AUGUSTA – The Cony Rams unveiled their new uptempo run-and-shoot offense Friday night.
While their new look featured multiple formations and shifts along with wrist bands of plays attached to every receiver, it was upstaged by the basic guard trap play.
The Edward Little Red Eddies were held to six first downs, but broke the Pine Tree Conference football game wide open with a pair of long fourth-quarter scoring runs up the middle en route to a 23-13 victory.
“We knew we were going to run up the middle,” said senior tailback Garner LaValley. “We knew if we stuck to what we were doing, it’d work.”
With the Red Eddies up 10-7 early in the fourth quarter, junior fullback Scott Daigle broke through the line and rumbled 63 yards up the gut to put the visitors up 17-7.
On the ensuing kick off, Kyle Bussiere stripped the ball away, and it was recovered by kicker Troy Barnies. Two plays later, LaValley broke away for a 43-yard touchdown.
“The hole was there,” said LaValley, who led the Red Eddies with 95 yards on 16 carries. “I didn’t have to cut. It was a straight run.”
LaValley’s scamper increased the EL advantage to 23-7. Barnies only put the ball in the air twice while the ground game churned out 211 yards.
“We kept telling (our defense) at halftime to watch the guard trap,” said Cony coach Tom Hind, “and boom, they break two of them. The game’s about big plays and they made them.”
Edward Little had trailed 7-2 midway through the third quarter when Jon Demers stepped in front of a Gabe Hinds pass (24-of-38 for 262 yards and three interceptions) and raced 26 yards down the left sideline for the score.
“It gave us a lot of positive energy,” said EL coach Jim Hersom. “It ignited us and gave the kids a lot of confidence.”
The Red Eddies sacked Hinds five times in the game, including two by defensive end Rick Chamness. The first sack, by Levi Montoya, resulted in a safety which put the Red Eddies up 2-0 on the opening series of the game.
The Rams took the lead in the second quarter when Hinds found Joseph Drake in the corner of the end zone for a 16-yard scoring pass. Hinds would later connect with tight end Dylan Shaw for a 4-yard touchdown pass midway through the final quarter when the Rams went to their hurry-up offense.
Hinds led the Rams downfield a few minutes later, but a fumble on fourth down at the Red Eddies 23 sealed the Rams’ fate.
“We just stayed the course,” said Hersom. “We have a bunch of kids that are hard workers. We were just hungry for a win.”
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