Upper Arlington held a 1-point halftime lead — then its defense completely took over

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Upper Arlington’s defense waited until the second half Friday night against Avon to find its stride.Then it took over.After going through the first half without forcing a turnover for the first time this season, the Golden Bears forced a fumble in the third quarter and intercepted Avon three times in the fourth. Two of those interceptions were returned for touchdowns as Upper Arlington turned a one-point halftime lead into a 43-22 victory.The Golden Bears improved to 3-0 while handing Avon its second consecutive double-digit loss. The Eagles, the back-to-back Division II state champions, fell to 1-2.“We’ve done a great job of creating turnovers,” head coach Justin Buttermore said. “When we talked about it at halftime, we really didn’t create anything in the first half. That’s the first half we went through where we didn’t have a turnover. We were against a good team. You’ve got to find a way to get some extra possessions and try to find a way to get short fields for your offense.”Upper Arlington led 15-14 at halftime, but the Golden Bears quickly began creating the extra possessions Buttermore wanted.The Golden Bears forced a fumble on the first play of the third quarter, but Avon immediately forced a fumble of its own on the very next play.The fourth quarter was a different story.Upper Arlington’s defense turned it up a notch, producing sacks, tackles for loss and three interceptions. Two came on back-to-back defensive possessions.Senior cornerback Seth Keyhoe delivered the second pick-six, taking an interception 50 yards for a touchdown with 6:59 remaining to cap the Golden Bears’ defensive surge and make it 43-14.“We were up by a big amount, so I was playing deep to not let anything get over my head,” Keyhoe said. “The pass got tipped to me. I caught it, cut it up and the rest is history.”Less than two minutes earlier, senior cornerback Grant Harold had intercepted Avon and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown. This extended their lead to 36-14 with 7:44 left.“I was disguising my coverage and I saw the quarterback searching for someone down the field,” Harold said. “I was looking around and their only real threat was No. 5 at the time, so I knew something was close. I saw the splits were in, jumped the route and capitalized on it with a touchdown.”Avon finally responded with a 44-yard touchdown pass with 5:37 remaining to cut into the deficit, but the Eagles still trailed 43-22.The touchdown briefly fired up Avon’s crowd, which stayed until the end, chanting and refusing to believe the game was over.Just when Avon appeared to have found some second-half momentum, Golden Bears senior linebacker James Janowicz took it away. He intercepted Avon to help seal the victory and give Upper Arlington another takeaway. With only 4:11 left in the game, the Golden Bears were able to chew up the remainder of the clock.“I saw a guy coming over the middle on a slant route when Ryan Hall got his hand in the air and tipped it,” Janowicz said. “I just made a play on the ball. Defensively as a whole, I believe our defense has been special for several years now. There’s nothing like playing with my best friends out there and in front of the entire community. It gives us extra motivation every week.”Avon entered Friday coming off a 48-18 loss to Pine-Richland (Pa.) in which it committed five turnovers. The Eagles had also won 31 consecutive games against Ohio competition before Friday’s loss.Upper Arlington made it happen, with its defensive front and secondary making the plays that changed the game.“We’re playing good team defense,” Buttermore said. “We gave up a couple cheap ones. Obviously, the one touchdown tonight was a pick-six by them. So they had one good drive, and then we gave up the late, long touchdown on the scramble throw. We’ve got to clean that up. We’ve got to lock on guys in the scramble, but they’ve done a good job all year getting stops and, like I said, creating turnovers.”Harold said the Golden Bears’ defensive success started up front.“I think it just starts with the D-line working hard,” Harold said. “They’re getting off their blocks, giving us time and room to get off our blocks and make the tackles. Then it goes to the middle linebackers right over the middle. Nothing’s allowed. Anything short, they’re right there. Secondary, we’re there.”The Golden Bears are already looking ahead to next week when they face New Albany.“For us, it’s just on to the next game,” Harold said. “We aren’t worried about being 3-0. We could be 1-2, it doesn’t matter. We’re on to the next one right now. We’ve got New Albany on our mind. Next week mentality. We try to take care of business every week, but at the end of the day, we are trying to make a run in the playoffs.”Janowicz echoed that mentality despite the unbeaten start.“3-0 is awesome,” Janowicz said. “I think it’s just a number of what this team can do. We’ve got to keep working.”