Red Devils fall 42-20 to Kennett in Langley’s Debut

Written by: Brenden Curry on Saturday, September 1st, 2012. Follow Brenden Curry on Twitter.

Rome was one of the most powerful empires in the ancient world. Rome’s power and influence was not built in one day though. The Romans took baby steps while evolving their small republic into a strong, enormous, powerful empire.

This also applies in sports, especially football. The Avon Grove Red Devils are under new leadership this season by new head coach Doug Langley. Player leadership however was lost from last year’s team due to graduation. They are also coming off a losing season along with losing two players including star running back JT Blyden to Camden Catholic.

The Red Devils opened the 2012 season with a 42-20 loss to Kennett. Avon Grove was using a three quarterback rotation. Freshman quarterback Beau Kush appeared on Avon Grove’s first play on scrimmage. Juniors Austen Radecki and Tanner Peck also saw action tonight.

“I feel pretty good about the quarterback situation once Tanner (Peck) gets back and healthy and I really like Beau back there, I mean that big run.” Junior linebacker/offensive lineman Paul Hammer said.
“We’ll wait and see, I’m not sure. As of right now, I honestly think any of the three quarterbacks can do the job,” Senior tight end/linebacker Tom Rudisill commented.

The offense was mainly running the ball along with running option plays but they did made room for the passing game. The first half mainly had Avon Grove running the ball rather than passing it. The passing game however resulted in many incomplete passes but some passes were caught. Senior Ryan Amanto caught a screen pass thrown by Radecki and ran 46 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. Despite the touchdown catch, there’s a lot of room for improvement.

“We throw the ball a lot during practice,” said new head coach Doug Langley. “I mean we throw the ball a lot. The quarterbacks’ arms are sore in practice. I think we need to come out and with a different attitude is what we need to do.”

Kush ran an amazing 57 yard run to place the Red Devil offense into the red zone during the second quarter. Avon Grove eventually scored on a 6 yard touchdown run made by a senior running back Cody Davis.
With the use of common sense, many people can easily assume that if a team gives up 42 points, it often has to do with defense. At halftime, Kennett was up 42-6. Despite the defensive miscues, there were significant defensive stops in the first half. Senior lineman Lisandro Luzzi made an amazing tackle by hammering Kennett running back Carl Lowe in the first quarter. Another Senior lineman, Elias Herrera stopped the Kennett offense from converting on fourth down with less than three minutes to play in the second quarter.

The defensive line saw drastic improvement in the second half. Junior linebacker Paul Hammer says that there was miscommunication in the first half with the defensive line but he said that they did well. He also said that he saw improvement in the second half with the defensive line. Elias Herrera does say that there’s always room for improvement.

“I think there’s always room for improvement no matter how you work on no matter how you play on the field,” said Herrera. “There is always room for improvement even if you win.”
Commenting on where on Avon Grove’s defense needs to improve, Coach Langley says that the Avon Grove defense needs to bring a new attitude into the game.

“It’s across the board,” he said. “We need to come out with an attitude from the beginning of the game because we seem to take a quarter, a series in a half to get into the game. We need to get rid of that attitude and just start off quicker. All we need to do is change the attitude.”

Many players stood out tonight for Avon Grove. Coach Langley commented that Senior Ryan Amanto and Juniors Andrey Green and Austen Radecki stepped up for the team tonight. Paul Hammer believes that everyone stood out but especially Beau Kush’s 57 yard run made him stand out along with senior Lisandro Luzzi’s performance on the defensive line. Senior Rudisill said that the defense’s second half improvement stood out. However, he doesn’t believe in calling specific people out but he does say that many individuals stepped up along with the AG offense in the second half.

The Red Devils may have lost the season opener but there’s still a lot of football left to be played. The lessons learned from tonight will be made up with improvement in practice. It will take a while for the Avon Grove program to build up its strength in Ches-Mont but they have the team to become successful. Remember, Rome was not built in one day. If Rome’s success came from time and determination, then the Red Devils will use this formula in order to be a football power in Ches-Mont.

Follow EasternPAFootball.com on Twitter @EPAFootball

---

Leave a Reply

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website

Δ