Sep 27, 2014 4 min read

AVELLA – It’s only Week 5 of the high school football season, but it’s already must-win time for both Avella and Mapletown.

For the Maples, seeing Avella on the schedule typically is bad news, considering the Eagles have outscored the Maples 81-20 in the past two meetings.

But this time Mapletown head coach George Messich had the perfect formula to come away with a big win. The Maples controlled the game in the trenches, keeping the Avella offense and quarterback Santino Paris on the sidelines for most of the first half as the Maples cruised to an important 28-0 Tri-County South Conference victory.

“We looked at this game coming in and thought it was for third place,” said Messich. “We knew this was a huge game. It’s a step towards the playoffs.”

Mapletown (3-2, 3-2) outgained Avella (2-3, 2-3) by a 233-65 margin on the ground with Dylan Rush and Adam Hein each scoring a pair of touchdowns. Hein finished the night with 148 rushing yards on 17 carries as the Mapletown offensive line won the battle in the trenches.

“Everyone knows we like to run the football,” Messich said. “We have some tough kids. We are fortunate that we don’t just have one guy who can run the football – we have four. They all run hard. And when we had to throw the football Ben (Boone) completed some big passes.”

The Maples came out running and got on the scoreboard on their first drive of the game. Rush capped off a lengthy 12-play, 83-yard drive that took over 6:30 off the clock with a four-yard touchdown run.

The drive was continued twice because of Avella personal foul penalties. Bad penalties ended up costing the Eagles all night.

After an Avella three-and-out on their opening drive, Mapletown went right back to work on the ground, both moving the chains and winning the time of possession battle. By the time the first quarter came to a close, the Maples had ran 20 plays from scrimmage compared to only three by Avella.

“That was one of our plans coming in,” Messich said. “We wanted to control the clock and move the chains and, hopefully, keep their defense on the field.”

Mapletown also had some success with the big play in the second quarter.

After Avella turned the ball over on downs, Hein broke a 77-yard touchdown run to make it 14-0 with some great blocking from the Maples offensive line. The touchdown came after yet another Avella personal foul.

Being on the sidelines so much early stopped Paris and the Eagles’ offense from getting into a rhythm, but they did move the ball on back-to-back drives in the second quarter. After turning the ball over on downs deep in Mapletown territory, the Eagles came right back with a 30-yard pass from Paris to Luke Lloyd that moved the ball down to the Mapletown 25.

Avella had a first-and-goal situation from the Mapletown four, but ended up with a fourth-and-goal from the 19 after a penalty for 12 men on the field, which came after a timeout, and a reverse play that ended up in a 10-yard loss.

Every time the Eagles started to gain momentum on either side of the ball, costly penalties doomed them in. Avella was flagged six times for 75 yards in the first half alone and 12 times for 130 yards on the night.

“We played really undisciplined football today and in the end that is what really cost us,” said Avella head coach Ryan Cecchini. “We couldn’t keep our drives going and could stop them because of penalties. We have to be more focused.”

The second half featured more of the same with Avella repeatedly self-destructing while Mapletown moved the ball on the ground.

Rush made it 21-0 with an 11-yard touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter and Hein found the end zone from a yard out with 12 seconds remaining in the game to make it 28-0.

But as good as the Mapletown offense was, the effort their defense gave deserves credit.

“I told my kids that when I left home today, I told my wife that if we only allowed two or three touchdowns, then we could win,” said Messich. “For us to shut out a team like that is a great achievement.”