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Knights spread the wealth in romp

NORTH ANDOVER — Once a workhorse in the North Andover backfield, senior speedster Darren Watson no longer gets many touches.

And, the way the Knights are playing, he couldn’t care in the least.

“I feel great — I’ll do anything to help the team,” said Watson.

Without carrying the ball once, Watson had two key plays Friday night in the Division 2 North semifinals to help spark the Knights to an easy 42-14 victory over Woburn, improving the Knights to 9-0 and sending them into Friday’s finals here at Walsh Stadium against Lincoln-Sudbury.

Watson intercepted a pass on the third play of the game and returned it 20 yards to the Woburn 29, leaving it to Freddy Gabin (5 carries, 66 yards) to zoom into the end zone on the next play.

Then on the next series, Watson swung down the sidelines and caught a beautiful spiral from quarterback Jake McElroy and went the rest of the way for a 35-yard scoring strike, making it 14-0 midway through the first quarter.

And that was it for Watson as others took over the spotlight.

Gabe DeSouza, who converted all six extra-point kicks, and senior Jack Walsh both had 14-yard TD receptions from quarterback McElroy, who was a perfect 6 for 6 through the air. It was Walsh’s first touchdown in his career.

Gabin added a two-yard TD run in the second quarter and JD Allen added a 15-yard scoring run.

Ahead 42-0 at halftime, the Knights rested their starters for the entire second half.

“It’s great that we have a lot of options now and we’re able to spread out the wealth,” said North Andover coach John Dubzinski. “And the kids are selfless. They don’t care who’s in the limelight as long as we’re winning.

“I think this makes us a tougher team to defend against and it keeps everyone fresh.”

Directing the multiple attack, of course. is McElroy who, says Watson, “knows how to operate with all our weapons.”

Woburn coach Jack Belcher, the former BC captain, agree.

“They have great talent in a lot of positions and can beat you in a lot of ways, but their quarterback (McElroy) is by far their best player,” said Belcher. “He’s a real leader. If anyone is going to play a sport in college at a big school, I would say it’s him.

“I’ll be surprised if anyone beats them. They do what they’ve been doing for two years and they keep getting better.”

North Andover’s first-team defense, meanwhile, was dominant as well, holding Woburn to 70 yards in the first half.

Mark Federico, Mike Roche, Thomas Vance, Matthew Samenuk and Steven Ferullo were among the standouts.

A highlight in an otherwise anti-climactic second half for the Knights were a pair of completions by junior backup quarterback Peter Radulski, one of which went for 55 yards to sophomore Max Wolfgang.

Up next: L-S

The Knights will now host a Lincoln-Sudbury team which defeated Reading by one point Friday night, 28-27, and is 8-1 on the year after finishing 11-1 last year. It was ranked No. 3 in Eastern Mass. in the preseason and has scored at least 35 points in every game during the regular season and five times scored at least 40 points.

Will the Knights be ready for a close game after outscoring its first two playoff foes 91-14?

“I don’t think that will be a problem,” said Dubzinski.