The Avon High defense swarms around Bristol Eastern’s Jaiden Fore (4) during Friday night’s game in Avon.
AVON, Sept. 30, 2022 – Two teams with similar philosophies of controlling the game by running the football met Friday in a Central Connecticut Conference Tier III contest at Avon High.
The difference was the Avon defense that forced two second half turnovers that led to touchdowns as the Falcons scored 24 unanswered points and won their second straight game with a 24-8 win over Bristol Eastern.
The Lancers (0-4, 0-2 CCC Tier III) made just two first downs in the second half. Avon’s John Murphy recovered a fumble and forced a second fumble that was recovered by teammate Andrew Sielski, who had multiple tackles and made four tackles for a loss.
“The defense played great,” Avon High head coach Brendon Smith said. “They gave everything they had and the game plan was great. (Assistant coach) Matt (Redman) did a great job again. The tacking … Andrew Sileski was all over the ball tonight.”
Bristol Eastern had an 8-6 lead at halftime but the Falcons stopped the Lancers’ first drive of the second half when Murphy forced Eastern’s Joshua Aubin to cough up the ball that recovered by Sieleski at the Avon 45-yard line.
Nik Meltser, who ran for two touchdowns and a career-high 101 yards on 12 carries, had a big 26-yard run to the Eastern 12-yard line . Lavore ran for three hard-earned yards on a fourth down-and-two play in the Eastern one-yard line to keep the drive alive.
Lavore’s run from the one put the Falcons ahead for the first time at 12-8 with 5:14 left in the third quarter. Eastern’s Aubin made a great tackle on Meltser near the goal line to keep the Falcon runner out of the end zone on the two-point conversion play.
“The offense, once we got into a groove, we couldn’t be stopped,” Smith said.
With 7:48 left in the game and leading by four, the Falcons forced an Eastern put and took over on their own 45-yard line.
Nik Meltser ran for a career-high 101 yards and two TDs on 20 carriers.
On Eastern’s next offensive play, a pitch went right through the running back’s hands and Murphy pounced on it to recover the fumble on Eastern’s 11-yard line.
Lavore ran for two yards and then powered into the end zone with a seven-yard run with 1:49 remaining to put the game away for the Falcons, 24-8. Lavore ran for 118 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 26 carries.
“I thought our defense played pretty well but they were on the field for a long time,” Eastern head coach Anthony Julius said.
In terms of second half adjustments, it was a matter of fine tuning for the Falcons (2-2, 1-2 CCC Tier III).
“We talked about the blocking and made sure we had everyone accounted for,” Smith said. “It was really a case of stopping ourselves. We had to rid of the negative plays.”
Bristol Eastern took a 2-0 lead early when Lavore was tackled in the end zone. The Lancers extended the lead to 8-0 on a 10-yard run by Jaiden Fore with 1:32 left in the first quarter. But the two-point conversion run was snuffed out by the Falcons.
It was the first-ever meeting between the two schools on the football field.
Avon returns to action next Friday with another CCC Division III contest when they visit Meriden to face Platt High. “I am excited to see what we can do,” Smith said.
Avon 24, Bristol Eastern 8
At Avon
Bristol Eastern (0-4) 8 0 0 0 — 8
Avon (2-2) 0 6 6 12 — 24
First quarter
BE: Safety. QB tackled in end zone, 3:21
BE: Jaiden Fore 10 run (run fails), 1:32
Second quarter
A: Nik Meltser 8 run (run fails), 9:24
Third quarter
A: Connor Lavore 1 run (run fails), 5:14
Fourth quarter
A: Meltser 4 run (kick wide), 3:13
A: Lavore 7 run (kick fails), 1:49
Individual results
RUSHING: Avon — Nik Meltser 12-101, Connor Lavore 26-118, Cole Milardo 5-30, Tanner Cote 3-9; Bristol Eastern — Alexander Corvo 3-minus 28, Joshua Aubin 8-47, Rayshon Andrews 8-11, Jaiden Fore 13-65, Chase Dauphinee 1-10
PASSING: Avon — Connor Lavore 0-1; Bristol Eastern — Andrews 0-1, Alexander Corvo 3-7-0, 12
RECEIVING: Eastern — Joshua Aubin 1-11, Rayshon Andrews 1-minus 2, Austin Shorette 1-3
SACKS: Nick Seminara (A) 1-14, Toby Klafter (A) 1-7; FUMBLE REC: John Murphy (A), Andrew Sielski (A); KICKOFF RETURNS: Tanner Cote (A) 1-18, Tate Zaveyn (BE) 1-21, Zion Otero (BE) 1-17, Kyle Babin (BE) 1-33
