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Highlands Today

All Smiles For Avon Park

DEVILS LASSO COWBOYS TO EARN FIRST VICTORY, 40-0

Chris Hoffman/Highlands Today

Avon Park's Albert Moses 17 and Terrill Conner are all smiles on the sidelines after taking a 27-0 lead into halftime against LaBelle on Friday. The Devils held on for their first victory of the season.

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By CHRIS HOFFMAN

Highlands Today

Published: October 18, 2008

Updated:

LABELLE - Seniors Albert Moses and Virgil Cooper couldn't wipe the smiles off their faces as the seconds ticked off the clock and teammate Rashad Young intercepted a Hail Mary pass to seal Avon Park's 40-0 victory over LaBelle at Cowboy Stadium on Friday night.

"It's been a while since you could say the words winning and Avon Park football, but I'm glad we could bring a victory home for this team, coaches and our school," Moses said. "It was super to get a shutout as well. That was an added bonus."

Avon Park head coach Andy Bonjokian personally congratulated every one of his players and staff, as the kids sat on the visitor bleachers eating turkey and ham sandwiches.

"This is the best sandwich I've had in a long time," Bonjokian said. "The kids just played hard and finally put together a four quarters of football for the first time this season.

"I guarantee you that this is going to be a pleasurable bus ride home."

The win marks the first for Bonjokian and the Red Devil players this season and continues the maturation of Avon Park's football squad that's seen monumental improvement over the past two weeks.

"Even in defeat last week to Braden River, I thought we were no the right track and we needed to continue to keep doing the things that are going to make us successful," Bonjokian said. "It all starts with the players though. They believe in themselves and we've got some momentum for the first time in a while."

The win over LaBelle marks the first road win since a 10-7 victory over Okeechobee in Sept. 2006 and the 40 points are the most a Red Devil team has scored since defeating Lake Placid 41-0 in Oct. 2005.

Cooper put this win in context and what it means to the Red Devils.

"This is a whole new start for us," Cooper said. "This is a new season and we're still not out of the playoffs. Crazier things have happened."

The craziest thing was just how dominant Avon Park was over LaBelle.

The Red Devil defense allowed just 110 total yards of offense, while racking up 370 yards themselves.

Junior defensive end Cleveland Nobles - whose game was highlighted by a 65-yard punt - sacked LaBelle's Marcus Simmons twice, while flushing the nimble quarterback out of the pocket on several occasions into the waiting arms of his teammates to help lead a defensive rush that has been absent most of the season.

"Our defense really came alive tonight," Bonjokian said. "We were able to get good penetration up front and not let Simmons get comfortable back there and he wasn't able to really hurt us."

Moses had no problem picking apart the Cowboy defense in his best game under center for the Red Devils. The senior quarterback went 10 for 11 for 161 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing for 68 yards and another score to lead his team to their first win.

Avon Park's sophomore Alonzo Robertson was Moses favorite target, as the 6-foot-3 receiver snagged five catches for 114 yards and two touchdowns.

Robertson became the first Red Devil receiver to go over the century mark since Marcus Wyche caught six passes for 127 yards against DeSoto in 2006.

The duo of Moses and Robertson has been halted by injuries to both players early in the season and the game against LaBelle saw the two on the same page for the first time all season - something that was a regular occurrence during training camp.

"It's nice to have a target to throw to like Alonzo," Moses said. "We worked a lot during training camp and it was nice to finally have both of us healthy enough to make a difference."

Bonjokian was happy to see the dynamic duo in action.

"Alonzo is a really good athlete and he creates matchup problems for a lot of defense, so it was good to see him and Albert on the same page. Alonzo really helps us stretch the field."

Ahead 6-0, Moses connected with Robertson on a 12-yard touchdown strike on the first play of the second quarter and the extra point gave the Red Devils a 13-0 lead.

On LaBelle's ensuing possession, the Avon Park defense kept the pressure on the Cowboys, who fumbled on the Red Devil 26-yard line where Avon Park linebacker James Bland fell on the ball for the recovery.

Moses made the Cowboys pay for their mistake, as he connect with Cooper on a 30-yard screen pass and the fleet-footed senior quarterback juked and hurdled numerous defenders to cap off the drive with a 17-yard touchdown run and a 20-0 lead.

"All I could see was the end zone," said Moses of his touchdown run. "I was determined not to go down."

After holding LaBelle to four-and-out and a short punt, Moses and the Red Devils got the ball back at the Cowboy 38, where three plays later Moses hooked up with Robertson on a 34-yard touchdown strike, which saw the sophomore receiver use his height to leap over two defenders for the ball.

The second half belonged to Cooper, who gained carried the ball just three times, but found pay dirt twice.

On the first Red Devil series of the third quarter, Moses hit Robertson for an 18-yard gain and Cooper took the rock and ran 22-yards down the left sideline for his first touchdown of the season and gave Avon Park a 34-0 lead.

With just 54 seconds left in the quarter, Cooper ran for 23 yards and then took his second touch through the heart of the Cowboy defense and crossed the goal line with nobody within five yards of him for the margin of victory.

Cooper finished the game with a game-high 74 yards on five carries and two touchdowns, as the Red Devils put up 209 yards on the ground.

The senior tailback gave some insight to his recent emergence as the game breaker that he was tagged with as a sophomore.

"I actually went back and watched film of Willie English and realized that I was making the wrong moves," Cooper said. "Coach English sat me down and told me to stop juking and trust my speed. That's what I've done the past two games and it's working out.

"This win really goes a long way to restoring our confidence and we're going to really soak in this feeling, but it's back to work on Monday."

Avon Park is back on the field next Friday when they host Bartow for homecoming.

Avon Park 40, LaBelle 0

Friday at LaBelle

Avon Park 6 21 13 0 - 40

LaBelle 0 0 0 0 - 0

SCORING SUMMARY

First Quarter

AP - Allen 6 run, (Calero kick failed), 8:47

Second Quarter

AP - Moses 12 pass to Robertson, (Calero kick), 11:51

AP - Moses 17 run, (Calero kick), 4:12

AP - Moes 34 pass to Robertson, (Calero kick), 1:17

Third Quarter

AP - Cooper 22 run, (Calero kick), 6:35

AP - Cooper 31 run, (Calero kick failed), 54.6

INDIVIDUAL STATS

RUSHING: Avon Park; Cooper 5-74-2, Moses 5-68-1, Allen 13-50-1, Williams 1-5, Conner 3-12. LaBelle; Simmons 9-18, Owens 2-5, Jordan 5-6, Garcia 3-15.

PASSING: Avon Park; Allen 10-11-161-2. LaBelle; Simmons 6-11-54, Jordan 1-4-22-1.

RECEIVING: Avon Park; Conner 2-17, Robertson 5-114-2, Cooper 2-28, McKenzie 1-2. LaBelle; Summerlin 2-29, Terrell 2-8, Crockett 3-39.

Chris Hoffman can be reached at 863-386-5827 or at choffman@highlandstoday.com.

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