By Bill Bray
AVON – Avon came calling and brought home a 52-26 victory on their home turf against Fremont Ross in a Division II region 6 quarterfinal.
The Eagles took flight early and often in the first quarter of play. They scored two quick touchdowns to jump out to a 14-0 lead. The first on an Ethan Holbrook punt return that covered 80 yards and the second on Avon’s first offensive play of the game to give Avon 14 very quick points.
The Little Giants came back to cut the lead to 14-6 after Fremont converted a fourth down and ended the drive as Kaden Holmes found his favorite target, Bryson Hammer for a five-yard touchdown to put Ross on the broken board.
Broken board, because the first half was plagued with a stadium clock that malfunctioned. The broken clock was a problem for much of the second quarter.
Ross was not able to put any more points up until after Avon took a 24-6 lead. Fremont’s second score again consisted of Holmes and Hammer taking the Little Giants down the field. The drive ended with an eight-yard Hammer catch to temporarily put the Ross back in the game down 24-12 at the break.
Avon again threw an upper cut to the Giant’s defense as quarterback Sam DeTillio finding Holbrook with a 55-yard bomb to make it 31-12 as the third quarter began. “The defensive secondary play was sloppy in the second half,” Ross coach Chad Long said. Long used no excuses and rightfully so. It was just the fact that the #2 seed Eagles offense was too much for the 7th seed Little Giants defense.
Holbrook caught another 48-yard bomb from DeTillio later in the third quarter putting the game way out of reach at 45-18.
Avon’s JC Caffey and Gavin Ehrhadt ran hard and scored often against the Little Giants defense. Avon’s big young offensive line had their way most of the game.
On a positive note, Holmes was his old self as he threw four touchdown passes for the Little Giants who certainly look forward to having the multi-talented quarterback back next season. He finished the season with 34 touchdown passes, a school record for Ross. Avon’s head coach Mike Elder spoke very highly of the Ross junior signal caller “Their quarterbacks as advertised. He’s a special player and they can score points in buckets with him at the helm.”
There were no statistics available for the game.
As an extra bonus, here is the link to see what coach Long had to offer as part as Channel 11’s coverage of the game last night.
Ross co-captain, Bowen Schoch, fights through a block to tackle the Avon running back.
Ross junior signal caller, Kaden Holmes will return in 2022 as an All-Ohio candidate.
Junior receiver Anthony Vann fights for yardage after a reception.
Senior Ethan Green makes a tackle during Friday night action at Avon.