The fumble late in the third quarter -- a play that St. Paul/Goodwin Tech coach Joe Cefaratti claimed should not have been called a fumble -- halted a St. Paul drive and helped Avon to two fourth quarter touchdowns.

"I don’t usually like to criticize an official’s call in print," said Cefaratti, "but it’s tough when an official’s call changes the tempo of the game. And that one took the cake. We had a nice drive going. We were moving down the field ready to ice the thing and then we get that call. He was clearly down before the ball came loose."

The fumble at the end of a 13-yard run was one of five SPGT turnovers that played a big factor for an inexperienced team. It came with SPGT nursing a 14-11 lead and gave Avon the ball at its own 30. Although Avon could not convert the first down, the ensuing punt pinned SPGT deep in its own territory.

Two plays later Avon’s Alex Mancini fell on a fumble at the St. Paul 5-yard line to set up the go-ahead score. SPGT never got untracked after the score. An interception by Adam VanDerBeek on the next possession led to the final Avon score that iced the win.

"Overall we played OK," said Cefaratti, "but our inexperience at the skill positions is hurting us. "We had a lot of skilled players last year who have moved on to bigger and better things. It’s tough in high school when you graduate such a talented senior group as we had last year."

Quarterback Rob Swanke had a good start as he engineered two first have drives that gave SPGT a 14-3 first-half lead. But with his team pressing to get back in the game and some key injuries hurting late in the game, Swanke was intercepted twice in the closing minutes to shut off any hope of a comeback.

"Rob Swanke threw the ball well," Cefaratti said, "but it’s tough when you don’t have a lot of depth and you have some injuries to key players."

Kyle Abucewicz and Jay Poole, both big players in the SPGT passing game, sat out much of the game with injuries and running back Nelson Huertas, who led SPGT with 109 yards on eight carries, missed a couple of key series after taking a hit in the ribs.

Avon struck first in the game. A 12-play, 50-yard drive led to a 25-yard field goal by Chris Prudhomme with 3:01 left in the opening period.

SPGT wasted little time getting back into the game as Luis Rodriguez sparked them with a 58-yard kickoff return that brought the ball to the Avon 30. Swanke hit Abucewicz for 28 yards to the 2-yard line and Juan Hernandez carried it over for the score. A 15-yard celebration penalty was no deterrent to SPGT as Swanke found Abucewicz again for the two point conversion and an 8-3 lead.

An interception by Kevin O’Neil set up the second SPGT score that came with just 39 seconds left in the half. O’Neil returned the ball to the Avon 15 and two plays later Swanke hit Rodriguez from 7 yards out for the 14-3 halftime edge.

SPGT was plagued by poor field position in the third period, but the defense held its own and was protecting the lead well until Avon quarterback Tony Casorio threw a 36-yard TD pass on fourth down to Max Martinez. Tom Canty ran for two to cut the lead to 14-11.

Then came the fumble and the two late Avon scores. A.J. Brown scored from 5 yards out with 11:48 left in the game to give Avon the lead and Matt Freidhoff caught a 4-yard pass from Casorio after VanDerBeek’s interception to ice the victory with 4:40 to play.

St. Paul’s last chance to get back in the game ended when Freidhoff picked off a pass with 3 minutes to go.

Huertas and Hernandez were the workhorse backs for St. Paul. Huertas carried eight times for 109 yards. Hernandez had 13 carries for 34 yards and a score. Swanke hit on just six of 21 passes for 63 yards but threw for a touchdown and set up another.

Canty had 162 yards on 23 carries for Avon and Brown carried 13 times for 21 yards and a score.