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Andover defense stellar in victory

Friday, November, 04 By David Willis
Staff writer

ANDOVER — Andy Coke briefly considered attempting a 98-yard sprint for his third touchdown of the day, but instead stepped out of bounds and adding a pump of his first.

“I was thinking about taking it to the house,” said Coke with a laugh. “But I didn’t want to be that guy. I sprinted as fast as I could to make the pick, and that was awesome.”

Coke’s interception with just over a minute to play was the exclamation point on an impressive defensive effort as Andover upset surging Billerica 44-28 last night.

The Indians entered the game ranked No. 13 in Eastern Mass., while the Golden Warriors were 14.

“We only had two days of practice because of the storm and this is a tough team to prepare for,” said Mark Zavrl. “But the score shows what we were able to do.”

The Golden Warriors intercepted defending All-Scholastic Nick LaSpada three times on the night, including a pair in the fourth quarter.

With Andover ahead by just one point, Zavrl picked off a pass near the Warriors’ 10-yard line on the first play of the fourth, and three passes later Coke clinched the game with his pick. The other interception was by Freddie Scribner, who returned it for a touchdown on the first play of the second quarter.

“They were all huge because they all came at pivotal moments in the game,” said Scribner. “I score a touchdown, Zav’s was at the 10 and Andy sealed the deal. We wanted to disguise our coverages and make it as tough as possible for LaSpada.”

The defensive backs also benefited from an aggressive and athletic front that dominated the bulky Billerica front.

Sophomore Will Eikenberry was a force, making nine tackles including a whopping three sacks. Zavrl added six tackles and a sack of his own and Matt Crush made five tackles including a massive hit on LaSpada.

“Eikenberry was huge,” said Zavrl. “Crush was spying LaSpada all day. I actually blew my coverage when I made my pick, but I was in the right spot and I wasn’t going to let them score.”

The Golden Warriors also managed to control the clock with an impressive combination of smashmoth rushing and passing. Coke carried 23 times for 127 yards and a pair of scores — playing a combination of quarterback, running back and receiver — while regular QB C.J. Scarpa needed just 14 passes to throw for 117 yards and two touchdowns.

But it was Cam Farnham that gave the Golden Warriors the lead to stay. One play after a Billerica touchdown, the junior fielded the kickoff, bolted through a hole and sprinted 75 yards for a touchdown.

“After the bad loss (to Dracut) last week we wanted this game so badly,” said coach E.J. Perry. “We showed how good we could be. Zavrl was blitzing up the middle, (Greg) Calabro made some big plays in coverage. And the interceptions were unbelievable.”

Additional stories:

• VIDEO: Andover football upsets Billerica