Averill Park earns week one win over Columbia, 40-6
AVERILL PARK, NY » Averill Park and Columbia were getting an early taste of Class A football this season as they faced off to open their respective 2019 campaigns at Averill Park High School.
“Week one wins are always big. Divisional win, rivalry win, when all those things happen early with the distractions that can come about from it, our guys focused tonight,” said Averill Park Head Coach Zach Gobel. “A little bump at the start, but we settled down early on.”
Despite a slow start, Averill Park was able to pull away with a 40- 6 win to earn win number one of the season.
Averill Park’s strategy was pretty simple, pound the ground with multiple runners, never giving Columbia the chance to adjust to just one.
“Teams are going to different things depending on what we do offensively,” said Gobel. “It’s a matter of us figuring it out. Our players trust in what we do as a coaching staff, executed plays we are asking, and following adjustments that we make. I can’t say enough about our team.”
Averill Park totaled 288 total yards on the night, 214 of which came on the ground.
7 different runners touched the ball for the Warriors in the win. Quarterback Anthony Childrose racked up 35 yards on the ground, scoring two touchdowns, and added 47 yards through the
air
No Averill Park rusher eclipsed 70 yards, but Joe Milanese was the closest with 63.
On the other side, Columbia’s offense was led by quarterback Brandon Biggane, who threw for 65 yards, and Jacob Slovak, who ran for 56 yards.
Columbia’s offense was held in check by Averill Park, who had three picks in the win. Two of those interceptions were by James Mooney, and another by Jack Long.
“The defense and special teams got us going tonight,” said Gobel. “It’s nice to be able to score one yard touchdowns when they return the ball that well.”
The night started off with Columbia stopping the Averill Park offense on the ground and through the air. After each team trading drives that ended with punts, Biggane found David Romer for a 36 yard pass to get the Devils on the board for an early 6- 0 lead at 2:28 in the first quarter.
Averill Park used the next drive to march down the field and drain the clock out, with the help of a few f lags and some masterful ground work from the backs.
Early in the second quarter, off the back of the successful drive that ended the first quarter, the Warriors utilized a flea flicker on fourth down to setup a score. Childrose pitched the ball to Matt Morin, who found Ben Ferlito wide open in the endzone.
“Anthony cut his finger and couldn’t get a grip on the football,” said Gobel on how the play was executed. “It was fourth and nine. He couldn’t throw the ball, so we drew it in the huddle.”
The play was a good example of the athleticism of the Averill Park backs.
“This is probably the most athletic team that we have had in awhile and they all get the job done,” said Milanese.
Averill Park scored two more touchdowns in the quarter. First a 13 yard Morin run that was capped off by Morin bulldozing over a Columbia defender to get into the endzone. Childrose scored his first touchdown on a diving play into the endzone as time expired. Childrose’s momentum carried him right over the pylon as he stuck his left arm over the endzone line with ball in hand.
Childrose’s touchdown was the final score (obviously) before halftime.
Averill Park scored three touchdowns in the third quarter to further the gap between them and Columbia, and one of them, was the very first play of the third quarter.
Milanese took an 80 yard kick return to the house to open the third quarter. Milanese quite simply saw a gap, and hit it hard.
“Go back over the years, he has had a few of those,” said Gobel. “When you can run like him, good things happen.”
“I caught it and started running and saw a big opening, like the Red Sea parting,” said Milanese. “I turned on the jets. My eyes lit up and I ran as fast I could.”
A Dan McShane five yard run and Childrose two yard run were the final scores of the night for Averill Park.
For Columbia, the game can be used as a chance to get a good look at what needs to change and implement it Monday.
Biggane looked confident at times as quarterback, with some dropped passes keeping his completion numbers low.
For Averill Park, penalties are going to be something they are going to want to look at. 11 flags for 131 yards can definitely be chalked up to rust and jitters, but you may not be able to give up that many free yards and get away with it again.
“I think I expected it in week one and I expected it in a rivalry game,” said Gobel on the flags. “We want to beat them and they want to beat us. Our staffs are friends and we all get along, but it is a rivalry game.”
Averill Park is back in action Friday, September 13 as they host Albany at 7 p.m. Columbia plays their home opener against La Salle Institute that night at 7 p.m.