The Avon View Avalanche football team kept the ball on the ground Friday evening, Sept. 12, in Antigonish and it paid off in dividends as the Avalanche won a key 12-6 defensive struggle over Dr. J.H. Gillis High School.
For the second consecutive week, Justin Crossley rushed for more than 100 yards, with 40 of those yards coming on a quarterback draw up the middle.
As in their season opening loss to Northeast Kings, Crossley and Austin Sabean shared quarterbacking duties. And, similar to the prior game, they completed minimal passing as they combined to go two for 10.
In addition to Crossley's 100-yard effort, Sabean added another 50 yards in rushing and Bronson Lee contributed another 40 yards on the ground.
Austin States played brilliantly, with head coach Jim Bryan saying he played like "superman" as he collected 15 tackles, ran a punt back 40 yards for a touchdown while also intercepting two passes.
In total, the Avalanche had four interceptions on the evening, as Sam Nunn and Johnny Weagle also collected one each.
“Our defensive line of Luke Jillett, Ryan Harvey, David George and Devin Sexton applied tremendous pressure on the J.H. Gillis offense all evening long as they shut down the run game and made two sacks,” said Bryan following the game.
The Avalanche will take their 1-1 record into this Sunday afternoon's home opener against West Kings at 1 p.m. A large crowd is anticipated for the game.