Avon needs help in five games to remain alive in playoff hunt

Nick Schuster and Geoff Kirk make a stop in Tuesday’s Valley Gridiron Classic. The Falcons need help in five games Thursday to have their season continue.

With No. 4 Windsor’s 48-7 win over Middletown Wednesday night, the Avon High football team is still alive in the hunt for a Class L playoff berth but the road to the playoffs will be a long, long one.

Avon (8-2) needs five games to go their way Thursday morning to ensure that they can get to 1,080 points and beat Middletown by 10 points for a playoff spot

With East Catholic’s big 48-0 win over Northwest Catholic on Wednesday, Middletown holds a 20-point lead on Avon, 1070 to 1050 and the Falcons are quickly running out of points to find. The CIAC stripping Berlin of seven victories last week due to the use of four ineligible players cost Avon 20 points.

The Falcons need Rocky Hill (7-2) to beat Cromwell/Portland (8-1), Plainville (4-5) to beat Farmington (3-6) and Rockville (3-6) to beat South Windsor (3-6). That will give Avon 30 bonus points (10 points for each win). A victory by either Cromwell, Farmington or South Windsor would eliminate the Falcons. And all three games should be very competitive.

Avon also needs Bacon Academy (7-2) to beat RHAM (1-8) and Bristol Central (6-3) to beat Bristol Eastern (1-8) to deny Middletown additional bonus points. Bacon Academy and Bristol Central are each favored and should win their respective contests. A win by RHAM or Eastern would eliminate the Falcons. Wethersfield helped deny Middletown any bonus points with a 44-12 win over Newington on Wednesday.

If Avon gets Middletown and Avon finish tied in points, the Dragons would win the tiebreaker and advance to the playoffs.

There are five steps to breaking ties, according to the CIAC’s football tournament packet. The first is head-to-head competition and the two teams did not play each other this season. The second step is to add up the number of wins and ties by their opponents. Teams get two points for a win and one point for a tie. Middletown would win that tiebreaker. As of Wednesday night, Middletown’s opponents combined for 45 wins. Avon’s opponents have combined for just 40 and can only get to 43 with three more wins on Thursday.

Avon is looking for its first CIAC tournament berth since 2012.

Class L playoff rankings

Avon needs five games to go their way to keep alive in the chase for the Class L playoffs. Middletown needs just one game to go their way to clinch a spot.

Thursday, Nov. 26

• Rocky Hill (7-2) over Cromwell/Portland (8-1)
• Plainville (4-5) over Farmington (3-6)
• Rockville (3-6) over South Windsor (3-6)
• Bacon Academy (7-2) over RHAM (1-8)
• Bristol Central (6-3) over Bristol Eastern (1-8)