Eagles soar past Frazier to clinch playoff spot
Rob Burchianti | Herald-Standard
PERRYPOLIS – Frazier and Avella were both seeking to clinch the sure thing on Friday night.
The winner of their Class A Tri-County South Conference football game would sew up sole possession of third place and an automatic WPIAL playoff spot.
It was the Eagles and their explosive ground game that got the job done.
Gage Samol had 11 carries for 122 yards and two touchdowns and Gavin Gatewood added seven carries for 104 yards and a score as Avella rolled to a 48-20 victory.
The Eagles (5-2, 6-4) averaged over nine yards per rushing attempt in churning out 341 yards.
“That was our focus coming in,” Avella coach Ryan Cecchini said. “We knew we had to run the ball and kind of shorten the game because they have such a great passing attack. At practice this week we told the guys over and over again we’ve got to run the ball.
“They executed perfectly and we wound up doing that very well.”
The Eagles’ Dominic Muzzi added six carries for 70 yards and Chas Rush totaled 109 yards by completing 4 of 6 passes for 64 yards and a touchdown and running 11 times for 45 yards and another score.
While the losing team still had hopes of gaining a wild-card playoff spot – which Frazier did when Saturday’s WPIAL pairings were announced – Cecchini was happy to not have to sweat out that process.
“We wanted to take care of that ourselves, and we did,” Cecchini said. “That’s our goal every year to make the playoffs. It never changes. For a small school, especially like this game, we dressed 15 guys, that’s a pretty good goal for us.”
The Commodores (4-3, 5-5) were led by quarterback Brady Secrest who had a hand in all three of their touchdowns. The senior quarterback completed 15 of 30 passes for 159 yards with two touchdowns with two interceptions and ran eight times for 31 yards and another score. Kevin Etling led Frazier’s ground game with 11 carries for 96 yards.
Avella controlled the trenches, especially with its offensive line against the shorthanded Commodores.
“We had a lot of kids playing today that have never played all year,” Frazier coach Tony Battaglini said. “We were down a couple starters up front and I do think that made a difference. They were able to dominate us, both sides of the ball, and they established the run early.”
The Eagles seized the lead quickly with Muzzi racing for a 54-yard touchdown on their second play from scrimmage. Gatewood’s two-point conversion run made it 8-0.
Frazier countered with an eight-play, 68-yard drive that featured four carries by Etling for 56 yards and was capped by Secrest’s 1-yard plunge to make it 8-6.
Avella fired right back three plays later with a 58-yard touchdown run by Gatewood to make it 14-6.
The Commodores threatened to score on their second possession, sparked by Etling’s 34-yard run, but were held out of the end zone after a first-and-goal from the Eagles 3.
Avella then took control of the game with an eight-play, 97-yard touchdown drive that included runs of 45 yards and 14 yards for the score by Samol early in the second quarter.
Up 22-6, the Eagles forced a turnover on downs at their own 46. They covered that in three plays with a 44-yard run by Samol, a 10-yard run by Gatewood and a 13-yard touchdown run by Samol to make it 30-6.
Cecchini lauded Samol’s performance.
“This whole year he’s really stepped up as a sophomore,” Cecchini said. “He kind of came out of nowhere. I don’t even think he had 100 yards rushing total last season. He worked his butt off in the offseason, put some weight on and he’s really become a nice running back for us.”
Frazier’s next two drives ended with interceptions by Gatewood and Samol.
On the play following the first interception, Rush lofted a 44-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Gardner to give the visitors a 36-6 lead with 4:30 left in the half.
The Commodores regrouped and out-scored the Eagles in the second half, 14-12.
“We were able to make some adjustments in the second half to kind of shut their running game down, but once you put yourself in a hole like that it makes it pretty tough,” Battaglini said. “We just kind of stayed the course and changed a few things defensively, and offensively we put some stuff in that we saw we had.
“But we were just not explosive enough to overcome a 30-point deficit.”
Frazier went on an eight-play 68-yard drive to start the third quarter with the big play being a 43-yard completion by Secrest to Gardner. Secrest finished it off with a 4-yard TD pass to Gardner, who wound up with five catches for 65 yards on the night.
Avella made it 42-14 with an 8-yard touchdown run by Muzzi early in the fourth quarter.
The Commodores capped the scoring with Secrest’s 13-yard TD toss to Brant Alekson with 1:54 remaining. Alekson had five receptions for 41 yards.
Battaglini was impressed with the Eagles.
“I think that’s a fantastic football team. They have 15 guys and most of them play both ways, but they have some really good players,” Battaglini said, noting Rush, Samol and Muzzi. “They made some explosive plays. They have some talent for how limited that roster is.”
Cecchini tipped his hat to his squad after the game.
“I told them they did a great job,” Cecchini said. “I said it took 10 games but we finally played a complete game. I was happy with the defense, special teams and offense.
“I congratulated them on making the playoffs. It’s an awesome accomplishment. Before I got here to Avella we hadn’t made it in 37 years and now we’ve made it six times in my 16 years.
“It never gets old, making the playoffs.”