Averill Park holds off La Salle in 2013 win to end Fall II regular season
AVERILL PARK, NY » When a quarterback is on the field for an interception they usually aren’t too thrilled with the result.
Averill Park’s Gavin Giordano was thrilled when he was on the field for one Friday
night.
“I saw he was staring right at that drag and I jumped it,” said Giordano. “I got right in front of the wide receiver and put it in my hands.”
Giordano intercepted La Salle quarterback Eddie Yamin Friday night to set Averill Park for the eventual touchdown (which he scored himself) that would be the game winning points in Averill Park’s 20-13 win over La Salle Friday night.
“This is a big win to put us in the playoffs,” said Giordano. “It’s a huge win, the boys came out with some fire and that’s just how we have to play next week.”
Giordano finished with 6 yards on the ground while
adding 13 through the air. Yamin threw for 148 yards on 15 completed passes.
“He’s a football kid,” said Averill Park Head Coach Zachary Gobel on his quarterback. “He has a high IQ and gets what we are trying to do and he’s a hard nosed kid. He’s been a lot of fun to have.”
Despite the score, La Salle had a chance to tie the game late in the fourth quarter. After Averill Park’s final touchdown, La Salle quickly responded thanks to a Yamin touchdown pass to Nassir Young.
La Salle went on to attempt an onside kick, which Averill Park fair caught. La Salle forced Averill Park to a three and out and took the ball with 1:57 remaining. With a lot of time, Yamin and the Cadets were able to march down the field and set themselves up 30 yards outside the endzone. A last stitch effort pass by Yamin to Young eventually came up short from the endzone.
“We’re making sure our guys stay disciplined and play their responsibilities,” sad Gobel on the focus during those last two minutes. “Stay where they need to stay. The one long touchdown one of our guys snuck up on a passing route and they got it over his head.”
Nick Clemenzi posed a major threat on the defensive side of the ball for Averill Park. Clemenzi knocked an important pass away to force a fourth down in the final drive and had a sack earlier in the quarter and forced Yamin to be uncomfortable all night.
“This is probably going to be our last home game for the seniors. That was a big thing this year,” said Dan McShane on the emotions of the win Friday night. “To come out against a very good team and have a dog fight and to win in that circumstance I couldn’t be happier.”
Neither team scored in the first half as both teams’ defenses were stalwart off the top. Averill Park was forced to a three and out on their first two drives by the La Salle defense and the Averill Park defense came right back and turned the ball over on downs on La Salle’s first two drives of the quarter.
In the second quarter Averill Park got themselves in a very strong position thanks to a Ben Ferlito punt return that set them up on the La Salle 15 yard line. The Warriors needed just four plays for the first touchdown of the game. Dan McShane punched a run in from four yards out to give Averill Park a 7-0 lead at 4:50 in the second quarter.
McShane finished with a team leading 80 yards on the ground on 18 carries.
Averill Park’s second touchdown by Girodano was in similar fashion. With under a minute left Girodano picked Yamin on the La Salle 10 yard line. The Warriors needed just four plays for Giordano to punch the ball in from inches out on fourth down and take a two score lead into halftime.
La Salle’s energy was palpable coming out of the halftime and it was revved up when Bo Catherwood broke for a 60 yard touchdown run. Unfortunately, the run would be called back due to a holding call on the field.
Despite the touchdown reversal, Yamin and Catherwood teamed up to put the team on their back to drive the ball down the field for a score.
After a 25 yard run by Catherwood and another 25 yard pass play that was caught by Damani Canty, Catherwood was able to find a hole and finish the drive with a five yard touchdown run. The Cadets now trailed just 14-7.
Catherwood finished with 48 rushing yards on 19 carries. The La Salle offense totaled 208 yards in the loss.
Following the score La Salle was able to recover an Averill Park fumble and cound feel the momentum swinging in their favor. Despite that swing, Averill Park was able to hold off the Cadet offense and drain a lot of time off the clock to end the third quarter and start the fourth quarter.
Averill Park forced La Salle to use two of their timeouts by the second play of the fourth quarter.
“That’s what we do,” said Gobel. “We move the ball on long, methodical drives. We take care of the ball, even though we gave it up once tonight, and it is something we have to focus on and continue to do a better job on the better teams we play.”
The Averill Park offense finished the night with 159 total yards.
“It’s very important. When they get the ball they are dangerous,” said McShane on the long drive that ended the third quarter and consumed a portion of the fourth. “We are used to running and having long drives so we went back to our history and did what we knew how to do.”
Averill Park held the ball until 7:21 in the fourth quarter when Dan McShane punched his second touchdown of the night from two yards out to give Averill Park the 20-7 lead.
La Salle responded with a 39 yard touchdown pass by Yamin to Young with 4:15 left in the game to bring the Cadets to within a score. The score was made possible because of a long 17 yard run by Yamin to extend the drive just a play before the pass.
Ultimately, La Salle came up just short and was out disciplined by a well coached Averill Park team.
“I think we need to be more disciplined,” said Gobel. “It’s something we work on and against, something we will need next week. But it’s something we work on and we need to do a better job moving forward.”
Averill Park moves onto the playoffs after Friday night’s win over La Salle. They will quickly begin to prepare for Burnt Hills who they will see next week.
“We saw them last year, they don’t change what they do,” said Gobel. “I know what they are going to do, I can look at last year’s film and how they played us, the year before how they played us, and they’re going to do what they do. It’s going to come down to who executes the best.”
AVERILL PARK 20, LA SALLE 13 Averill Park High School
Averill Park, New York
AP 0-14-0-6 — 20
LSI 0-0-7-6 — 13
FIRST QUARTER
SECOND QUARTER
4:50 - Averill Park Touchdown - 4 yard run by Dan McShane; Extra point is good by Collin Hansen
0:09 - Averill Park Touchdown - 1 yard run by Gavin Giordano; Extra point is good by Collin Hansen
THIRD QUARTER
8:51 - La Salle Touchdown - 5 yard run by Bo Catherwood; Extra point is good by Kaleb Rock
FOURTH QUARTER
7:21 - Averill Park Touchdown - 5 yard run by Dan McShane; Extra point is no good by Collin Hansen
4:15 - La Salle Touchdown - 39 yard pass by Eddie Yamin to Nassir Young; Extra point is no good by Kaleb Rock