacing guys like Smith and Wendell, those guys are studs. But these guys will have to hold down the fort for now, and I thought they did a great job."It wasn't just Avon's rushing attack that got better in the second half, as the defense allowed just one scoring drive after the break. It had a pair of fourth-down stops and the fumble recovery that effectively ended the game."I think it was all our defense," Blake Elder said of the second-half improvement. "They came up with the stops we needed. We got short fields and we were able to respond with scores."While Avon did pull away in the end, the game showed that the nine-time defending SWC champions cannot afford to be complacent."I say it, and I'll continue to say it, the SWC is one of the best conferences in the state of Ohio," Mike Elder said. "That's a fact. You can lose in the SWC if you don't come ready to play, but I'm proud of our guys."