RallyNorth.net

Thu, Nov 23, 2006 10:30 AM @ Andover

Team	Final
Central Catholic	10
Andover	18

Pierce, Andover's defense create a logjam

Wednesday, August, 22 By Dave Dyer
Staff writer

ANDOVER | With a little deja vu at the start, a couple of big plays from quarterback Mike Pierce and some clutch stops from an unappreciated defense, Andover whipped up the recipe for a joyous holiday yesterday morning.

The Golden Warriors (8-3, 5-3 MVC), sparked by Matt Rayner's 86-yard touchdown on the opening kickoff, held off Central Catholic 18-10 before more than 2,500 fans, denying the Raiders (8-3, 6-2) an outright Merrimack Valley Conference title.

That forced Central to travel to Tewksbury early in the afternoon for a coin toss with Lowell and Dracut, which shared the MVC title, to determine the league playoff representative. Central won the flip and will play Tuesday.

"We were an overtime (8-6 loss to Lowell) from being in the same situation," said Andover coach Ken Maglio. "But this is still a huge victory for our program. We wanted to deny them the (outright) title, but we wanted to win even more just because this is Thanksgiving. We don't beat them too often, so we want to enjoy it. This is like our playoff game."

The Warriors got off to a tremendous start when Rayner caught that first kickoff at his own 14, saw a crease on the right side, blasted through it and kept going until he had reached the end zone.

"We used a wall right and I got a great block from Corey Steele," said Rayner. "At the 50-yard line, all I could see was green (field)."

It was a similar start to Thanksgiving in 2001 according to Maglio, and proved to be an omen of things to come. "We won that game and (Chris) Callison did the same thing with the opening kickoff," said Maglio. "I think that gave us a lot of confidence."

Trailing 6-0, Central came right back, driving to the Andover 6-yard line, courtesy of the Raiders' only pass completion of the day, a 34-yard strike from Shain Jowett to Justin Narbonne. But Andover's defense stiffened when it had to, making the Raiders settle for a 22-yard Colin Burkardt field goal.

The Warriors made it 12-3 on their first possession, the pivotal play being a beautiful 49-yard pass from Pierce, who was rolling to his left, to Mike Morander. Two plays later, Pierce rolled right, and cut back sharply for a nifty 4-yard scoring run.

Central cut the gap to 12-10 two possessions later following a fumble recovery on the Andover 33. After an Andover pass interference penalty on fourth down put the ball on the 14, Mike Leavitt (27 carries, 104 yards) carried twice to the 2 and Chris Morales (15 carries, 72 yards) bulled over from there.

But the Warriors got an insurance touchdown right before the half. A short punt into the wind gave Andover the ball on the Central 35 with 43 seconds remaining to set it up. Pierce, with lots of time, connected with P.J. Farnham on a 17-yarder to the sidelines. Two plays later, Pierce threw to Rayner for an apparent 18-yard TD strike, but a holding call brought the ball back.

Unfazed, Pierce scrambled all over the field on the very next play before finding Peter Hanson in the end zone for the final points of the game, just nine seconds before halftime.

"I know every coach thinks his quarterback is the best, but I'll take Mike Pierce over anyone," said Maglio of the talented junior, who threw 14 TD passes and scored 13 times this fall. "He's got a strong arm and he's tough to bring down in the pocket. He's got quick feet."

Trailing by eight at halftime, Central was certainly within striking distance, but it had two obstacles in the second half. A pouring rain created a mud bath in the middle of the field, slowing up its running game, and a determined Andover defense came up with plays when needed.

Despite controlling the third quarter by running 19 plays to just four for Andover, Central could not get on the scoreboard. Moving all the way to Andover's 4-yard line, it was stopped by an illegal procedure penalty and a fine goal-line stand. Finally, on fourth and 2, Morales tried a sweep to the right, but Hanson stopped him cold for a 1-yard loss.

Central had two more possessions, one coming after a Leavitt interception gave Central the ball on Andover's 33, but a lost fumble on the first possession and a pair of sacks on the second doomed the Raiders, forcing the MVC coin flip. "Our defensive front three (Joel Israel, Mike Ruth and Gordon DuBois) were great," said Maglio. "We told them they had to play great today and they did.

"All year long, no one gave our defense much credit, but it's been good. A lot of the points scored against us came against the second team."

Israel led the defense with 16 tackles, active linebacker Sam Clark was in on 14 stops, DuBois was involved in 12 tackles, Chris Abreu finished with nine tackles and Ruth came through with seven.

"This was not a good day to try to come back, but I give Andover all the credit," said Central coach Chuck Adamopoulos. "The opening kickoff, the punt in the wind and that stop on fourth down were all huge."