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Milano, Central surge past Andover on Thanksgiving

Thursday, November, 27 By David Willis
Staff writer

ANDOVER — It may not have been the Super Bowl, but Mike Milano and his Central Catholic classmates couldn’t have imagined a much more perfect way to cap off their high school football careers.
“It’s not just a win, it’s beating Andover,” said Milano. “And it’s beating Andover three times in one season. We wanted this so bad, to end the year and finish the entire rivalry on top. And this is about the best way I could have imagined ending the season.”
Led by one last terrific performance by their All-Scholastic QB, Central Catholic made the final edition of the Central-Andover Thanksgiving Day rivalry all Raiders, closing out the 42-year tradition with a decisive 41-21 victory Thursday afternoon.
“Coach A (Chuck Adamopoulos) gave us a speech before the game saying the series was tied 20-20-1,” said Milano. “So whoever won was going to be the champion of the series. So this is pretty awesome.”
The victory marked the third time Central has beaten the Golden Warriors this season — also winning a regular season and playoff meeting — and fifth straight win for the Raiders over their rivals dating back to last season.
“It’s so great,” said Central offensive lineman Dan MacDonald, an Andover resident. “To win over our archrivals, on the last Turkey Bowl, against my hometown school is pretty great. If we had ever lost this game it would have haunted us for the rest of our lives. We had to have it and we took it.”
While Thanksgiving may no longer count in the playoff race, in final game of this series — with the Golden Warriors moving on to play North Andover and Central facing Lawrence on Turkey Day 2015 — the Raiders were determined to finish with a bang.
“Thanksgiving means everything to us,” said nose guard Jorge Elias. “So for the seniors to end our high school careers with a win over Andover, in the last game of the series is amazing. We took the momentum and knew we just had to keep punching.”
Milano wasted no time giving his team control. On the Raiders’ fourth play of the day, the reigning Eagle-Tribune All-Star threw a dart to receiver Steven Jackson, who sprinted into the end zone for a 50-yard touchdown.
The Golden Warriors bounced back by driving inside the Raider 10-yard line, but Jorge Elias scored a sack, Robert Fitzgerald knocked down a pass and Central turned them away without points.
The Raiders added a crucial score on the final play before halftime, with Mike Balsamo plunging in from 1 yard out on fourth down for a 14-0 lead.
“That was a huge play,” said Elias. “That gave us a ton of momentum going into halftime and made us feel really good going into the second half.”
Central handed Andover a 3-and-out to start the second half, and made it 21-0 when Milano and Jackson connected on their second score of the day, a 17-yard TD. Milano extended the lead a possession later, dumping a screen pass off to Omar Deschamps, who ran 75 yards for a score.
Balsamo then did the rest, returning a kickoff back 82 yards for a touchdown, then icing the win with a 44-yard TD run,
“It was a great day,” said Balsamo. “The turkey always tastes better with a win. We wanted a 3-0 record against Andover this year, and we did it. The whole team played great.”
Despite losing 2013 Eagle-Tribune defensive Player of the Year Markus Edmunds before halftime with a severe gash on his arm, the Raider defense had more than enough. Pat Dziedzic won Player of the Game honors with 10 tackles, Elias had 1 1/2 sacks and six stops and Johandy Gonzalez made an interception.
Milano threw for a season-best 238 yards on a sharp 11-of-18 passing, while for Andover, E.J. Perry threw for 201 yards and two touchdowns. 
“It really is bittersweet,” said MacDonald. “It is bitter because it is the end of our careers and the end of the rivalry. But it is sweet because we won. I couldn’t have asked for a better ending.”