Football: Unionville survives delays and defeats Avon Grove 41-21

By PETER DiGIOVANNI cpn11716@comcast.net
Posted: 09/13/2013

EAST MARLBOROUGH — The old adage that it is not how you start something it is how you finish it could aptly apply to the Unionville football team Thursday night in its clash with visiting Avon Grove in a game that was delayed by lightning strikes three times.

Unionville spotted the underdog Red Devils an early lead, but roared back to score 27 unanswered second period points to propel them to a convincing 41-21 triumph in nonleague action.

Unionville (2-1) got a superlative performance from quarterback Alex Pechin, who threw for 186 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for another 56 yards and two more scores.

“Alex is just a tremendous athlete,” Unionville head coach Pat Clark said. “His brother Brad played here for us and he is so mature and he makes good decisions out there for us. He has a good arm and tonight, he really played well.”

Things were going well early for Avon Grove (1-2). The Red Devils used the hard running of Jake Parola to set up Tanner Peck’s nine-yard touchdown run to make it a 8-0 game, a lead they held after one quarter. But, a big turnover killed the Red Devils’ momentum. Peck fumbled the ball to Clark Bingol at the Avon Grove 31-yard line early in the second.

It took the Indians just five plays to make it a 8-7 game when Dom DiBiaggio went around the right side for a five-yard score.

Unionville piled it on from there as Garrett Scargill, who had a big game with 94 rushing yards, caught a 34-yard strike from Pechin, who put the ball right between two defenders for a 14-8 lead.
“When we got the ball back after the fumble, we just pounded the ball down the field,’ Pechin said. “We have a great offensive line and we just imposed our will on them from there. That fumble was really big.’

The Unionville offensive line took the game over from there as Mark Caputo, Lenny Johnson and friends started to open up big holes for the backs and they also gave Pechin plenty of time to throw.

After Scargill’s touchdown reception, Avon Grove punted the ball away and on the third play of the Unionviklle drive, Pechin darted up the middle, cut right and went 46 yards untouched for a 20-8 advantage. Unionville finished the half with Pechin hitting Dan McClaskey for a two-yard score and a commanding 27-8 lead at the break
It was the opening drive of the second half that defined the game and what Unionville football is all about. The Indians went 65 yards on 15 plays, chewing up nearly nine minutes on the clock and scored when Austin Hoffman-Reardon scampered in from the 12 to put the game away at 34-8.

“We like to get the ball to start the second half and we like to work the clock,” Clark said. “It is somethiong we talked about at halftime and our offensive line did a great job. We have good people up front and you don’t get two better coaches than we have in Matt Carroll and Steve Caputo.”

Avon Grove did not wilt, however, as the Red Devils put two scores on the board, an eight-yard touchdown pass from Peck to Beau Kush, and a nine-yard toss to Austen Radecki for the 41-21 outcome.

Pechin has had two big games in a row, but he was quick to give credit to the big guys in front of him.

“Our offensive line is awesome,” Pechin said. “And we talked about going on that long drive to start the second half and take them out of the game and that is what we did.”

Unionville 41, Avon Grove 21

Avon Grove 8 0 6 7-21

Unionville 0 27 7 7-41

Scoring

AG- Peck 9 run (Kim run)

U-DiBiaggio 5 run (Pechin kick)

U-Scargill 39 pass from Pechin (Pechin kick)

U-Pechin 46 run (kick failed)

U-McClaskey 2 pass from Pechin (Pechin kick)

U-Hoffman-Reardon 12 run (Pechin kick)

AG-Kush 8 run (pass failed)

U-Pechin 5 run (Pechin kick)

AG-Radecki 9 pass from Peck (Scarpato kick)

Team Totals

AG U

First downs 14 23

Yards rushing 109 199

Yards passing 114 186

Total yards 223 385

Passing 10-17-0 13-20-0

Fumbles-lost 1-1 0-0

Punts.avg 2-34.5 1-47.0

Penalties-yds 5-35 7-72

Individual Statisics

Rushing: AG: Parola 13-82; Jones 3-14; Peck 8-13, TD; Kim 1-0. UV: Scargill 21- 94; DiBiaggio 6-20, TD; Pechin 3-56, 2TD’s; Boon 9-54; Hoffman-Reardon 5-29, TD.

Passing: AG: Peck 9-16-0 107 yards, 2TD’s; McLaughlin 1-1-0 7 yards. UV: Pechin 13-20-0 186 yards, 2TD’s.

Receiving: AG: Kush 5-70, TD; Parola 2-14; D’Aquanna 2-23; Radecki 1-9, TD. UV: Koehler 5-75; McClaskey 2-32, TD; Scargill 1-34, TD; DiBiaggio 1-5; Daly 2-24; Nash 2-13.

Sacks: UV: Weber.