By John Kovach

The Falcons snapped a four-game losing streak with the 49-21 win.

AUSTINTOWN — Outstanding special teams play and an aggressive offense enabled the Austintown Fitch High football team to jump to a 21-0 lead after the first quarter and roll past Massillon Perry, 49-21.

Friday’s Federal League win at Falcon Stadium shattered the Falcons’ four-game losing streak.

Special teams accounted for or helped to set up Fitch’s first five touchdowns. Senior running back Silvestry Gibbs rambled for TDs on runs of 11, 6, 4 and 4 yards. He finished with 121 yards rushing in 14 carries to power the Falcons’ attack.

Gibbs also ran for a conversion, accounting for 26 points.

Junior quarterback Jon Ballard fired a pair of scoring passes to senior wide receiver Chris Smaldino covering 8 and 7 yards, and finished 9-for-16 in the air for 117 yards with two interceptions.

Smaldino finished with four catches for 44 yards while Quinton Pirl also had four receptions for 56 yards.

Fitch also got a TD from senior defensive lineman Chris Miller, who recovered a Perry bad pass from center in the end zone for the Falcons’ first score of the game.

Coach Phil Annarella of Fitch (4-4, 1-4 FL) heaped praise on his special teams.

“The special teams made things a lot easier,” Annarella said. “Jason Cochran is our special teams coach. He is a Fitch graduate. He did a great job with the special teams.

“Even though the special teams played well, the offense had to take advantage of the good field position and capitalize on the turnovers, [and we did].

“We finally got the monkey off our back,” Annarella said. “I think we are starting to turn the corner.”

Annarella said Gibbs was running very aggressively.

“Gibbs runs hard every week, He is a good back,” said Annarella, very pleased with his offense. “We are very confident offensively.”

Fitch’s second TD, Gibbs’ 11-yard dash, was set up by John Heydle’s blocked punt and Fitch’s third TD was set up by DeAndre Richardson’s pass interception.

Fitch’s fourth TD, Gibbs’ 4-yard run, was set up by Nick Groat’s fumble recovery, while the fifth score, Ballard’s 8-yard strike to Smaldino, was set up by Ballard’s long kickoff return to the Perry 8.

Sam Maiorana kicked five extra points.

Perry (4-4) coach John Miller said special teams play by both teams (good by Fitch, bad by Perry) was the difference in the game.

“The special teams hurt us,” Miller said. “We gave up a blocked punt, we had a bad pass from center on a punt, we gave up a long kickoff return. There are three TDs right there that we gave up.

“And we turned the ball over on a fumble. That’s four TDs, 24 points by my count.”

Plus, Miller said his offense fizzled when it got to the red zone.

“And you have to be able to score when you get into the red zone, and we didn’t do that,” he said.

Perry was led by senior quarterback John Hyde and junior running back Lepear Smith, who combined for two TD passes of 7 and 26 yards.

Hyde wound up 9-for-20 in the air for 118 yards and two interceptions, and added 32 yards rushing in 10 carries.

Marcus Mann also scored for Perry on an 8-yard run while Ben Karam was 3-for-3 in placements.

Trevor Riordan led Perry’s ground attack with 58 yards in eight attempts, while Caleb Laps had 45 yards in 14 carries.

kovach@vindy.com