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Zuzak and Stafford Dominant in California’s 55-16 Win Over Avella

Tagged under: District 7, News

| October 3, 2020

Two undefeated teams matched up Friday night in a Tri-County South matchup between two of the three leaders of the conference. The winner of the game would have an inside track to a conference championship and a future date with the third undefeated Carmichaels. The first team, Avella, came out of nowhere. Preseason rankings had them as one of the worst teams in the WPIAL, however two wins against bottom-tier Monessen and Jefferson-Morgan, and then a win against the defending conference champs in West Greene had Eagles faithful clamoring. The second team were the constant California Trojans. Only 2-0 after a COVID cancellation against West Greene, California had underperformed against a weaker Bentworth team and a blowout win against Mapletown.

The game revolved around the athletes on the field, and the gaps between. The Trojans, led by converted running back Damani Stafford and speed demon Jaeden Zuzak, would excel against the Eagles defense all night, and it happened on the first play of the game. Following a big opening kickoff return, Damani Stafford would take a QB scramble to the house.

“Coach Woods was telling me all week, first play we’re going counter tre left to you so be ready” Stafford said. “Last night and this morning at school I was going over that play in my head and I knew I was going to score as soon as I ran it. I told everyone on the team, first play we’re scoring and we’re not going to stop.“

The first half was dominated by a brutal Trojans rushing attack that the Eagles defense had no answers for. Aside from Stafford’s opening score, Jaeden Zusak added 3 more rushing TDs before the buzzer for the first quarter even sounded. He would even add an interception in the second.

“It all started with the offensive line, they gave me some good holes to work with, and then after that it was all vision cuts and speed,” Zuzak said “Aside from that I just have to thank my O-line for giving me some big holes.”

Aside from several defensive encroachment penalties and two consecutive unsportsmanlike, the California defense dominated an Avella offense that had been praised throughout the week, led by dual-threat talent KJ Rush. LBs Ethan Fike and Damani Stafford were in the backfield all night, only allowing Avella 58 yards on 25 rushes.

“Ethan is big on defense for us.” Stafford commented “That’s what he does. He played a lot of offense tonight as well but defensively we knew we had to stop their quarterback power and their pass, they’re a very good passing team and have very good receivers. It all started with our line and linebackers and they really came out to play tonight.”

In the second half and with the result all but complete, California scored on their first two consecutive opening drives, one coming from Stafford and the next coming from Zuzak. Jaeden Zuzak would add yet another rushing TD before the final siren, ending the score at 55-16

We’ve been told all week how good they were, we just wanted to put them back into their place in the Tri-County South. Us being who we are we know we’re the top dogs, and that’s how we came out and played.” Stafford said following the win,” We’ll be happy tonight but we’re never satisfied. We just have to come out and keep going.”

For Damani Stafford, the win also comes with a message to the rest of the conference stating with a smile- “That wasn’t too bad for a Quarterback.”

Avella will head to Bentworth to take on a Bearcats team looking to rebound, while California will play the Bearcats’ opposer from Friday in the Jefferson-Morgan Rockets.

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