Avon’s Nik Meltser (5) tries to fight off a tackle from Luis Gomez (1) in Friday night’s CCC contest against Wethersfield. The visiting Eagles won, 33-0. More game photos
AVON, Sept. 20, 2024 – It was a bit humbling for the Wethersfield High football team a year ago.
In 2022, the Eagles won the CCC Tier 2 championship with an 8-2 record with victories over Windsor and New Britain and earned a CIAC playoff berth.
But last season, Wethersfield didn’t win a game, going 0-10, the first winless season in team history.
The Eagles put in the work in the offseason and two games into the season, they are reaping the rewards. Wethersfield won their second straight game with a dominating 39-0 win over Avon Friday in a Central Connecticut Conference bout.
Wethersfield (2-0) scored three touchdowns in the first eight minutes of the game to take a commanding 20-0 lead. Senior quarterback Carmen Righi ran for a touchdown, threw a touchdown pass to Topher Sifnakis and Luis Garcia ran back a punt 70 yards for a touchdown.
“There is a lot of speed and it all started in the weight room last December,” Wethersfield head coach Matthew McKinnon said. “The guys were in the squat rack and doing everything that was asked of them. They did stuff on their own. We’re fortunate to have nearly the entire back and there is just one mind(set) – we want to win.”
The Eagles snapped an 11-game winning streak in week one with a 49-6 win over Hartford Public. Against Avon, the Eagles spread out the wealth.
Isaiah Edwards and Jacob Yanosy ran for touchdowns with Tristan Brown rushing for a team-high 40 yards on eight carries. Righi completed 9-of-12 passes for 111 yards and a touchdown to five different receivers. Yanosy had four receptions for 53 yards.
“We played as a team and over the past two weeks, we’ve really shown a team effort,” McKinnon said. “No one is about themselves. Everyone’s goal is to win. Offensively and defensively, we executed the game plan.”
Wethersfield’s Topher Sifnakis gets into the end zone with a touchdown reception in Friday night’s victory over Avon. It was the first-ever meeting between the two programs. More game photos
Avon (0-2) had a few moments of success but not enough to hang with the Eagles.
The Falcons fell to Bristol Eastern a week ago, 27-0. Next week, the Falcons travel to Danbury to face the ATI (Abbott Tech/Immaculate High) co-op football team, a program that won the Connecticut Technical Conference championship and went to the CIAC Class M playoffs a year ago.
A week after that, Avon will challenge defending Class S champion Bloomfield on the road on Friday, Oct. 4.
“We have a tough schedule. These few games will be very difficult and even after that, it won’t be easy,” first-year coach Matt Redman said. “All we’re focusing on is what we can control and how we can grow as a team. How we can be better by taking care of the fundamentals. That is what we are focused on.”
Redman said he is seeing growth and improvement all the time – in games and in practice. “We had a better week of practice than we did the week before,” he said.
The results haven’t bore fruit in games yet but he is confident it will.
Nik Meltser rushed for a game-high 94 yards on 20 carries while Carter Davies gained 23 yards on seven carries.
Wethersfield crisply marched down the field on their opening drive with a seven-play, 64-yard drive that ended with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Topher Sifnakis from Righi for a 6-0 lead. A bad snap on the extra point attempt turned into a running play which failed.
The Eagles held Avon to two yards on their first series and when the Falcons tried to punt, the snap was dropped and punter Oliver Lojewski tried to run for the first down. But he was hit hard and the ball rolled out of bounds on the Avon 16-yard line.
Wethersfield scored two plays later on a two-yard run by Righi. The extra point was good for a 13-0 lead.
Avon was forced to punt and Garcia found some room to return a punt 70 yards for a touchdown and a 20-0 lead with 4:07 gone in the first quarter after a successful extra point.
The Falcons had some success on their next drive, picking up thee first downs and getting to the Wethersfield 30-yard line. But John Murphy was tackled for a four-yard loss by middle linebacker Zach Melillo.
On the next play, Garcia intercepted a Meltser pass and returned the ball 29 yards.
Three plays later, it was Isaiah Edwards on a three-yard touchdown run for a 27-0 lead. The Eagles made it 33-0 with 5:05 left in the second quarter on a nine-yard touchdown run by Righi.
Meltser had runs of 20 and 29 yards in the fourth quarter for the Falcons.
This was the first-ever meeting between the two football programs.
Wethersfield travels to Penders Field next Friday to face Stratford (0-2).
Wethersfield 39, Avon 0
At Avon
Wethersfield (2-0) 20 13 6 0 — 39
Avon (0-2) 0 0 0 0 — 0
First quarter
W: Topher Sifnakis 11 pass from Camden Righi (run fails), 9:16
W: Righi 2 run (Erik Bellovoda kick), 6:26
W: Luis Garcia 70 punt return (Bellovoda kick), 4:07
Second quarter
W: Isaiah Edwards 9 run (Bellovoda kick), 10:48
W: Righi 9 run (kick fails), 5:05
Third quarter
W: Jacob Yanosy 1 run (run fails), 6:10
Individual statistics
RUSHING: Avon – John Murphy 8-3, Oliver Lojewski 2-6, Reyan Fawad 6-19, Nik Meltser 20-94, Carter Davies 7-23; Wethersfield – Tristan Brown 8-40, Jacob Yanosy 1-1, Luis Garcia 4-28, Isaiah Edwards 5-29, Camden Righi 4-29
PASSING: Avon: Nik Meltser 0-1-1, 0; Wethersfield – Camden Righi 9-12-0, 111
RECEIVING: Wethersfield – Topher Sifnakis 2-16, Jacob Yanosy 4-53, Charley Bellobuono 1-21, Luis Garcia 1-6, Michael Ehrlich 1-15
RETURN YARDS: Garcia (W) 2-93 (punts); Murphy (A) 1-13 (kickoff), Henry Fawad (A) 2-4 (kickoffs), Matthew Eckerlin (A) 1-13 (kickoff), Alex Suarez (A) 2-19 (kickoff)
