Avon grid team gets the job done against Tigerhawks

Avon’s Mitch Cappello (44) ran for a touchdown, a season-high 35 yards and kicked six extra points in the Falcons’ 42-19 win over SMSA/University Monday night at Dillon Stadium in Hartford.

HARTFORD, Oct. 1 – The Avon High football team wasn’t as sharp as they had been a week ago in a hard-fought victory over Coventry/Windham Tech. But against the inexperienced co-op team from Hartford’s Sport Medicine Science Academy and University High, it was OK.

The Falcons scored the first four touchdowns of the game and won its first-ever game at Dillon Stadium in Hartford, 42-19 on Monday evening.

However, Avon coach Brett Quinion was a bit concerned. In the second half, Avon (3-0, 3-0 Pequot Uncas) ran just nine offensive plays. They scored a touchdown on one seven-play series but fumbled the ball away on another series.

SMSA/University (0-2, 0-2 Pequot Uncas) scored three touchdowns in the second half on two touchdown passes from quarterback Wilfredo Alicea and a seven-yard TD run from Ezequiel Ortiz.

“It was a tale of two halves,” Quinion said. “I thought we played better in the first half. I give (SMSA/University) credit. They came out in the second half and punched us in the mouth. They were more physical.”

The host Tigerhawks marched 65 yards on 12 plays, scoring on its opening possession of the second half on a 10-yard, fourth down pass from Alicea to Kayron Macon. Earlier in the drive, Alicea converted on fourth down and one with a two-yard run up the middle to allow the Tigerhawks to keep the ball.

While the score thrilled the Tigerhawks, it didn’t cut much out of Avon’s sizeable lead. The Falcons led 28-0 at halftime.

“The first half (tonight) was disappointing,” SMSA/University head coach Graham Martin said. “It was disappointing just like the Ellington game (47-7 loss). We had five turnovers in the first 12 minutes and gave up five touchdowns.”

But Martin was pleased with the second half from the Tigerhawks against Avon. “We’re getting better,” he said. “We’re young. We’re improving and the second half showed. But you have to be a football player first and some of them don’t understand that yet. But we’re getting there.”

Avon scored with relative ease on its first two drives. Mitch Cappello capped off a nine play drive with an eight-yard run for Avon’s first touchdown and the Falcons made it 14-0 when Colin Moore raced in from 15-yards away with 2:15 left in the first quarter. The key play on the second scoring drive was a 41-yard completion from QB Noah Hahn to Justin Reichler.

Avon made it 21-0 on a 38-yard punt return for a touchdown from Mitch Gauthier and Moore’s second TD of the game made it 28-0 with 1:09 remaining in the half.

After the Tigerhawks scored on their opening possession of the third quarter, Avon extended its lead to 35-7 on a five-yard run from Moore (22-114, 3 TDs). But on the series, SMSA’s Eloy Aguayo caught Moore in the backfield for an eight-yard loss. It wasn’t a problem since Jimmy Murphy ran 38 yards on the next play to the Avon 12. Two plays later, Moore scored.

The Tigerhawks ate up nearly seven minutes on its next drive from the SMSA 24 to the Avon three-yard line. But the Falcons stood their ground, forcing the Tigerhawks to give up the ball on downs.

On the next play, Moore coughed up the ball and SMSA/University scored two plays later on a seven-yard run from Ortiz with 2:34 remaining to cut the lead to 35-13. Avon’s Joey Murphy scooped up an onside kickoff and raced 50 yards down the sideline for another TD with 2:19 left in the game.

Hahn completed 4-of-7 passes for 52 yards, completing two passes to Justin Reichler for 42 yards and two passes to Chris Suttmeier for 10 yards. Cappello ran for 35 yards and a touchdown on four carries. He was also 6-for-6 in extra points and returned two kickoffs for 34 yards.

For SMSA/University, Alicea completed 9-of-26 passes for 148 yards and two TDs to Macon (5-78) and Jonathan Cunningham. Alicea was also the Tigerhawks leading rusher with 77 yards on 14 carries.

The road doesn’t get earlier for both teams. Avon travels to resurgent Canton (2-1) for a game on Saturday at 3 p.m. while SMSA/University travels to face Gilbert/Northwestern under the lights on Friday night, Oct. 5.

Avon 42, SMSA/University19
At Hartford
Avon (3-0)                         14  14  0  14 – 42
SMSA/Univ (0-2)                  0    0  7  12 — 19
First quarter
A: Mitch Cappello 8 run (Cappello kick), 7:00
A: Colin Moore 15 run (Cappello kick), 2:15
Second quarter
A: Mitch Gauthier 40 punt return (Cappello kick), 8:00
A: Moore 4 run (Cappello kick), 1:39
Third quarter
S: Kayron Macon 10 pass from Wilfredo Alicea (Brett Fox kick), 4:00
Fourth quarter
A: Moore 5 run (Cappello kick), 11:10
S: Ezequiel Ortiz 7 run (run fails), 2:34
A: Joey Murphy 50 kickoff return (Cappello kick), 2:19
S: Jon Cunningham 16 pass from Alicea (kick fails), 0:07
Individual statistics
RUSHING: Avon – Colin Moore 22-114, Jimmy Murphy 1-37, Mitch Cappello 4-35, Noah Hahn 1-20, Chris Suttmeier 1 1-1; SMSA – Wilfredo Alicea 14-77, Ezequiel Ortiz 11-49, Kayron Macon 11-12, Dashua Roldan 1-2
PASSING: Avon – Hahn 4-7-0, 52; SMSA – Wilfredo Alicea 9-26-0, 148
RECEIVING: Avon – Justin Reichler 2-42,  Chris Suttmeier 2-10; SMSA – Kayron Macon 5-78, Patrick Richards 1-30,  Jon Cunningham 3-40
RETURNS: Kickoffs – Cappello (A) 2-34, Joey Murphy (A) 1-50; Johnson (S) 5-128, Macon (S) 1-20; Punts – Moore (A) 2-30, Gauthier (A) 1-38