Northwest Catholic finds openings to shutout Avon/St. Paul, 20-0

NW Catholic’s Kaedean Stewart (4) ran for a game-high 84 yards and a TD in Thursday night’s 20-0 win over Avon/St. Paul in Avon.

AVON, Sept. 10, 2026 – Kaedean Stewart ran for a game-high 84 yards and one touchdown and made enough big runs to help a young Northwest Catholic team spoil the debut the Avon/St. Paul co-op team Thursday night with a 20-0 victory in Central Connecticut Conference action at Avon High.

“Kaedean is a real good running back. He is shifty and makes plays,” NW Catholic coach Michael Lenz said. “Once he bounces to the outside, he is hard to get to  .”

Stewart helped turn the tide in a tight ballgame that was tied 0-0 at halftime. The visiting Lions, who advanced to the Class S championship game a year ago, led 6-0 after three quarters.

A 26-yard run on the second play of the third quarter moved the ball into Avon territory to the 39-yard line. After a holding penalty, Stewart gained five yards and then QB Luka Rodriguez found Marc Cheney for a 22-yard completion to the Falcon 22 yard line.

Stewart galloped 12 yards to the Avon 10-yard line and the Lions scored two plays later on a 10-yard TD pass from Rodriguez to Jordan Thompson for a 6-0 lead.

On Northwest Catholic’s first possession of the fourth quarter, QB Anthony Gattinella completed three passes to drive the ball to the Falcon 4-yard line and Stewart scored on a four-yard run to extend the lead to 12-0 with 9:53 left in the game.

Northwest Catholic added a final touchdown in the final minute of the game on an 16-yard pass from Gattinella to Cooper Lenz with 1:24 left. A successful two-point conversion pass from Gattinella to Noah Hawkins made it 20-0.

This isn’t the same Northwest Catholic team that went 9-1 in the regular season and 2-1 in the Class S tournament.

“We have three starters back on each side of the ball and the offensive line is mostly freshmen and sophomores,” coach Michael Lenz said. “But in the second half, we really stuck together and the defense was lights out throughout the game. That really sealed the game for us.”

Avon/St. Paul showed plenty of life in their first game as a co-op program under head coach Kerry Graves. Alex Schwarz had a 37-yard kickoff return while Sam Putt returned three punts for a total of 61 yards. Schwarz had a potential 78-yard kickoff return for a touchdown nullified by a holding penalty.

Running back Evan Herron had 43 hard-earned yards, mostly up the middle. QB Chace King completed 6-of-19 passes for 48 yards and one interception.

On their first drive of the game, the Falcons drove to the NWC 16-yard line only to get moved backed to the 21 on a delay-of-game call. Cooper Lenz intercepted King in the end zone to stop the drive.

The drive had a promising start thanks a 37-yard kickoff return from Schwarz. An 11-yard completion from King to Cooper Donnelly put the Falcons on the 22-yard line.

Avon/St. Paul’s Sam Putt (with ball) returned three punts for 61 yards in Thursday night’s 20-0 loss to NW Catholic. Putt had a 78-yard kickoff return for a TD nullified by a penalty.

Avon/St. Paul got back into NW Catholic territory in the final minute of the second quarter getting to the Lion 35-yard line. But King was sacked for a five-yard loss and had three incomplete passes as the drive stalled.

“I thought we were able to establish the run early in the game and that was very encouraging,” Graves said. “But we need to be consistent with that. Offensively with the pass game there was some misreads on routes. Defensively, I thought we played well. We put the defense in a bad spot a few times and they scored. We just have to tighten up on some fundamental stuff.”

“We have a lot of room to grow and we will head in that direction,” Graves said.

It was the third straight win by NW Catholic over Avon, who last beat the Lions in 2022. Avon leads the overall series, which dates back to 1982, by a margin of 15-14.

Avon/St. Paul returns to action next week with a road game next Friday night against Capital Prep/Achievement First at Hartford Public while NW Catholic will travel to Jonathan Law in Milford for a Connecticut Football Alliance contest.

NW Catholic 20, Avon/St. Paul 0
At Avon
NW Catholic (1-0)       0  0  6  14  — 20
Avon/St. Paul (0-1)      0  0  0  0  — 0
Third quarter
NW: Jordan Thompson 10 pass from Luka Rodriguez (kick fails), 10:05
Fourth quarter
NW: Kaedean Stewart 4 run (pass fails), 9:53
NW: Cooper Lenz 16 pass from Anthony Gattinella (Noah Hawkins pass from Gattinella), 1:24
Individual leaders
RUSHING: Avon/SP – Evan Herron 14-43, Chace King 4-4, Christian Wankier 1-minus 7, Max Combs 1-2; NWC – Kaedean Stewart 18-84, Andre Sutherland 2-2
PASSING: Avon/SP – King 6-19-1, 48, Wankier 0-5-0; NWC – Luka Rodriguez 11-19-0, 108, Antony Gattinella 8-13-0, 74
RECEIVING: Avon/SP – Cooper Donnelly 1-11, Peyton Bip 3-18; NWC – Brandon Gee-Little 2-30, Andre Sutherland 5-54, Marc Cheney 2-23, Kaedean Stewart 4-20, Chase Henry 2-16, Jordan Thompson 1-10, Ayden Ayala 1-4
Of note: Alex Schwarz (A) 1-37 kickoff return, Sam Putt (A) 3-61 punt returns; Ean Herron (A) fumble recover; Cooper Lenz (NW) interception 1-10