FREMONT — This was not how it was supposed to end.

After holding a 10-0 halftime lead, Avon Lake watched the game slip away, giving up three second-half turnovers and watching its season end when as Toldeo St. Francis deSales kicker Pat Dyer’s 34-yard field goal sailed through the uprights as time expired.

The Knights moved on to the Division III state quarterfinals with their 13-10 win at Harmon Field in Fremont.

“We talked about penalties, turnovers and mistake costing us earlier in the year,” said Shoremen head coach Dave Dlugosz, whose team finished the season at 8-4. “Those mistakes are magnified in the playoffs, and that’s what happened to us tonight.

“We did what happened to North Ridgeville — we gave them the ball on a short field and maybe we just weren’t as patient as we should have been.”

The Shoremen and Knights came in with very similar styles of play, depending on a power running game and keeping their opponents at bay with bruising defense.

That style played out exactly in the first half as Avon Lake grabbed a 10-0 lead, scoring on two of its three extended drives.

Like the last week’s game against Maumee, the Shoremen had the first possession of the game and converted early to put the opposition in a hole, going 72 yards in nine plays. Senior running back Mike Mansnerus did most of the damage, carrying the ball seven times for 58 yards including a 32-yard scoring run off right tackle with 7:27 left in the first quarter.

Mansnerus finished the game with 156 yard on 32 carries to end his career as the second-leading rusher in Avon Lake history.

After the initial score the Shoremen defense took over for the balance of the half, keeping DeSales out of the end zone as the Knights ran just eight offensive plays in the first quarter.

Following the second punt by DeSales, the Shoremen took over at their own 30-yard line and again started marching down the field on the legs of Mansnerus, who carried nine times for another 39 yards.

The drive stalled at the DeSales 13-yard line and coach Dlugosz let sophomore kicker Brad Brill attempt just his fourth field goal of the year. The sophomore kicker came through with a 30-yard field goal for a 10-0 lead with just 6:55 left in the first half of play.

The Knights came back and changed up their offense with a four-wide receiver set, letting quarterback Tyler Johnston run the ball.

Johnston led his team down the field and in 16 plays; DeSales sat at the Avon Lake 10-yard line with less than a minute left in the second quarter. The drive was aided by a pass-interference call on a third-and-22 play.

On the 17th play of the drive, Pitt recruit Dan Schneider drove a spike into the Knights with a huge interception. Johnston pumped left to the trips formation and turned to throw a naked screen to the right.

Schneider sniffed out the play and was the lone defender on that side of the field. Schneider dove out to his left and pulled in the ball before hitting the ground to stop all the momentum of the Knights going to the second half of play.

“We knew at halftime there would be no quit in that team (DeSales),” Dlugosz said. “They weren’t going to stop playing just because Avon Lake was winning 10-0 and we certainly knew we couldn’t relax.”

The second half started out just like the first with the opening drive resulting in points as the Knights went from their own 23-yard line down to the Shoremen 21 in 12 plays. A fumbled snap cost DeSales field position and the Knights ended up settling for a 38-yard field goal from Dyer with 6:30 left in the third quarter.

When the Shoremen finally got the ball in the third quarter, they couldn’t get anything generated going three-and-out on their first two possessions.

Avon Lake’s defense came right back and forced pair of Knight punts to set up Avon Lake at its own 13-yard line two plays into the fourth quarter. The Shoremen would only have the ball for one play as quarterback Trent Toy was intercepted by Scott Loy at the 27.

Loy, a Syracuse lacrosse recruit, bobbed and weaved his way into the Shoremen end zone to tie the score at 10-10 with 11:34 left in regulation.

Avon Lake looked like it was going to get back in front on the scoreboard as the Shoremen moved down to the Knights 34 before going to the back of the playbook having Mansnerus throw a half-back option pass.

Mansnerus was hit from behind on the play and the ball floated Scott Wawrzyniak who pulled it in at his own 29 stopping another Avon Lake drive.

Once again, the Shoremen defense rose up and gave the ball back to the offense at their own 30 when Ronnie Willoughby came up with a huge one-handed interception to give his Avon Lake offense a chance to win the game.

The Shoremen stayed on the ground and moved down the field as the clock began to become a factor in the game. Mansnerus carried the ball eight times in an 11-play drive that left Avon Lake facing a fourth-and-three at the DeSales 43.

Tyler Johnston broke through the Shoremen line to hit Toy jarring the ball loose. Mike D’Arcangelo fell on the ball at the Knights 49 to set up the final game-winning drive with 1:53 left in the game.

The Knights showed no sense of urgency as they ran the ball eight times in nine plays to move down to the Shoremen 17, setting up Dyer for his game-winning heroics.

“We struggled moving the ball in the first half, but even though we turned the ball over, the kids starting feeling like they could move the ball on offense,” said Knights head coach Richard Cromwell. “(Avon Lake) did some things that went against their tendencies and that gave us some problems.

“We were just able to come up with some big defensive plays in the second half that turned the game to us.”