Week 2 preview: Tough games for Avon, Simsbury football

Friday, Sept. 21: Farmington at Maloney, 6:30 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 22: Coventry/Windham Tech at Avon, 1 p.m.; Canton vs. Windsor Locks/Suffield/East Granby, 6:30 p.m.; Lewis Mills at Cromwell, 1 p.m.; Simsbury at Conard, 1 p.m.; Granby bye

Friday, Sept. 21

Farmington (1-0, 0-0 CCC West Div. II) at Maloney (0-1, 0-0 CCC West Div. II), 6:30 p.m.: This is the first CCC West Division II game of the season for both squads. Farmington QB Jeremy Buck had a successful debut last week in a 28-6 win over E.O. Smith completing 11 of 19 passes for 139 yards. Meanwhile, his Indian teammates ran for over 200 yards and 4 TDs. Maloney trailed 14-0 at halftime before cutting the lead to one but still fell to Hartford Public last week, 21-13. Maloney QB Laurel Robbins threw a pair of TD passes (69, 11 yards) to Dimitri Smith and Danl Berger made some key third down receptions in the second half but it wasn’t enough. Penalties hurt Maloney throughout the game.

Saturday, Sept. 22

Canton (0-1, 0-1 Pequot Uncas) vs. Windsor Locks/Suffield/EG (1-0, 1-0 Pequot Uncas), 6:30 p.m.: A year ago, Windsor Locks drove the length of the field is less than a minute and beat Canton on the final play of the game. Tristian Caulley, who scored the gamewinner last year for Locks, played well last week in a 40-0 win over Housatonic/Wamogo, rushing for 189 yards and 3 TDs on just 12 carries. Danatas Correa had a 21-yard interception return for the Raiders. Canton played well in a 21-7 loss to Ellington/Somers. The Warriors trailed by one score early in the third quarter. Canton had seven tackles for losses against the Purple Knights. The game will be played under the lights at Suffield High, beginning at 6:30 p.m.

Coventry/Windham Tech (1-0, 1-0 Pequot Uncas) at Avon (1-0, 1-0 Pequot Uncas), 1 p.m.: The Falcons will have to try and stop Coventry’s 6-foot-5 wide receiver Thomas Myers, who is going to UConn next year and who scored 3 TDs last week in a win over Gilbert. Myers is big, strong and hard to stop. He scored on TD passes of 46, 35 and 3 from QB Devan Valdes last week in a 34-21 win over Gilbert. The Patriots forced four Gilbert turnovers but did allow over 400 yards of offense. Avon has Colin Moore, who set a new school record with his seventh rushing effort over 200 yards. Moore ran for 233 yards and 4 TDs on 28 carries. QB Noah Hahn showed that he is a year older and a year stronger, completing 8-of-13 passes for 53 yards. Defensively, the Falcons pitched a shutout and linebacker Jimmy Murphy had four sacks and recovered a fumble.

Lewis Mills (0-1, 0-1 Pequot Sassacus) at Cromwell (1-0, 1-0 Pequot Sassacus), 1 p.m.: It’s another tough assignment for the Spartans, who managed just six points in a loss to Morgan on opening day. Sophomore QB Justin Pease will get his second start and second year coach Gregg Todd will be leaning on captains Russel LeSage (DT), Cameron McHale (LB), Tom Kysar (LB) and Dominik Jankowski (SE) for leadership. Cromwell has 17 seniors led by RB Derrick Villard, who ran for over 2,000 yards and 27 TDs a year ago. The Panthers have an outstanding offensive line.

Simsbury (1-0, 0-0 CCC West Div. I) at Conard (1-0, 0-0 CCC West Div. I), 1 p.m.: Simsbury scored just three points in a single game last week for just the third time in school history as Kyle Dougherty hit a 26-yard field goal with 2:20 remaining to beat Newington. Simsbury QB Steve Steijn and the offense are still working out the kinks. They had two long drives in the second half but will have to be more efficient against the Chiefs. Conard whipped South Windsor, 43-0 last week. The Chiefs lost 14 starters from last year’s Class L playoff team but return with a run-oriented offense led by QB Owen Snyder.

Granby (0-1, 0-1 Pequot Uncas) is off this week