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ANDOVER — The upset looked all but in the books.

With 2:14 to go in the third, North Andover scored to take a two-touchdown lead against an Andover squad that had not managed a first down for the game.

But just as heads began to drop on the Andover sidelines, the Golden Warriors dug deep for a special effort.

“We knew we had to play for pride,” said Andover’s Mark Zavrl. “I just can’t believe how the game went.”

Following that score, the Golden Warriors dominated, scoring four unanswered touchdowns and adding a safety on the way to a stunning 50-35 comeback victory over the Scarlet Knights, who were playing their first game as a member of the Merrimack Valley Conference.

“We are emotionally and physically drained,” said Cam Farnham. “But, at the end of the day, we seniors knew we would never have a chance at this again against North Andover. To get this win was the best thing in the world.”

North Andover looked unbeatable for much of the first three quarters. New QB Casey Walsh completed his first 13 passes of the day for 195 yards, rushed for two touchdowns and passed for another.

That all while Andover was limited to only 51 total yards in the first half, running only nine plays.

“In the first half, the offense played like crap,” said QB C.J. Scarpa. “We didn’t run enough plays, and we knew we had to step it up. We didn’t quit.”

Andover seemed to win back some momentum early in the third, when Scarpa hit Farnham for a 65-yard touchdown. But North Andover struck right back to make it 28-14.

“We were playing too sloppy,” said Farnham. “We didn’t have enough offense, and we needed a stop. We didn’t make many adjustments, we just finally started to play.”

Scarpa and Farnham began the rally late in the third by hooking up for a 14-yard touchdown pass. Scarpa followed that with a 3-yard TD strike to Andrew Deloury, then after a safety, he connected with running back Jack Sylvester on a 30-yard score.

Zavrl finished off the late-game onslaught, breaking free for a 72-yard touchdown run — all the scores coming in a matter of 7:29.

“Everything was definitely not going as planned,” said Deloury. “Be we finally started to execute, and Farnham made some big plays to give us momentum.”

While the offense was rolling, the Andover defense also locked down. After allowing 218 yards passing in the first half, they limited the Scarlet Knights to 56 air yards in the second half.

Deloury led the way, picking off a pair of passes. Zavrl was again a force, making 14 tackles and Jake Flaherty chipped in with eight key stops.

“In the second half we wanted to beat them up,” said Zavrl. “We were playing too slow in the first half. In the second half we started blitzing them and hit them on every play. It looked like it worked with those stops at the end.”

Scarpa finished the day with an outstanding five touchdowns and, two each to Farnham and Deloury, and 258 passing yards.

In his first start for North Andover, Walsh finished 17 of 26 for 242 yards. Robert Shkliew added to the air attack, throwing a 33-yard touchdown on a halfback option pass in the first half.

“I wish we didn’t have to make that comeback,” said Scarpa. “But it was pretty exciting. (Will) Heikkinen stepped  up, Cam and Andrew really stepped up and we pulled off a big win.”

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