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Joseph Aronov placed second in the floor (8.6), vault (9.0), high bar (8.2), rings (8.0) and all-around (49.2), third in the parallel bars (8.0) and fifth in the pommel horse (7.3) to lead Andover boys to third place at the State Meet.

BOSTON — Wow.

That pretty much sums up the Central Catholic High girls performance here at the T.D. Garden in the EMass final between No. 2 seed Braintree (24-3), winning 55-51.

BOSTON — Wow.

That pretty much sums up the Central Catholic High girls performance here at the T.D. Garden in the EMass final between No. 2 seed Braintree (24-3), winning 55-51.

Andover blanked Braintree, 10-0, in the preliminary round of the Division 1 East tourney. Andy Hook made 10 saves and the defense was anchored by Taber Tyrrell, Tyler Weeks, Josh Chevalier, Paul Sockel and Jake O'Brien. "It was pretty cool," said Andover coach Wayne Puglisi of the shutout, which was believed to be Andover's first since whitewashing Tyngsboro in 2006. 

Braintree led much of the way including 34-33 after three quarters but the fourth quarter has always been Nicole Boudreau's quarter. She took over late and Andover rolled to a 54-39 win in the state semifinals at the Garden.

Junior Brian Manning took second in the all-around and won the parallel bars and pommel horse to lead Andover to a second-place finish at the seven-team state meet. Cody Flaherty, who began his career at Methuen then spent his next two years at Salem (N.H.), finished his career with a bang. He took a fourth on bars, fifth on high bar, fourth on pommel and fourth on rings.

Brian Manning won the pommel horse (8.6) and rings (8.0), was second in the parallel bars, high bar and all-around and was third in the vault and floor exercise as Andover defeated three-time defending state champion Braintree 155.9-149.3.

Freshman Brian Manning placed third in the All-Around with a 39.2 and senior Chris Chu placed fifth (37.4) as Andover finished third in the state meet. Manning finished third in the vault (8.8) and the rings (6.5). Chu finished sixth in the parallel bars.

Chris Chu topped Andover's gymnast in five of six events, scoring 38.7 in the all-around, in the Warrior boys' 175.5-140.9 loss to Braintree.