RallyNorth.net

Fri, Sep 07, 2018 07:00 PM @ Woburn

Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Final
North Andover	14	21	0	0	35
Woburn	0	0	0	7	7

Dominant start: DeSouza (3 TDs), Knights drub Woburn in opener

Friday, September, 07 By Kyle Gaudette

WOBURN - On a nonchalant first-and-10 from the Woburn 25-yard-line, Gabe DeSouza ran a fade down the right sideline and leaped over two defenders to haul in his third touchdown of the first half.

The athleticism on display from the 6-foot-2, 180-pound receiver looked effortless. The play, routine.

DeSouza's highlight-reel catch had the announcers in the press box shaking their heads in disbelief.

"And Woburn's a good team this year, too!" one said.

It is. But the Tanners and four-year starting QB Ryan Qualey just couldn't keep up with the Knights. Jake McElroy threw for three TDs (all to DeSouza in the first half), Darren Watson rushed for two first-half TDs and defensive end Mike Roche led a stifling defense as North Andover cruised to a convincing 35-7 victory Friday night in its season opener.

After reaching the Division 2 North finals a year ago, the Knights (1-0) look even better.

On their second offensive play, McElroy hit DeSouza on a deep post for a 34-yard TD. It was a perfectly placed ball.

After a three-and-out, the two hooked up again on a 38-yard bomb on the first play of the drive that DeSouza outran two defenders to haul in.

Three plays, two touchdowns.

"It's awesome, it's awesome," said Roche on McElroy and DeSouza. "It's unreal to watch."

The connection was like a cheat code in a video game. McElroy completed all four of the passes he threw, all of which went to DeSouza, for 124 yards and three touchdowns.

Quite simply, Woburn couldn't cover him - even with two guys.

"It's not many times you can see a kid go up there and catch it over two guys," said North Andover coach John Dubzinski. "That was unbelievable. He's really impressive."

And when the Knights wanted to run the ball, the slippery Watson got massive holes from his linemen and rushed for 92 yards on seven carries and two TDs. He scored on runs of 3 and 44 yards in the second quarter.

It was a 35-0 game at the half. Most of the second half was played with a running clock.

But everyone knew how good North Andover's big-three of McElroy, DeSouza and Watson were heading into the season. Everyone knew the Knights were going to put up points. The question heading into Friday night would be if Woburn could keep up.

The North Andover defense, however, wasn't allowing anything.

The Knights held Woburn to just 66 total yards in the first half. Roche, a Maryland lacrosse commit, led the effort with two sacks, and DeSouza had an interception. Linemen Roche, Matthew Samenuk and Thomas Vance bottled up the Tanner running game all night.

Woburn scored its touchdown in the fourth quarter against North Andover's reserves.

"(Roche) is a Division 1 athlete," said Dubzinski. "So he really shows his athleticism. We put him at defensive end and he puts on a mean rush. He puts a lot of pressure on the quarterback and we just let him run.

"Having that kind of athlete out there is great for us."

With an offense as explosive as North Andover's, having a defense that consistently gets stops will make the Knights one of the elite teams in the state. 

 

 

North Andover 35, Woburn 7

North Andover (1-0):     14 21 0 0 - 35

Woburn (0-1):      0  0 0 7 -  7

First Quarter

NA - Gabe DeSouza 34 pass from Jake McElroy (DeSouza kick), 7:26

NA - DeSouza 38 pass from McElroy (DeSouza kick), 5:18

Second Quarter

NA - Darren Watson 3 run (DeSouza kick), 10:25

NA - DeSouza 25 pass from McElroy (DeSouza kick), 6:48

NA - Watson 44 run (DeSouza kick), 1:40

Fourth Quarter

W - Tyler Parrish 15 pass from Ryan Quakey (Carl Chevalier kick), 7:14

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING: NA (25-176): Darren Watson 7-92, JD Allen 4-26, Jake McElroy 1-18, Mike Difo 4-17, Freddy Gabin 8-16, Jadynn Mencia 1-7; WOBURN (23-66): Ryan Ludwig 12-49, Ryan Qualey 3-21, David Tran 1-7, Stephen Kolodko 1-0, Arthur Amaral 6-(-11)

PASSING: NA - McElroy 4-4-0, 124, Brian Vazza 0-1-0, 0; W - Qualey 10-18-1, 75

RECEIVING: NA - Gabe DeSouza 4-124; W - Tyler Parrish 6-59, Ludwig 3-11, Kolodko 1-5