AUGUSTA — An illusion works because you’re brain has tricked you into seeing something else. You don’t notice the coin behind your ear. The rabbit isn’t in the hat until it is.

A trick play in football works for the same reasons. If it’s set up well, the defense never sees it coming.

That was the case in the second quarter of Friday night’s rivalry football game between Cony and Gardiner. With a little more than seven minutes left in the first half, Cony ran a play that was a little razzle, a little dazzle, and all illusion. Gardiner thought it saw a running play, and not until Rams quarterback Parker Morin launched the ball to receiver Austin Bucknam in the left corner of the end zone did the Tigers realize otherwise.

“It did exactly what we wanted it to do, so that was pretty cool,” said Bucknam, who scored his first touchdown of the season.

The touchdown was the fourth of eight scored by the Rams in a 54-10 win. The play is called Heavy East Flop Trolley Reverse Pass Corner. A long name with a perfect result.

Here’s how it worked. Running back Anderson Noyes lined up in a shotgun formation to take the snap. Cony had run that formation multiple times already, including the previous three plays. So even though it was second down-and-15 from the Tigers’ 17, it wasn’t a surprise to see Noyes lined up to take the snap, with Morin wide left.

“We kind of did that same thing last year against Gardiner. We ran a lot, but we didn’t show that play, and they weren’t ready for it,” Noyes said.

After getting the snap, Noyes took a step to his right, then pitched the ball back to Morin, who had cut back to the pocket. From there, Morin had time to throw, thanks to a key block from running back Kolton Colby, and he found Bucknam for a touchdown that gave the Rams a 27-10 lead.

“They were crowding the box a little bit, because obviously we had been heavy run there. At some point, we knew we’d try to throw a pass off of it,” Cony coach BL Lippert said. “We hit it in practice, but you never know if you’re going to have enough time. Ten (Gardiner’s Justin Doody) is coming off the edge and he’s an unbelievable athlete.”

Could Morin have run if he didn’t see anyone open? Maybe, he said. He’s glad it’s something he didn’t need to consider in the moment.

“I haven’t had to take off yet. We’re 1 for 1,” he said, laughing.

For an offensive juggernaut like the Rams, who end the regular season 8-0, scored 52 or more points five times and never scored fewer than 39, the play is just one more in a deep bag of tricks. For a team that makes the most routine plays look complex and devastating, that’s one more thing for potential playoff opponents to consider.

“Parker got time, Austin was open, and it was a pretty awesome play,” Lippert said.

Late in the third quarter, with the game well in hand and the Rams threatening to score again, one of the officials turned to a reporter on the sidelines.

“They got anything in the South for this?” he asked, pointing at Cony’s offense breaking the huddle.

The short answer is, does anybody?