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Methuen seniors go out on top

Thursday, November, 26 By Kyle Gaudette

DRACUT — In the 53rd annual Thanksgiving meeting between the Methuen Rangers and the Dracut Middies, the seniors of Methuen scored all six touchdowns to lift the Rangers to a 42-6 victory.
Methuen finished the season with a 5-6 record.
“We really wanted to honor the seniors and play as hard as we could,” said Methuen head coach Tom Ryan. “We didn’t want to go out with our last game being a loss.”
As they have all season, Brian McAndrew and Kendrick Denose led the Methuen assault. Denose had a fantastic day leading his team from the shot-gun; going 9 of 11 for 205 yards and three touchdowns while gaining 65 yards on the ground with another score. McAndrew carried the ball 23 times for 148 yards, and reached the end zone twice.
Denose started the scoring with an 18-yard run on the first drive of the game. On the Rangers’ next possession, Denose hit his twin brother Kevin for a 63-yard touchdown bomb.
Up 21-0, McAndrew dove for the pylon for a 9-yard run that gave Methuen a 28-0 halftime lead.
Methuen scored on all four of its first-half possessions and held winless Dracut to just 63 total yards of offense in the half.
“We practiced hard all week,” said Ryan. “I thought we played well on all three phases of the game. Our seniors represented the city of Methuen very well today and I’m proud of them.”
Peter Kwakye capped off the day for Methuen with a 60-yard touchdown run to put the Rangers up 42-0.
Dracut got on the board on the last play off the game when Cam McCullough found Nik Carter in the back of the end zone on fourth down.
Methuen has won the past five Thanksgiving matchups to put the all-time series at 26-24-3 in favor of Dracut.
Double Trouble
Seniors Kendrick Denose and Brian McAndrew were one of the most potent rushing tandems in area history. Denose rushed for 1,250 yards this fall and McAndrew 1,193.