Avon’s Tabor Engle (9) ran for a game-high 228 yards and a touchdown on Tuesday night as the Falcons won the CCC Tier 4 title with a 24-13 win over Lewis Mills.
AVON, Nov. 23. 2021 – Four years ago on a hot August afternoon, there were 18 players on the football practice field in the blazing sun when the Avon High football team practiced for the first time under the watchful eye of veteran coach Jeff Redman and his staff.
Would the program survive was a legitimate question that hung was in the air at that time. The team won four of 20 games those first two seasons. Then, the 2020 season was wiped out by the COVID-19 pandemic.
And this year, the Falcons lost the first three weeks of the season due to a COVID-19 outbreak that had many players in mandated COVID-19 quarantine protocols and some players ill with the virus.
But on the cold Tuesday night, the Avon High football team celebrated a league championship and the program’s first CIAC Class M playoff berth (unofficially) after a 24-13 win over Lewis Mills in a Central Connecticut Conference Tier 4 contest.
“I think we’ve come a long way, haven’t we? A long way,” said Redman, who captured his first championship as a head coach. This is his 10th year as a head coach, including an earlier four-year run at Avon (1995-98) and two years at The Gilbert School (1986-87) in Winsted. This is the fourth year of his second stint with the Falcons.
“I’m proud,” Redman said. “I am proud of my coaching staff. I am proud of the kids. It has been a work in progress and we’re seeing the benefits right now. We’ve overcome a lot of adversity, a lot.”
Lewis Mills’ Colby Cables can’t come up with this reception in Tuesday night’s CCC Tier 4 game in Avon. The Falcons won, 24-13.
Unofficially, according to published reports from GameTimeCT’s Sean Patrick Bowley and the New London Day’s Ned McGrath, Avon has clinched a spot in the Class M tournament.
Avon (7-2, 6-0 CCC Tier 4) are currently ranked No. 6 in Class M with the top eight teams earning a spot in the tournament. It is Avon’s first CIAC tournament berth since 2015 and the fourth playoff berth in team history.
Quarterback Tabor Engle ran for a game-high 228 yards and a touchdown on a season-high 37 carries. Engle has run for more than 200 yards four times this season in the Falcons’ single-wing offense.
“You’re able to get 10 guys blocking unlike any other offense,” Redman said.
It wasn’t easy, though. The Falcons fumbled the ball away on each of their first three drives, perhaps due to the biting-34 degree temperatures. But the Spartans weren’t that much better with a pair of turnovers on two of their first four drives.
Lewis Mills (4-6, 2-4 CCC Tier 4) took a 7-0 lead after Avon’s second fumble when the ball got away from Cameron Casey on the Falcon 10-yard line and Ethan Coates recovered for Mills. On the next play, it was Colby Cables scoring from the six-yard line and Mateo Dolzadelli getting the extra point for the early lead.
Avon responded by losing another fumble – this time by Engle but the Spartans coughed it up three plays later when Cables lost the ball and Casey made the recovery for the Falcons.
Avon ran the ball for 326 yards on 57 carriers, averaging 5.7 yards a run during Tuesday night’s CCC Tier 4 win over Lewis Mills.
The teams began to settle down and Avon began to march downfield. The Falcons went 58 yards on nine plays to get on the scoreboard with a one-yard touchdown run from Engle as the first quarter ended. The big play on the drive was Engle breaking out for 27 yards on a fourth down and 1 play from the Mills’ 28-yard line.
A two-point conversion from Cameron Dawiczyk made it 8-7.
The Falcons extended their lead to 16-7 thanks to a 12-play, 80-yard drive that ate up 6:03 of the second quarter with Casey scoring on a 27-yard run off a reverse. Engle scored on the two-point conversion run with 2:47 left in the first half.
Lewis Mills cut the lead to three, 16-13, with 1:05 left in the second quarter on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Jack Stanislaw to Logan Cowger. The big play of the drive was a 25-yard completion from Stanislaw to Cowger on a fourth down and 10 play from the Falcons 37-yard line. The two-point conversion play failed.
Mills had hoped to shorten the game by controlling the ball and keeping it out of Avon’s hands.
“We went back and forth for about a week (on how to defend the Falcons),” Mills coach John Oko said. “About three days ago, we decided to put everyone up (on the defensive line). We played goal line defense and some the defense that Branford (used) successfully played (against Avon).
“We knew we would have our hands full but they wear you down,” Oko said. “They just had a little too much more and they were a little stronger than us.”
Lewis Mills was held to just 83 yards of offense in Tuesday night’s loss against Avon.
The Falcons ate up the first 7:26 of the third quarter on a 15-play drive that got to the Lewis Mills one-yard line. But a holding penalty sent the Falcons backwards and the drive died on the 16-yard line.
The Avon defense played their part, too.
Mills didn’t have a first down in the second half. The Spartans ran 10 offensive plays on three second half drives. On those 10 plays, Avon had four tackles for a loss and two sacks.
Avon extended their lead to 24-13 on another 11-yard run off a reverse from Casey with 2:33 remaining in the game. The big play in the drive was Engle rushing for six yards on a fourth down and three play on the Spartan 34-yard line.
“The cold wasn’t a factor in the second half and it really came down to our heart,” Engle said. “And we got the job done at the end of the day. (At halftime the coaches) told us we had to approach the game the same way as we did against East Catholic and Rocky Hill energy wise in the second half.”
Avon beat East Catholic, 55-20, scoring on eight of their nine possessions and beat Rocky Hill a mere five days ago, 46-21.
Now, the Falcons can enjoy their Thanksgiving and begin preparations for a playoff game on Tuesday, Nov. 30.
NOTES: Tyler Brokenshire had a big interception for the Falcons in the first quarter. After Avon had fumbled the ball away on their own 27, Brokenshire picked off a pass that Stanislaw tried to float into the end zone. … Evan Pannuto, Ethan Coates and Ben Rewenko recovered fumbles for the Spartans. … Avon’s Dante Cirikovic and Ebana Ikpeme each had a pair of tackles for a loss while Eamon McLaughlin and Christian Wilson each had sacks on Mills’ final series of the game. … Cables had a team-high 38 yards rushing for Mills, which was held to just 83 yards of offense (46 in the ground and 37 through the air). … Avon won their 17th league title in team history and the first since 2015 when they won the CCC Division III East title in their initial season in the CCC.
Avon 23, Lewis Mills 13
At Avon
Lewis Mills (4-6) 7 6 0 0 — 13
Avon (7-2) 8 8 0 8 — 24
First quarter
LM: Colby Cables 6 run (Mateo Dolzadelli kick), 8:46
A: Tabor Engle 1 run (Cameron Dawiczyk run), 0:00
Second quarter
A: Cameron Casey 27 run (Engle run), 2:47
LM: Logan Cowger 12 pass from Jack Stanislaw (pass fails), 1:05
Fourth quarter
A: Casey 11 run (Engle run), 2:33
Individual statistics
RUSHING: Avon — Cameron Dawiczyk 10-36, Cameron Casey 3-38, Tabor Engle 37-228, Connor Lavoie 5-20, Nils Jerger 2-4; Lewis Mills: Trey Gagne 1-minus 1, Jack Stanislaw 3-2, Colby Cables 13-38, Seamus Hannon 4-7
PASSING: Avon – Tabor Engle 1-5-0, 11; Lewis Mills – Jack Stanislaw 2-7-1, 37
RECEIVING: Avon – Cameron Casey 1-11, Lewis Mills – Logan Cowger 2-37
FUMBLE RECOVERY: Evan Pannuto (LM), Ethan Coates (LM), Ben Rewenko (LM), Cameron Casey (A); INTERCEPTIONS: Tyler Brokenshire (A) 1-0
RETURNS: Evan Pannuto (LM) 2-29 (kickoff), Tanner Cote (A) 2-11 (kickoff), Seamus Hannon (LM) 1-17 (KO), Logan Cowger (LM) 1-15 (KO), Cameron Dawiczyk (A) 1-14 (punt)
