Vanata leads Mapletown’s comeback
AVELLA — A.J. Vanata ran for a two touchdowns and passed for another as Mapletown erased a halftime deficit and defeated host Avella 29-12 in a non-conference game Friday night.
Avella led 6-0 at halftime after a one-yard quarterback sneak by Cole Jaworowski in the second quarter.
Mapletown scored on the second-half kickoff when Evan Griffin scooped up an Avella fumble and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown to tie the score at 6-6. Vanata then scored on runs of 13 and 20 yards to give the Maples a 22-6 lead early in the fourth quarter.
Vanata, who rushed for 129 yards on 20 carries, hooked up Roger Gradek for a 23-yard TD pass over the middle of the field for Mapletown’s final score. Vanta completed six of eight passes for 42 yards.
Jaworowski scored his second touchdown of the game with 15 seconds remaining. Jaworowski completed five of 14 passes for 89 yards.
The teams will meet again in a Tri-County South Conference game in two weeks at Mapletown.