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With Avon’s season-long starting quarterback Tony Casorio hampered by a thumb injury, Chris Prudhomme drew the starting nod. Thomas Canty started the game at tailback, but for long stretches of the second half, Canty, alternating with Casorio, lined up at the quarterback position in the shotgun offense and simply picked his hole to run through.
That had a profound effect as Canty registered 97 of his game-high 125 yards in the second half. Canty had opened the scoring on Avon’s first drive of the game when he ran off his left side and met Shawn Thibault at the two in a head-on collision. Canty ended up in the end zone with a 9-yard score, but Justin Fangiullo blocked the extra point to keep it 6-0.
After the teams exchanged punts, Plainville put together a terrific looking 12-play, 82-yard drive that took 5:02 off the second quarter clock.
The Devils’ fullbacks -- Allan Niedzwiecki (7 carries, 23 yards) and Brian Roper (6, 38) combined with Will Hungerford (15, 62) in running at the heart of the Avon defense, while Lessard completed a nice 10-yard pass to Jared Martin (3 catches, 40 yards). Hungerford’s 5-yard run made it 7-6 after Niedzwiecki’s PAT.
"I was going crazy," Quinion said of Plainville’s drive. "They were basically shoving it down our throats."
Avon took the opening kickoff of the second half and failed to score despite holding on to the ball for over seven minutes, but Avon held Plainville to a three-and-out on the Blue Devils’ first possession of the half. The Falcons tried to come back but Mike Snyder’s interception thwarted that threat, setting up the game’s most pivotal play.
Facing fourth-and-three from the Avon 44 with just over seven minutes left, Plainville coach Mack Scott sent Rob Lessard on a quarterback option, but defensive end Matt Friedhoff strung the play out wide, then tackled Lessard for a two-yard loss, and the Falcons had the ball back.
"That was a big momentum swing," Scott acknowledged. "That was a point at which the positives started to change for us."
"They had success running that play in the first half," admitted Quinion, who noted that his halftime adjustments included bringing another player onto the defensive line.
Avon then marched quickly down the field for the leading score as Canty, taking the direct snap in the shotgun gained 8 and 11 yards before handing off to AJ Brown for a 10-yard gain.
Moments later, Canty rumbled in for a 7-yard touchdown, and his two-point conversion against a fatigued Plainville defense made it 14-7 with 4:04 left.
"We did get tired," Scott said of his club with several two-way starters on the unusually warm day.
"I think that was a little bit of a factor. I didn’t think we would get that tired."
After the score, the Blue Devils were unable to make a first down and Avon held on for the win.
"It’s tough, and we wanted to get the win pretty badly," Scott said, then blamed poor execution on his team’s defeat. "It was execution that killed us - when we executed, we could move the ball. We had quite a few opportunities for big plays, we just didn’t execute."
