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North Andover Scarlet Knights Football '11

Fri, Nov 04, 2011 07:00 PM @ Peabody
Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
North Andover 21 14 0 0 35
Peabody 7 3 0 0 10

Walsh brothers pace Knights

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Friday, November, 04 By Matt Williams
Staff writer

PEABODY — If North Andover was a one man football team, Peabody might have made a comeback when all-star quarterback Brandon Walsh went down with an injury in the first quarter.

The Scarlet Knights are a complete club, however, and younger brother Casey Walsh led two scoring drives to help North Andover put away the Tanners, 35-10, at Coley Lee Field.

Peabody (3-5) lost their fifth straight while North Andover (8-1) won its eighth in a row to set up a meeting between the lone unbeaten teams in Northeastern Conference/Cape Ann League Tier 1 play next week against Lynn English.

Brandon Walsh was carving up the Peabody defense to the tune of 84 yards rushing and two TDs when he exited with an injury. The Tanners’ Sean Wlasuk hit a 30-yard field goal to close Peabody’s gap to 21-10, but Casey Walsh scored on a 16-yard keeper then threw a 12-yard TD to Brandon Lash before halftime to keep North Andover’s advantage comfortable.

“The old adage is you never know when you’re number will be called. Casey’s number was called, he had to step up and he did a pretty good job,” said North Andover coach John Rafferty. “There’s no news on Brandon right now; we’ll make sure he has some tests and hopefully he’s OK.”

The Tanners had few answers for the Scarlet Knights’ ferocious defensive front in the first half. Quarterback Jason Hiou threw for a season-high 118 yards but spent most of his drop backs running for his life.

“They’re very aggressive up front and they get to the ball better than any team we’ve seen so far,” said Peabody coach Scott Wlasuk.

Brandon Walsh intercepted Hiou on the opening drive to set up John Iannone’s 5-yard TD to open the scoring. Iannone was a horse for North Andover, carrying 28 times for 110 yards and helping chew up the clock in the second half.

Before the end of the first half, the Scarlet Knights extended their lead to 21-0 on two Walsh keepers.

“I don’t know what it is about slow starts, but we have no excuses,” said Wlasuk. “It was mostly that (North Andover) is a great football team that made good plays.”

Game Statistics:

First Quarter

NA — John Iannone 5 run (kick failed)
NA — Brandon Walsh 1 run (B. Walsh kick)
NA —  B. Walsh 31 run (B. Walsh run)
P —  Jason Hiou 3 run (Sean Wlasuk kick)

Second Quarter

P — Wlasuk 30 FG
NA — Casey Walsh 16 run (Collin Couillard kick)
NA — Brandon Lash 12 pass from C. Walsh (Couillard kick)


INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING: North Andover — John Iannone 28-110, Brandon Walsh 5-84, Casey Walsh 4-22, Dan Lorenza 2-9, Nick Oswald 4-7, Nolan McCoy 2-4; Peabody — Nat Gaye 12-80, D.J. Henrick 3-13, Carlos Ortiz 1-1, Cody Wlasuk 1-(-4), Jake Summit 1-(-7), Jason Hiou 7-(-16)

PASSING:  North Andover — C. Walsh 6-12-0 57; B. Walsh 3-4-0, 22; Peabody — Hiou 6-17-0, 118-0

RECEIVING: North Andover — Lorenza 3-22, Brandon Lash 2-22, Tom Moody 2-22, Isiah Nelson 1-13, Iannone 1-0; Peabody — Casey Grenier 2-77, Nick Ingham 1-42, Gaye 2-4, Henrick 1-(5)

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