Peck, Avon Grove showed progress but fall 27-8 to Unionville

Written by: Brenden Curry on Saturday, September 15th, 2012. Follow Brenden Curry on Twitter.

Progress shows how much a sports team has learned in between games. In football, teams have at least one week to make progress in practice. With that tight practice schedule, it motivates them to get better and to show progress on the gridiron.

Avon Grove lost 27-8 to Unionville despite progress being made on the playing field. The improvement of the passing game stood out tonight as junior quarterback Tanner Peck was connecting with his receivers.

“I saw improvement everywhere,” said Avon Grove head coach Doug Langley. “They just came out and played hard and that’s what we need out of them.”

“I felt really good,” Peck said. “The line did a really good job and they’re a big team. Our line did great and they blocked. I could not have done it without them.”

Peck’s passing accuracy showed drastic progress. He took his time in the pocket according to Senior Tripp Moran. He threw the ball to senior wide receiver Ryan Amanto for a 17 yard gain in the third quarter. Later on in the drive, Peck threw a 45 yard touchdown pass to senior Cody Davis.

Peck was also involved in a lateral trick play that resulted in a two point conversion after the 45 yard touchdown pass. Junior Austen Radecki was the holder who gave Peck the ball on a lateral. Peck then threw it to senior Stone Harrison in the end zone. Peck also completed passes to senior wide receiver Jared Braxton and Junior wide receiver John D’Aquanno.

“Tanner really stepped up tonight,” said junior lineman Drew Saienni. “He did his job, he did his reads right and he moved the ball.”

“All over the field,” said senior Tripp Moran. “We saw it really in our hurry up offense. Our quarterback (Peck) as you can tell is having one of his highlight games tonight. It was really impressive.”

Tanner’s success from tonight mostly came from his accuracy. He says that he had his form right and his receivers ran the right routes. He also said that he has chemistry with all of his receivers.

Late in the third quarter, senior Cody Davis recovered a fumble. He ran to the end zone unscathed but the referees called it back because they ruled the Unionville player down, and the ball was blown dead.

“Horrible call,” said Avon Grove head coach Doug Langley. “There was a huge momentum boost for us and it got taken away from us.”

“You win some and you lose some,” Moran said. “That was the play that didn’t go our way. You know, teams have that but we have to deal with it.”

Once again, the Red Devil defense showed progress especially on the defensive line.

“We played really tough,” Moran said. We played play in and play out. It was really impressive but their (Unionville’s) offensive line year in and year out is really outstanding.”

“We did all right,” Saienni said. “We got to step it up a little more on the offensive line, we stepped up a lot today.”

Senior Stone Harrison contributed to the defensive effort with two interceptions. Senior Brandon Smethurst recovered two fumbles in the third quarter. Senior Ryan Amanto almost had an interception in the end zone but he deflected the ball away from Unionville wide receiver Patch Johnson.

The progression of morale and attitude was also shown tonight. “Absolutely. We were much more positive tonight,” Peck said. “We showed what type of team we can be, now teams have to look out for us that’s for sure.”

“We changed our attitude in the second half and came out hungry so we got the game going.” Saienni reflected.

“The morale, day in day out is amazing by these guys. We can come out and get beat by 50 points but never see any of these guys let up.”

Moran also stated that the team’s attitude improved as well. He says that if something is not working in the first quarter, the team expects it to be working in the second quarter.

“Our attitude needs to get better day in and day out, and in every play in the game.” He said.