Falcons, Moore shut down Coventry and Myers in early season test

Avon’s Colin Moore (5) moves through a big hole courtesy of his offensive line. Moore ran for a school-record 293 yards and for the second straight week, 4 TDs in a single game.

AVON, Sept. 22 – The Avon High football team had noticed the attention being paid to the Coventry/Windham Tech/Bolton.

The visiting Patriots were ranked No. 10 among the area football teams in the Courant after its win over Gilbert/Northwestern Regional in the opening week of the season. Coventry’s 6-foot-5 receiver Tom Myers, who has signed a letter of intent at Connecticut, caught three TD passes against Gilbert.

Not so fast.

Avon’s Colin Moore set a new school record by rushing for over 200 yards for the eighth time in his career with his four touchdown, 293-yard performance as the Falcons rolled over the Patriots, 35-15.

Despite the close defense, Avon’s Justin Reichler (88) tries to hold on to the ball in Saturday’s win over Coventry/Windham Tech/Bolton.

And it really wasn’t even that close. The Falcons led 35-2 after Moore’s fourth TD with 11:15 to go in the game before giving up a pair of fourth quarter TDs, the second in the waning seconds of the contest.

It was the second straight four TD performance for Moore, the senior back, who also played defensive back, helping limit Myers to six receptions for just 43 yards. Myers’ longest reception was a 16-yard catch late in the third quarter with the Falcons leading by 26 points.

“We spent the entire week working on defense,” Avon coach Brett Quinion said. “We broke them down. The option is assignment football and we did a great job (defensively) executing.”

“I think we wanted to prove we belonged and we could compete with them,” Quinion said. Avon improved to 2-0 overall and in the Pequot Uncas Division while the Patriots slipped to 1-1.

Moore also set the new single game rushing mark for Avon with 293 yards, eclipsing the 291-yard performance against Coventry/Windham Tech a year ago.

“He is incredible,” Quinion said. “We know he is a tremendous running back and athlete. But he also played defense, man-to-man on Myers. The stamina that requires is tremendous. The combination of Moore and Stephen Griffin took (Myers) out of the game.”

Myers caught the ball but was quickly taken down, never getting the opportunity to get into open space and take off.

Avon took command from the outset. They drove 80 yards on five plays with Moore scoring on a 54-yard scamper with 9:30 gone in the game. Coventry looked sharp in its response, marching 78 yards on 14 plays to the Avon nine-yard line. But the Falcon defense stiffened giving up one yard on third down and two from the 10 and no gain on a fourth down and one play from the nine.

Coventry cut the lead to five when Sarif Stewart sacked Avon QB Noah Hahn for a 10-yard loss and a safety. But Coventry did little with the ball on its next possession and punted.

Meanwhile, Avon marched 80 yards on 10 plays with Moore running four times for more than 10 yards including his 15-yard touchdown run for a 14-2 lead with 6:27 left in the second quarter.

In the third quarter, Coventry coughed up the ball three times and Avon scored three times. Jimmy Murphy recovered a fumble, Anders Bill intercepted a pass and returned it 41 yards and Dylan Marquis had an interception and a 33-yard return. Nick Rowe also had some big plays defensively.

Moore scored twice on runs of 25 and one yard while Mitch Cappello had an eight-yard TD run as Avon built its lead to 35-2.

“The big surprise was the way our offensive line dominated their front line,” Quinion said.

The right side of Avon’s offensive line made some big holes for Moore. Center Dan Rodrigues, sophomore tackle Ryan Rogers and freshman guard Nick Taylor had an outstanding game. On the left side, guard Nick Rowe and tackles Chappy Wingo and Brett Polinsky played well along with tight end Stephen Griffin.

Avon 35, Coventry/Windham Tech/Bolton 15
At Avon
Coventry/WT/B (1-1)        2  0  0  13 – 15
Avon (2-0)                        7  7  14  7 – 35
First quarter
A: Colin Moore 54 yard run (Mitch Cappello kick), 9:30
C: Sarif Stewart sack Noah Hahn in end zone, 1:49
Second quarter
A: Moore 15 run (Cappello kick), 6:27
Third quarter
A: Cappello 8 run (Cappello kick), 9:32
A: Moore 1 run (Cappello kick), 6:21
Fourth quarter
A: Moore 25 run (Cappello kick), 11:14
C: Nathan Decker 34 pass from Thomas Myers (Myers kick), 6:20
C: Vincenzo Marciano 1 run, 0:14
Individual statistics
RUSHING: Avon – Colin Moore 25-293, Mitch Cappello 4-14, Noah Hahn 2-12, Jimmy Murphy 2-15, Joey Murphy 4-13; Coventry/WT — Vincent Marciano 13-40, Daniel Lawrence 5-16; Daniel Tyszka 14-55, Austin Ives 7-14, Tom Myers 2-1, Devan Valdes 9-17
PASSING: Avon – Hahn 0-2-0; Coventry/WT — Devan Valdes 9-16-2, 93; Myers 1-1-0, 34; Lawrence 1-2-0, 25
RECEIVING: Avon – none; Coventry/WT — Myers 7-68; Vincent Marciano 2-22, Matthew Decker 2-62

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