Branford uses ground game to eat up time and outlast Falcons, 21-7

Avon’s Connor Lavoie (31) ran for a season-high 42 yards on five carries in Friday night’s 21-7 loss to Branford,

AVON, Nov. 5, 2021 – The Avon High football team loves to dominate games, chewing up time with their running game. On Friday night, the Falcons had to swallow a bit of their own medicine.

Visiting Branford marched 80 yards on 16 plays, converting twice on fourth down and eating up 6:09 of the final 7:19 of the contest to hand Avon their second loss of the season, 21-7 in a battle of Class M playoff contenders.

The visiting Hornets had a seven-point lead when they took over the ball on the Avon 20-yard line with 7:19 remaining. But led by junior running back Nathan Chieffo, the Hornets literally ran out the clock on the Falcons, scoring with 50 seconds left in regulation to extend their lead to 14 points, 21-7.

Chieffo was a spark all evening for Branford. He began the evening with a 90-yard kickoff return on the opening play of the game to give the Hornets a quick 7-0 lead. On Branford’s second possession, he had a 24-yard run to put the ball on the Avon-19-yard line.

Two plays later, Branford quarterback Zachary Turbert threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to John Frawley for a 14-0 lead with less than six minutes gone in the game.

Avon (4-2) was able to put together some long drives but fumbles crippled the Falcon offense. Avon put the ball on the carpet five times and lost it three times.

“Undisciplined mistakes will cost you the game and that is what happened (tonight),” Avon High head coach Jeff Redman said.

“We dug ourselves a hole. The turnovers and (a few other) dumb things that happened ruined our drives. We should have had 21 points on the board as well,” he said. “Branford is a great team but we beat ourselves.”

Avon’s Cameron Dawiczyk (2) imitates a referee’s signal for a catch after pulling in a 36-yard reception for a first down in the second quarter of Friday night’s loss to Branford.

Trailing by 14, Avon put together a time-consuming march, converting twice on third down and once on fourth down to keep the drive alive. The Falcons began the march on their own 33-yard line and got down to the Branford eight-yard line and had a first-and-goal situation. But Avon coughed up the ball with a fumble.

On Avon’s next drive they ran 14 plays, marched 69 yards and ate up 6:53 before scoring on a one-yard run from quarterback Tabor Engle with three seconds left in the first half to cut the Hornet lead to 14-7. Avon converted three times on third down to keep the drive alive along with one fourth down conversion. The Falcons fumbled twice on the drive but retained possession when they recovered the ball.

In the third quarter, Avon’s defense stood tall and took over on the Branford 39-yard line after the Hornets tried to convert a fourth down play. Engle rambled 15 yards to the Hornet 24-yard line but fumbled the ball away.

Early in the fourth quarter, Avon drove to the Branford 25-yard line, converting twice on fourth down to keep the drive alive. But the drive ended when Branford’s John Frawley batted away a potential pass to Cameron Dawiczyk near the goal line on fourth down.

Leading by seven, Branford took over with 7:19 remaining and nearly ate up the rest of the game with their final drive. Chieffo carried the ball on 12 of the drive’s 16 plays, rushing for five yards on a fourth down-and-three play and four yards on a third-down-and-three play to keep the drive moving.

One play after being stopped for a five-yard loss, he scored on a nine-yard run with 50 seconds left to boost the lead to 20-7.

“At the end of the day, that kid is a ferocious competitor,” Branford coach John Limone said. “When you need something out of him he gives it to you. I think he lost his shoe at the 10 yard line on the last touchdown. I think he scored with one shoe on. He is just so determined as a player.”

Avon’s Cameron Dawiczyk found little room to run on Friday night against Branford.

Chieffo ran back his second kickoff of the season with his 90-yard return on the opening play of the game. He went right through the heart of Falcon defense, found a little space squeeze through and was in open space for the touchdown and a 7-0 lead. He an 84-yard kickoff return against Lyman Hall in October.

Against the Falcons, Chieffo led the Hornets in rushing with 92 yards on 16 carries. Engle led all rushers with 131 yards and one touchdown on 32 carries. Engle completed just one of three passes, a 36-yard completion to Dawiczyk that kept Avon’s scoring drive alive in the second quarter.

This was the first meeting between the two football programs. Both were in the top 10 of the CIAC playoff rankings in Class M. Avon slipped wo spots to No. 6 with the top eight teams earning a playoff berth. Branford moved up into the No. 3 spot. Granby/Canton is the current No. 4 seedin Class M.

The Falcons return to action next Friday when they travel to East Catholic to take on the Eagles at Cheney Tech’s field.

Branford 21, Avon 7
At Avon
Branford (6-1)            14  0  0  7  — 21
Avon (4-2)                   0  7  0  0  — 7
First quarter
B: Nathan Chieffo 90 kickoff return (Nathan Florio kick), 11:44
B: John Frawley 20 pass from Zachary Turbert (Florio kick) 6:15
Second quarter
A: Tabor Engle 1 run (Toby Klafter kick) 0:03
Fourth quarter
B: Chieffo 9 run (Florio kick), 0:50
Individual statistics
RUSHING: Branford – Nathan Chieffo 16-92, Cole Snider 4-41, Cameron Paleski 3-3; Avon – Tabor Engle 32-131, Cameron Dawiczyk 9-15, Cameron Casey 3-14, Nils Jerger 3-5, Connor Lavore 5-42
PASSING: Branford – Zachary Turbert 4-8-1, 38; Avon – Tabor Engle 1-3-0, 36
RECEIVING: Branford – John Frawley 2-35, David McDonald 1-5, Chieffo 1-minus 2; Avon – Cameron Dawiczyk 1-36
RETURNS: Nathan Chieffo 1-90 (kickoff), Tyler Brokenshire (A) 1-12 (kickoff), Cameron Dawiczyk (A) 2-30 (kickoff)
FUMBLE REC: Frawley (B), McDonald (B), unknown  (B); INTERCEPTION: Tyler Brokenshire (A) 1-0