Falls Village — The Housatonic/Wamogo Mountaineers appeared to be scaling a peak of football excellence in the first half of the game against the 6-1 Avon Falcons, going nose-to-nose for a 6-6 tie at the end of the second quarter.
But after the halftime ended, an avalanche of Avon touchdowns swept the Mountaineers away, as the Falcons scored 38 unanswered points on their way to a 52-12 victory. At the start of the third quarter, on the first play from scrimmage, scatback Mike D’onofrio zigzagged down the field for a 63-yard touchdown, the second of his five touchdowns in the game. D’onofrio, who gave Housy fits in last year’s contest too, dominated the third quarter on his way to 184 yards on 22 carries for an average of over 8 yards per carry.
"We just imploded in the second half. I’m not really sure what happened," Coach Deron Bayer said later. "To start the game we put together the best half of the whole season, in all aspects: offense, defense and special teams. But when you’re playing a team like Avon, you have to play perfectly the whole game."
Housy moved the ball well between the 20s in the first quarter, but couldn’t break into the redzone. Avon also had its chances, but the Mountaineers held on at their own 13-yard line, forcing Avon to turn the ball over on downs.
The Falcon’s next possesion was cut short when Sam Schwartz forced a fumble and Shawn Bushey recovered it. The offense couldn’t move the ball, though, and Housy was forced to punt.
Will Kennedy, who played nose tackle on defense for the first time, had a huge impact after Avon got the ball back. The Avon center had three bad snaps in a row as he tried to contain Kennedy, and the last one sailed over the head of the Falcon punter, and was recovered by the "Mountain Men" on Avon’s 22-yard line.
"We call that formation ‘rabies’ because of the havoc that Will creates," Bayer said in praise of Kennedy.
Two plays later, Sam Schwartz broke through three tacklers along the left sideline on his way to a 20-yard touchdown run, his first of the year, to give Housatonic a 6-0 lead.
On the following possesion, Avon moved the ball through the air effectively, but a pass at the goal line was intercepted by John Filonge, who brought it up field to the 26. However, the Mountaineers then fumbled, giving Avon a short field, which they capitalized on when D’onofrio scored from 2 yards out.
Will Kennedy was able to knife through the Falcon line to block the extra point attempt, leaving the score tied at 6-6.
A final Avon drive before the half ended resulted in their fifth turnover, as Jameson Martin intercepted a pass in the endzone. As the teams went off the field, the home crowd was giddy with the thought of an upset, and even the officials were inquiring about overtime procedures.
But the Falcons came back and showed why they are the Uncas Division leaders, rolling up scores on Housy as if the first half never took place. The loss, the most painful of the season, drops the Mountaineers to 3-4 overall, 1-4 in the division. Their final home game, this Saturday at 1:30 pm, is against Windsor Locks, traditionally a powerhouse but this year suffering through a losing season at 0-8.
Mountain Notes:
Tom Kennedy was out of action due to a concussion from last week’s game...
His brother, Will (64 yards on 22 carries), was outstanding on defense, and scored the only touchdown in the second half...
Sam Schwartz had 80 yards on 10 carries plus his first touchdown...
The only good that comes from a lopsided game is that the younger players get some playing time. Freshman Tanner Brissett and sophomore Barrie Ricardson did a good job in relief...
The last three games featured teams with a combined record of 19-5, while the final three games are against teams with a combined record of 2-20.
