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Fri, Sep 30, 2011 07:00 PM @ Andover
Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
Haverhill 0 0 0 14 14
Andover 0 14 3 7 24

Andover passing games comes alive in win

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Friday, September, 30 By David Willis
Staff writer

ANDOVER — From the day All-Scholastic Andy Coke arrived last season, Andover High began pounding the football on the ground.

But last night, the Golden Warriors went to the air, and found plenty of success.

Junior quarterback C.J. Scarpa threw for a career-high 282 yards, with Coke and Will Heikkinen each surpassing 100 yards receiving as Andover beat improving Haverhill 24-14.

“We saw some stuff in the defense we knew we could take advantage of,” said Scarpa. “Everything worked perfectly, and Andy and Heikkinen made some huge plays.”

Coke long ago proved his versatility, playing both running back and quarterback. But yesterday, he made the transition to slot receiver, filling the role usually held by injured Cam Farnham.

“I didn’t know until Thursday,” said Coke. “I had practiced it in 7-on-7s during the summer and worked with C.J. all summer. So I thought it could work.”

On Andover’s first play of the night, Scarpa connected with Coke on a 25-yard strike. That was his first of eight catches on the night for 115 yards. He had eight catches for 81 yards all of last season.

“When I caught that first deep ball,” said Coke, “I started thinking, ‘OK, we’ve got our groove.’ That was big. And Heikkinen made some great plays. I told everyone to watch out for Heikkinen.”

Heikkinen, a 6-foot, 172-pound junior caught seven passes for a whopping 151 yards and two scores. He also made the play of the day, wrestling the ball away from defender in the end zone for a touchdown.

“I went up for the ball and the kid went up for it,” said Heikkinen. “It slid into his arms and, when we went down he started to fumble around with it and I grabbed it.

“C.J. did great. He threw every ball right to me. He threw perfect balls to me, and perfect ball to Andy.”

Scarpa finished 18-of-28 throwing for his 282 yards and the two scores and rushed for Andover’s final touchdown. The Golden Warriors ran the ball just 21 times for 84 yards, led by Jake Flaherty (11 carries, 37 yards).

Behind area rushing leader Chance Brady (23 carries, 134 yards), the Hillies rallied for two touchdowns in the fourth before the Golden Warriors recovered an on-sides kick and ran out the clock.

Giovani Rosano led the Andover with 10 tackles while Mark Zavrl made eight tackles, including two sacks, and Jack Sylvester and Brendan Paquette each made six stops.

“The defense came up big,” said coach E.J. Perry. “They played inspired ball and we just have to stay focused and finish off games. But we made a lot of big plays.”

Game Statistics:


Second Quarter

A — Will Heikkinen 19 pass from C.J. Scarpa (Mark Zavrl kick), 9:11

A — Heikkinen 20 pass from Scarpa (Zavrl kick), 0:48

Third Quarter

A — Zavrl 26 field goal, 8:28

Fourth Quarter

A — Scarpa 2 run (Zavrl kick), 9:05

H — Chance Brady 5 run (Brady run), 7:14

H — Nick DeFusco 13 pass from Tommy Morgan (pass failed), 1:32

 


INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING: A (21-84) — Jake Flaherty 11-37, Andy Coke 8-35,  C.J. Scarpa 2-12; H (28-112) — Chance Brady 23-134, Blaine Joia 1-4, Jeremy Martinez 1-(-8), Tommy Morgan 3-(-18)

PASSING: A — Scarpa 18-28-1, 282; H — Morgan 13-33-0, 116

RECEIVING: A — Will Heikkinen 7-151, Coke 8-115, Ken Miyachi 3-16; H — Taylor Sullivan 5-40, Martinez 3-28, Nick Defusco 3-26, Brady 1-20, Joia 1-2

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