Running toward an Avonworth win in the season’s second game, Mike Giampole (84) had five catches for 87 yards in Friday night’s road game against Springdale. Pictured above, Joe Galante (42) keeps an eye out for any threats as Giampole makes his way downfield. Photo by Tom Steiner for The Citizen

By JIM RUMBLE

With a little help from their opponent, the Avonworth football team picked up a hard fought victory in Springdale last Friday.

Scoring on their first possession and maintaining a 7-0 lead into the fourth quarter, the Antelopes surrendered a touchdown late but earned their first win of the season when the Dynamos missed on the extra point try for a 7-6 victory.

"It was a physical game," said head coach Duke Johncour.

"Our hats off to Springdale, they played hard and they're physical, but we did what we had to do to win the football game."

The Dynamos picked up 261 yards on the ground, but the Antelope defense was able to come up with the big stops when they needed to.

"We executed, and we came out and played hard," said Johncour. "They're big up front but we were able to come out and play hard for four quarters."

Springdale started the game on offense, picking up two first downs close to midfield before the Antelope defense stacked up to stop the run and force a punt on fourth down. Avonworth got great field position when Springdale's punt was shanked out of bounds to start the Antelope offense from the 50 yard line.

Avonworth started with a 3-yard run by Ricky Lawniczak, then picked up a first down when quarterback Brian Vales completed a 15-yard pass to Mike Giampole to the Springdale 32-yard line.

Lawniczak carried the ball twice, moving the ball to the Dynamos’ 27 before Vales hooked up with Giampole again, this time for a 27-yard touchdown pass followed by Coby Croft's extra point kick that had the Antelopes leading 7-0 with 4:43 left in the opening quarter.

The game evolved into a defensive struggle until the Dynamos went on the move late in the second quarter.

They sustained a drive that started from their own 20- yard line, keeping the ball on the ground and reaching the Antelope 28. Facing a third-and-one, the Dynamos fumbled the ball. Giampole made the recovery and put Avonworth on offense at their own 33.

A 12-yard pass from Vales to Dan Coulter picked up a first down, but the Antelopes were penalized for holding on the next play, and that put the ball at the Avonworth 34.

Vales completed another pass to Ryan Welsh for eight yards but facing a third-and-13, Vales threw downfield to Giampole for what looked like a completion, but the ball popped loose into the air and was intercepted at the Springdale 27-yard line.

Springdale put together another long drive in the third quarter that started from their own 19 yard line, and moved in 13 plays to the Avonworth 20. That drive ended, however, when Jon Graham came up with a big stop on a fourth down and short for Springdale.

The Dynamos’ scoring drive began from the Springdale 45-yard line with 42 seconds left in the third quarter. They moved the ball in 13 plays, with the big play coming on a 17-yard quarterback run to the Antelope 6. Two plays later, the quarterback ran into the end zone from three yards out off the left side, but the extra point try went wide right, maintaining Avonworth's lead at 7-6 with 5:03 remaining in the game.

Avonworth went three-and-out on their next possession, but Springdale's offense was forced to start from their own 20 yard line with 2:21 left on the clock. Avonworth's Pat Singhose and A.J. Mang came with pressure on third and fourth downs, forcing incompletions that gave the Antelopes the ball on downs at their own 20. Avonworth reached the Springdale 7 before fumbling the ball away, and the outcome was decided with :16 left on the clock.

Vales finished 8-13 for 111 yards and a touchdown, and Giampole had five catches for 87 yards. Lawniczak ran 14 times for 58 yards, and Anthony Tomasino and Graham each had 12 tackles.