For Mike Elder and Avon, this was a celebration years in the making, all of the heartbreak and near-misses now undone over 48 minutes on a snowy field in Canton.
While the "snow bowl" contested between the Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers two weeks ago was certainly an affair to remember, we're going to go ahead and say the stakes on this Thursday night may have been a little bight higher. We doubt the Eagles, at least, would debate that.
With the flakes flying at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium, Avon held off Anderson 20-13 to win the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division II state football championship. It marks the first team state title in school history, regardless of sport, and caps off a remarkable 16-0 season for the Eagles.
Though Avon never trailed Thursday night, the Raptors nearly stole victory with a methodical 19-play drive at the end of regulation. But after escaping pressure, Justice Burnam's last-ditch pass to the end zone landed incomplete, being batted away by Aiden Atkins as time expired.
Since the establishment of the OHSAA playoffs in 1972, Avon is just the third Lorain County school to win at least one state football title. Prior to tonight, it hadn't been done since 2003, when the Eagles' archrivals in Avon Lake also claimed the D-II crown with a victory over Trenton Edgewood.
Just hours after learning he had fallen short of winning Ohio's Mr. Football Award, Avon quarterback Nolan Good silenced any doubter he may have had with the gutsiest performance of his career, passing for 143 yards and rushing for 190 more in the snow. An all-time highlight came on the first drive of the game, when the senior standout bounced off multiple would-be tacklers and went 71 yards for the score.
As a team, the Eagles rushed for 294 yards on the night, and Good put the team up 14-7 with a 44-yard TD pass to Matt Maxey just minutes before halftime. After recovering a Burnam fumble, Avon had a chance to add to its lead before Good coughed up the ball and it went out of the end zone for a touchback, keeping the spread at seven heading into intermission.
The miscues would pile up for both sides, as after Burnam scored on his team's first possession of the third quarter, Jakob Weatherspoon was able to block Lucas Callahan's extra-point try, keeping the Eagles ahead 14-13. A 10-yard Quante Smith rushing touchdown followed and Elder elected to go for two, but Good was stopped short of the goal line, and the lead remained a precarious 20-13.
Even when it seemed like Avon was about to put things on (literal and figurative) ice after a goal-line stand early in the fourth, Anderson would get one more chance, as Ace Alston intercepted Good at the Raptor 18 with 4:28 to go. The march was on after that, with Burnam leading his squad all the way to the Eagle 22 with a chance to tie (or even win) the game).
Yet even gassed and exhausted after a brutal night on the gridiron, Avon's defense was able to hold one more time, forcing Burnam into a Hail Mary that hung in the air for an agonizing extra second before finally coming to a rest on the green-turned-white turf. Hugs and snow angels ensued, the Eagles at last soaring to the summit after all these years.
Avon's only previous state final appearance came in 2011, a 42-28 loss to Trotwood-Madison. 2017 then ushered in an agonizing streak of six straight losses in state semifinal games, including five to powerhouse Archbishop Hoban.
That albatross was vanquished for good last Friday when the Eagles manhandled the Knights 35-10, and Elder and his players finally claimed the ultimate prize tonight in Stark County. Since 2017, the program sports a stellar record of 102-10, including 64-5 from this senior class alone.
Burnam finished with 298 total yards and a pair of TDs for Anderson. The Raptors were last crowned state champions in 2007.
Four other Northeast Ohio high schools will be playing in state title games this weekend in Canton, including two against each other in D-IV. The times of the games are as follows (area teams listed in bold):
FRIDAY
- D-VII – 10:30 a.m.: Marion Local (15-0) vs. Hillsdale (14-1)
SATURDAY
- D-VI – 10:30 a.m.: Kirtland (15-0) vs. Coldwater (14-1)
- D-IV – 7:30 p.m.: Perkins (14-1) vs. Indian Valley (15-0)