AVON, Ohio — Note to football teams playing Avon: Pregame trash talk at midfield is not advised.
That approach backfired Friday night on North Ridgeville, which awoke the Eagles’ defense to a deafening response in their 38-7 victory.
Avon (5-0), the No. 2-ranked football team in the cleveland.com Top 25, allowed the 11th-ranked Rangers (4-1) to cross the 50-yard line only twice the rest of the night. It happened only once in the first half, as Avon scored the first 24 points and had the running clock in place by the time its Southwestern Conference challenger again passed midfield on its lone score.
“Can’t lie. It got us going,” senior defensive end Sam Toniolo said of the pregame motivation. “We don’t really let that slide.”
A couple of Avon penalties assisted the Rangers, who broke the 50 on their second possession with a couple of Cole Miller to Charlie Steinmetz passes and Ta’vion Swain runs. Steinmetz wound up scoring the Rangers’ lone touchdown in the fourth quarter on a 55-yard catch and run with Avon up 31-0 on the scoreboard.
That early drive ended with a sack of Miller, engulfed by Toniolo with senior tackles Jason Gillespie and Jeremiah Kelly. Add on a penalty on the Rangers, and it pushed them back 22 yards, forcing them to punt.
“You gotta capitalize when you have the opportunities,” North Ridgeville coach Bryan Morgan said. “We knew that we were going to have to throw the ball a little, but we had so much pressure on us. They sent stunts that we didn’t pick up and they’ve got some Division I (college) football players on their team.”
Kelly, who is committed to Cincinnati, and Toniolo (with a Youngstown State offer) are two of them. Then there’s Power Four prospect Jakob Weatherspoon, a junior cornerback who is playing safety this year. Weatherspoon, who plans to visit Ohio State on Saturday for its game vs. Marshall, got in on early tackles and added two receptions on offense.
Weatherspoon scored on one of Kent State commit Nolan Good’s three touchdown passes, finishing with 73 yards on his two receptions.
“It felt good,” Weatherspoon said. “I don’t really get to play much offense, but I knew when I went in, I had to take advantage of it.”
With his voice hoarse afterward, Weatherspoon admitted it was from talking back at North Ridgeville’s players during the game.
“It was like all respect until they came to the 50,” he said.
It even fired up Avon coach Mike Elder, who considered his players’ response sort of a birthday present.
“Those guys just fly around and those are big, strong backs, a big offensive line and quarterback who’s 6-4,” said Elder, whose team seeks a ninth straight SWC title and is now 2-0 in the conference. “Those are grown men that North Ridgeville has, and they got a good football team, and we recognize that they’re going to make the playoffs, and we’ll probably see them again.”
Avon allowed only 57 yards in the first half to take control. For the game, the Eagles gained 347 yards and allowed 157 yards.
Good orchestrated Avon’s offense by completing 12 of his first 14 passes for 195 yards. He threw two more incompletions later, but his connection with fellow senior Matt Maxey (91 yards on seven receptions) kept the Rangers’ secondary on its collective heels.
Steinmetz paced North Ridgeville with 93 yards on six receptions, but Avon’s defense stuffed him early on misdirection runs, and the dual threat rushed for only 15 yards on six carries.
“We play for each other,” Toniolo said. “That’s how we were taught.”
Contact sports reporter Matt Goul on X (@mgoul), Threads (@mgoul) or email ([email protected]).
