Fall Football 2023: Game 8 Recap

Written by Logan Glass '25

They did it again. The Avon Old Farms Winged Beavers hosted the Salisbury Knights on Saturday, November 11. On a cold Saturday, Coach Jon Wholley and his squad bought their absolute A game to celebrate their seniors! With the unfortunate loss to Choate last week, AOF was looking to impress on Ryan Field. Not only was it senior night, but Avon Old Farms School’s very own Benedict Umeh ’24 made his way to Connecticut to watch his guys play. The entire community was beyond surprised and excited to have his presence on campus. 

It didn’t take long before the Avon offense found the end zone. Starting with three runs from sophomore Kharon ‘Buck’ Craig, Owen Moreland ’25 hit the end zone with his feet for a 41-yard rush. Cameron Stewart ’26 completed the PAT. Right off the bat, the score was 7-0. Defensively the Winged Beavers let nothing by. Leading this squad was postgraduate Connor Cronin, postgraduate Carson Klein, and senior Bennett DellaValle. Rayshawn Andrews ’25 had a notable block, stopping the Knights for any shot of the endzone.

After an inactive offensive drive from both teams, the score was still 7-0. Quarterback Ryan Puglisi ’24 and his offense found themselves starting well into Knight territory. Postgrad Kristian Strong started the drive with a big catch for the first down. Following, postgraduate Brandon Hutchinson had a big catch right next to the goal line. From there, Moreland did what he does best and took the direct snap and pushed it in. Between that and the PAT being good, Avon was up 14-0 early. Cronin did not want the Knights to keep the ball so he jumped high to intercept the possession. Rafferty McSweeny ’25 received a pass from Puglisi and stayed on his feet for a while. Following that, Owen Moreland tookthe ball from the pocket and used his legs to score yet again. He completed a 63-yard run, gunning through a massive scrum initially. Unfortunately, the PAT was not good. Along with that, Salisbury had the opportunity to gain 7 on the drive following Moreland's run. The score after all of this was 20-7.

Once Salisbury found themselves on the board, Avon took over. Notable plays came from McSweeny, Hutchinson, and Strong. For the last two plays of the drive, Cronin got it up close to the goal line before he was handed it off to bring it in for the touchdown. The score was 27-7 after a good PAT. The Salisbury Knights then had an extremely short drive after one of their players had to be escorted off of the field by EMS services. With information gained post- game, he was discharged from the hospital and is okay. There was no more scoring before the half-time buzzer.

Salisbury started with the ball right after the half but couldn’t do anything with it. Once the AOF offense took the field, there were a lot of great plays but one notably from Craig. Getting a large amount of yardage, he was able to stay on his feet avoiding tons of tackles. After this play, Moreland pushed in for the touchdown! 34-7 was the score early in the second quarter. Salisbury, yet again, could not do anything during their possession and AOF gained the ball back. Avon quickly made its way up the field and Cronin had a huge catch slim of the goal line. Believe it or not, Moreland took the direct snap again and pushed himself in for the last points. The PAT was good, and the score was 41-7. On the next drive, Salisbury got one-two touchdowns to finish the game with a score of 41-21 late in the fourth quarter. 

The following morning was filled with anticipation regarding a bowl game opportunity. The AOF community was informed that the Winged Beavers will have their bowl game against Cheshire Academy on Friday night at 7 p.m. As always, AOF thanks all of the fans who came out on this cold Saturday. We are looking forward to all of the fans who will be there to support our team at Cheshire.