CANTON — One moment, Anderson’s Justice Burnam lost an iced football on a fumble that squirted a comic distance. The next, Avon’s Nolan Good charged toward the end zone before the ball popped out and skidded 20 yards amid flailing, sliding bodies, until it sledded out of the end zone for a touchback.
Nature brewed on a grand scale above and through Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium. A swirling snowstorm was lovely for those behind press box windows while threatening the 4,911 in the stands with frozen eyeballs.
The most valuable stadium workers were snowblower people who hurriedly cleared the yard lines.
The Avon community rolled in in impressive numbers given the sit-and-suffer conditions, hungry for the school’s first state football championship. The Eagles delivered, winning 20-13.
It was close enough to taste last year, when the Eagles were leading 14-0 before losing 17-14 to Hoban in the semis. Hoban then fell 7-2 to Massillon the title game, in tame weather, with a crowd of 14,846.
A portable heater with a flame shooting straight up drew far more concourse visitors than the hot dog booth. Good traversed 71 yards for a touchdown just after the game kicked off with the temperature at 24 degrees.
Anderson quarterback Justice Bernam arrived with 3,986 passing yards in 15 games. Often, he simply took a shotgun snap, made a split-second read of blocks, and ran to such daylight as could be found in the snowglobe line of scrimmage.
Bernam’s 12-yard touchdown pass to Aiden McClanahan was countered by Good’s 44-yard TD bomb to Matt Maxey, leaving Avon with a 14-7 halftime lead.
The bands were allowed only to the edge of the field while the snow blowers worked their magic under a field that kept turning into a white sheetcake.
Bernam drove Anderson to a touchdown to open the second half, but a missed point-after kick left Avon with a 14-13 lead. Avon running back Quiante Smith, coming off a 106-yard game against Hoban, ran 10 yards for a touchdown that took the Eagles to the fourth quarter with a 20-13 edge.
It was still 20-13 with Anderson took over von its own 2 with 4:28 left, leading to a drive that stalled on the Avon 16 to end the game.
Here’s a look at some of the key things to know about the game:
Nolan Good had been great all year, voted a finalist for the Ohio Mr. Football Award while leading the Eagles to a 15-0 record. Thursday’s game was less than four minutes old when he sprinted 71 yards for a touchdown. By halftime, the 6-foot-1, 200-pound senior had run for 168 yards on 12 carries, giving Avon what was needed on a snow-covered field in windy conditions with the mercury plunging toward 20. Anderson quarterback Justice Bernam entered with superior passing yards to Good, 3,986-3,136, but Good was the better passer in terrible throwing weather in leading Avon to a 14-7 lead. After Anderson closed to within 14-13, Good literally put the ball in his own hands, making assorted key runs that led to a touchdown. The player of the game had Anderson won definitely would have been Justice Burnam, the Raptors quarterback. He continuously put pressure on Avon’s defense and fought to the end, driving from his own 2 into scoring territory in the closing moments. Good is committed to Kent State. The Golden Flashes, needing all the help they can get after an 0-12 year, might have a catch.
The play of the game through the late part of the first half wasn’t even a play. It was a pass interference call on fourth-and-7 that kept a stalled Anderson team on the field and led to a game-tying touchdown. But the Raptors had the momentum barely long enough to take a deep breath. Avon quarterback Nolan Good threw one into a snowstorm that went for a 44-yard touchdown to fellow senior Matt Maxey. Maxey caught the ball on the 15 and fought a defender to end zone for a 14-7 lead with 2:58 left in the half. Good’s 71-yard touchdown run down the right sideline on the game’s opening stood as “the play” until it was time for Good to serve up an even bigger one.
