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Shkliew, North Andover take care of overmatched Dracut

Friday, October, 03 By David Willis
Staff writer

NORTH ANDOVER — For a few moments, following a first quarter North Andover fumble just short of the goal line, it appeared Dracut could have a breath of life.

But the Scarlet Knights defensive line then broke through to force a safety, and superstar Bubba Shkliew fielded the  ensuing free kick and ran it back 75 yards for a touchdown, sending North Andover on its way to a convincing 34-6 victory over Dracut Friday night.

“This was a great win for us tonight,” said Shkliew. “It was a little messy, but we cleaned it up and finished off a good win. We felt like we missed some opportunities last week against Tewksbury, so we wanted to take advantage this week.”

Outside of that one fumble, the Knights had no trouble capitalizing when the ball was in their hands, scoring on five of their first seven possessions of the night and punting just once before the backups entered the game late in the third.

“We were moving the ball well,” said Shkliew. “We knew we wanted to run the ball against them. We have some big bodies up front and some talented backs, and we felt like we could take advantage of that.”

The combination of sophomore Te’Shaun Watson (148 yards, two touchdowns) and senior James Foote (78 yards, 2 TDs) earned big yards following an offensive line that easily handling the Dracut defensive front.

“When we start running the football things really click,” said offensive lineman Matt Donatio. “We were making some big plays, and we didn’t have to worry about passing. The line was stepping up and making hopes and we know our running backs can make plays.”

As sharp as the North Andover offense was, the defense even more dominating.

The Knights allowed the Middies just 70 yards of offense, 37 of those and the touchdown coming in the fourth quarter against the North Andover backups.

“The plan was to trap the quarterback,” said Donatio. “We didn’t want to let him get out of the pocket and make some plays because he is quick. We were able to do that.”

The big plays started on the second play of the night when defensive lineman Matt Iacoviello forced a fumble that was recovered by fellow captain Jake Burckhardt.

The Knights got to Dracut QB Ty Bassett with regularity, as Luke Hitchcock, Burckhardt, Joe Samuelman and Yanni Falaras all registering sacks. Shkliew killed the Middles’ best scoring opportunity of the first three quarters, as the defensive back knocked the ball out of the receiver’s hands in the end zone as time expired in the first half.

“It was definitely a good win for us,” said Foote. “With tightened up after coach Raff (John Rafferty) talked to us. We knew that we could beat them, we played our game and the rest is history. We wanted to prove that the (Tewksbury) loss was not the real North Andover, and we did it.”