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Dream season comes to an end for Andover

Tuesday, November, 30 By David Willis
Staff writer

LYNN — For the first 17 plays of the game, Andover couldn’t have scripted a better start.

“The first drive was huge,” said Golden Warriors coach E.J. Perry. “If we score and put Everett on its heals, then we have opportunities. We needed to get the job done, but we couldn’t punch it in.”

Andover opened in stellar fashion, taking the opening kickoff and driving to the Crimson Tide 6-yard line. But the Golden Warriors would turn the ball over on downs, and Everett responded with a touchdown and went on to down Andover 21-0 in the Division 1 semifinals last night at Manning Field in front of a crown of approximately 1,800 fans.

This marked the Golden Warriors’ first appearance in the football postseason in 35 years. Everett also defeated MVC Large champ Billerica a season ago for its 11th Super Bowl berth before falling to Xaverian.

“We gave it our all,” said senior quad-captain Ned Deane. “We played tough and gave them a game, but we couldn’t pull it out. It was still a heck of a season though.”

Andover looked outstanding out of the gate, driving 72 yards on 17 plays — holding the ball for all but one play of the first quarter. But, on the 18th play of the drive, the Golden Warriors were stuffed on fourth-and-2 for a turnover on downs, after having already successfully executed two fourth-down tries on the drive. Then, 13 plays later, Everett scored to go ahead to stay.

“We shot ourselves in the foot too many times,” said Andover star running back Andy Coke. “We did some good things. But we didn’t score when we should have on the first drive, and gave the ball back to them a few times. The turnovers hurt us.”

Turnovers plagued usually-sure handed Andover in the second half.

On their first drive of the second half, the Golden Warriors lost a fumble near midfield, and on the second possession they drove to the Everett 8-yard line, only to fumble it away. A possession later, they moved to the Crimson Tide 5-yard line only to once again turn the ball over on downs.

“We were inside the 10-yard line three times and couldn’t capitalize,” said Perry. “We drove it down and couldn’t score. Against a team like Everett, you have to score when you have the opportunities. Just too many mistakes when we were driving.”

Facing a defense frequently stacking eight players in the box, Coke was still able to tally 92 yards on 19 carries, and he caught three passes for 33 yards. Tom Dempsey took nearly every snap at quarterback, after splitting time with Coke in recent weeks, completing 12 passes for 147 yards. Ben McQuaide caught three passes for a team-high 50 yards.

“We put together some good drives but couldn’t score,” said quad-captain Lyle Baker. “We needed to capitalize. It could have been 7-7 at the half. We feel like we could have beaten this team.”

The Golden Warrior defense held tough in the first half, forcing the Crimson Tide to punt and ending the other drive when Tyler Boudrow picked off a pass. They opened the second half by forcing another punt, before Everett scored on back-to-back drives.

“The defense has played very well all season,” said Perry. “But we gave them short fields, and that made it very tough on our defense. (Matt) Costello made some amazing catches.”

Costello caught 11 passes for 167 yards and two scores. Boston College-bound Manny Asprilla added the other score on a 3-yard run.

Deane capped his outstanding senior season with a team-high 14 tackles, while Freddie Scribner had six tackles and Mark Zavrl had five before having to leave the game due to injury. Baker and Michael McGovern each also had five tackles, Chris Newton had a sack and Boudrow knocked three passes to go with his interception.

“Hats off to the defense,” said Coke. “We could have give them more support.”

While he was frustrated by the outcome, Perry remained optimistic about the status of his program.

“We are never going to be satisfied with just getting here,” said the coach. “We have to win it when we get here. But we’ll be back. Don’t worry about that.”