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California in Avella’s sights in Tri-County South matchup

4 min read
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Those involved with the Avella High School football program have spent seven years big-game hunting. The first six years were fruitless. Not a big game was spotted as the Eagles struggled to find a winning season.

Last week, however, Avella finally tracked down a big game in Greene County and knew what to do when they had it in the crosshairs. The Eagles bagged a big one by defeating defending Tri-County South Conference champion West Greene in thrilling fashion, 21-20, in Rogersville.

And tonight, a big game finally returns to Avella when the Eagles (3-0, 3-0) host California (2-0, 2-0). Kickoff is 7 p.m.

“This is the biggest game here since 2013,” veteran Avella head coach Ryan Cecchini admitted.

Avella started the 2012 and 2013 seasons with five consecutive wins and eventually qualified for the WPIAL Class A playoffs.

Cecchini said before this season that the goal for his small-in-numbers-but-big-on-experience Eagles was to contend for a playoff berth. So far, Avella has followed the script. The Eagles have a home win over Jefferson-Morgan (26-8) sandwiched between road wins at Monessen (20-7) and West Greene.

And interest in the Eagles football is soaring.

“Yeah, there has been a buzz about the team,” Cecchini said. “You see it on social media. There has been a clamoring for tickets and a lot of people have been disappointed that they haven’t been able to see us play in person. They’re stuck without tickets because of the whole COVID situation.”

A win over California would keep Avella undefeated and allow the Eagles to start thinking about bagging the kind of prized trophy that a Tri-County South championship would be. To get past the Trojans, who everybody had pegged at season’s beginning as a serious conference title threat, Avella will likely need another solid defensive effort and some efficient play from junior quarterback K.J. Rush.

“Our defense has been leading the way,” Cecchini said. “It has been keeping us in games. We were down against Monessen and we trailed at West Greene but our defense kept us in those games until our offense got on track.”

The defense has received a boost from the play of senior Tyler Cerciello, a basketball player who joined the football team at midseason last year and played defensive end. This year, Cerciello has moved to linebacker and is the team’s leading tackler.

The offense has revolved around the passing game. Rush has completed 27 of 48 passes for 419 yards and five touchdowns. At 6-2 and 225 pounds, Rush is the Eagles’ leading rusher with 166 yards.

Rush is in his first season as the Eagles’ quarterback after playing guard on offense last year.

“We worked him at quarterback a bit during the summer before last season,” Cecchini said. “We had a quarterback and K.J. is just too big to sit on the bench and be a backup quarterback, so we had to play him at guard.

“Our offense is starting to come around. That’s because K.J. is becoming more comfortable at quarterback. He never started a game there before this year. He’s getting more comfortable with the wide receivers and with the offense.”

Avella has four receivers – junior Brandon Samol and seniors Tanner Terensky, Matt Kidwell and Gabe Lis – who have at least five receptions.

California, however, can match impressive statistics with just about any team. The Trojans opened the season with a 27-7 win at Bentworth, and after a Week 2 game against West Greene was postponed because of a coronavirus situation the Trojans routed Mapletown, 49-18, last week.

California senior Jaeden Zuzak has rushed for 395 yards and scored eight touchdowns in only two games, but Cecchini cautioned that it’s junior quarterback Damani Stafford who makes the Trojans’ attack dangerous. Stafford has rushed for 141 yards and completed five of nine passes.

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