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Big plays doom Andover

Saturday, September, 27 By David Willis
Staff writer

ANDOVER — For a few moments, Andover appeared poised to exorcise decade-old demons. But those hopes were just as quickly dashed.

After the Golden Warriors scored the go-ahead touchdown midway through the fourth quarter, Chelmsford ran the following kickoff back for a score and downed Andover 16-9 last night in a game that had been moved to the artificial turf of Eugene V. Lovely Field.

This marked the 10th consecutive victory for the Lions over the Golden Warriors. Since The Eagle-Tribune began keeping complete records in 1984, Andover is 4-20-1 against Chelmsford, the No. 10 team in Eastern Mass.
“We played very well,” said Andover defensive back Yogi Layne, still soaking from the heavy rains. “We had a few lapses, but we swarmed to the ball and held them to just eight points (on defense).”

The Golden Warriors surrendered 211 yards for the game with just 71 yards and only three first downs in the second half. Nick Sylvester led Andover with nine tackles while Andrew Lebowitz made five tackles, Jake Lebowitz had four stops and a sack and Matt Newton made a diving deflection.

“They played 11 players in the (tackle) box on defense,” said Chelmsford coach Bruce Rich. “It seemed like they didn’t have a player deeper than five yards. And once we got a few first downs they got even tighter and it made us very tough to move the ball. They challenged us to throw and we couldn’t.”

But the Golden Warriors were hurt by the big play. The Lions notched their only offensive touchdown with 2:35 left in the second quarter on a 58-yard run by Evan Sheridan.

The Golden Warriors responded with nine seconds left in the half on a 20-yard field goal by Matt Murray.
They then took the lead with 5:43 left in the game on a 1-yard quarterback sneak by John Hennessy. But Mike Aronian ran back the following kickoff 85 yards for the winning margin.

With the heavy rain and wet conditions on the artificial turf, Andover relied on the run. Senior Tucker Devine tallied a career-high 107 yards on 25 carries and Hennessy added 71 yards on 10 carries, 64 in the second half on QB draws. He was also 10 for 19 through the air.

But the Golden Warriors struggled with turnovers early. They fumbled the ball away on their first three possessions of the game, recovered another fumble and had a fifth go out of bounds.

“Hennessy is really finding his way and looking good,” said Layne. “But we have to be able to catch the ball and hold onto the ball.”