Bishop Maginn 22, Averill Park 15
Every play mattered in an unseasonably warm Saturday game with pretty large implications in the division battle. Although Averill Park moved the ball more consistently, their adversaries made the most big plays in big moments and were able to walk away with a tough win.
Averill Park started off with the ball and the drive instantly headed in the right direction. A pair of carries from QB Tim Vermilya totaled 37 yards to bring it to the Maginn 28. After another first down to get in the red zone, the drive stalled and they eventually turned it over on downs - this became a common theme - to Maginn. The Griffins didn't do anything with it, and after a 3 & out, Vermilya broke off a 48 yard carry to set up his own 1 yard TD dive. The PAT gave Averill Park a 7-0 lead, and Vermilya had already broken off 92 yards on the ground in the first 6 minutes. Maginn responded with about the same thing - a 46 yard run from Ky'Ere Tillery helped set up his own 8 yard TD run, and the 2 point conversion put them up 8-7 after trailing for less than 2 minutes. The tale of the game changed a little bit on the ensuing drive. On a 2nd & 7 with 3 minutes left in the 1st, Vermilya was wrapped up low and a second hit twisted him on the way down. The awkward combo of hits left him on the grass for a couple minutes in obvious pain. He would return to the game later, but the effects of the injury were obvious. AP eventually punted, and after Maginn had another 3 & out, the home team had its next opportunity squandered. With a run-heavy game, a team becomes susceptible to holding penalties. They had two of them on this drive - one on a 1st down which they eventually recovered from to keep the drive going, but a second on a 3rd down they would have converted, but had to repeat and weren't able to convert again. They punted it away in Maginn territory, and Maginn proceeded to fumble it away soon after at their own 38. With such good field position to start off, it was a grand chance for the Warriors, but another hold set them back and they eventually turned it over on downs (still in Maginn territory) after fumbling on a 4th down option toss, Vermilya's first play back in. Maginn squandered chances on drives themselves, including the ensuing one. After picking up a 1st down near midfield with over 3 minutes left, they picked up three penalties in one series - 2 false starts & an illegal substitution - and had to punt it away, giving AP the ball at their own 44 with 1:19 left in the half. Some odd clock management (including a little disagreement amongst coaches about it) resulted in nothing, and although Averill Park was outgaining Bishop Maginn 205-85, the Griffins were the ones with a 1 point advantage on the scoreboard.
Maginn received the ball to start the 2nd half and had their most sustained drive of the game - a 10 play, 52 yard march where they overcame an early holding penalty and got into striking distance with runs of 22 & 14 from their QB Neiko Blanchino. On 4th & 15 from the Averill Park 19, Blanchino hit Jauushir Weaver with a 19 yard TD pass. The 5'8" (maybe) Weaver had to spring up and take a hit while catching it but was able to hold on - it wasn't the last of him, and it was a great time for Blanchino to complete a pass; he was 1/6. The conversion was no good, keeping it at one possession for AP, down 14-7. Averill Park responded with a 13 play, 65 yard drive exclusively on the ground ending with a 1 yard TD plunge by Vermilya (his 2nd of those). He sprung the drive early with carries of 7, 12, and 12 on consecutive plays and Garret Ryan kept it going with 26 yards on 5 carries in that drive. The conversion was good, putting Averill Park up 15-14 with 11:33 remaining. It didn't take long for that to go away. Weaver had a 30 yard kick return, negating a deep AP kick, kept the drive going with a 6 yard carry on 2nd & 5, and after Paris Jenkins picked up 16 yards on a rush, Weaver did the rest. He ran up the gut and found a hole, and it was off to the races from there. He broke two tackles simultaneously around the 10 yard line on the way in - one of them was Vermilya, who was shaken up again with the same issue as earlier and missed the next drive. This conversion was good, putting Bishop Maginn up 22-15 with 9:50 remaining. Brandon Cellucci came back in for quarterback duties for the 2nd time - he picked up a 1st down with his feet, but then another holding penalty on a run that would've moved the chains again brought it back, and a 3rd & long situation turned into a pass that was tipped twice and picked off by Ayinde Duckett. Bishop Maginn didn't score on the ensuing drive, but they were able to chip another 3 minutes off the clock with the ball, eventually punting it away to AP who had 3:24 remaining when they got it at their own 29. Vermilya came back in for this drive and started off strong with a 12 yard carry. A perhaps underused Isaiah Moak carried twice after for 14 yards, pushing the ball into Maginn territory. They made it to the 35 before the drive stalled - on 3rd & 10, a Vermilya pass went through the hands of Jarid Lucier which would have put them deep into opponents' territory - and a scramble went begging a few yards short of a 1st on 4th & 10, effectively ending the game.
Get Your Weight Up play of the game - Co-winners (if you want to call it that) this game. The Jaushiir Weaver 37 yard TD run, breaking tackles along the way, has to be one of them. After Averill Park picked up the 4th quarter lead, they got Weaver on his bully, yo. Knocked the home team right back to where they were for 2 and a half quarters. The other play, although not a positive, has to be the Vermilya injury. Not saying that Cellucci didn't do a good job backing him up - it was just that Maginn had no answer for Tim Vermilya. He ran for nearly 100 yards before getting injured in the 1st quarter and still rushed for 162 despite essentially missing a quarter & a half over two stints. If they had him under center for those drives, maybe they would've scored once more.. and that's all they needed.
#ByTheNumbers - This was one of those games that reminds you that it doesn't necessarily matter who gains the most yards or who does it most consistently. If a team makes enough big plays, they can change the outcome of a game. Averill Park won the yardage battle 319-224, running 66 plays to 41 for Maginn. They won the time of possession stat by a long shot, and their quarterback was the most effective offensive player in the game. Tim Vermilya did most of his damage on the ground; he went 2/5 for 16 yards in the air, but ran 20 times, finishing with 162 rushing yards & 2 TDs. Their fullback Garret Ryan, weighing in at 245 on the roster, had 73 yards on 15 carries and would drag defenders along for the ride. Bishop Maginn was led by Ky'Ere Tillery in the 1st half and Jauushir Weaver after the break. Tillery ended up with 80 yards on 13 carries and a TD; Weaver had 66 yards on 8 carries and a TD, and he also caught the 19 yard TD pass which was the only Maginn completion of the day. Averill Park's numbers sound better. Why didn't they win? Well, it's simple when you look deeper...
Football is a different game. It's not fast paced like basketball or soccer. Especially in a ground & pound game (both teams threw fewer than 10 times) with 35-40 seconds in between snaps, you only get the ball so many times. When you squander 4, 5, 6 legitimate opportunities to score, it costs you. AP started off turning it over on downs at the Maginn 12. They moved the ball well in an 11 play drive, but a couple holding penalties (one on a run that would've been a 1st down) forced them to punt. Another turnover on downs. Clock management was iffy late in the half - the way they were moving the ball, 60 yards in a couple minutes with 1 timeout was feasible, but 35 seconds in between snaps ended that. When all was said and done, they turned it over 4 times in Bishop Maginn territory; 3 times on downs and 1 interception. Add the penalties and clock management, they lost 6 scoring chances. You lose 6 scoring chances in a game, you're not going to win many games. Bishop Maginn - who wasn't exactly taking advantage of all those blown chances - made enough big plays when they needed it to get the win.
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