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North Andover Scarlet Knights Football '10

Fri, Oct 08, 2010 07:00 PM @ North Andover
Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
Medford 0 6 0 6 12
North Andover 14 21 0 20 55

Balanced North Andover routs Medford

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Friday, October, 08 By Jeff Hamrick

NORTH ANDOVER — After opening the season with four consecutive road games, North Andover had a chance to impress a home crowd for the first time this year. And the Scarlet Knights wasted no time revving up their fans.


Scoring on each of its five first-half possessions, the Knights opened a 29-point advantage before cruising to a 55-12 victory over Division 1 Medford before a packed house in their Joe Walsh Stadium debut.


“I think we all came out with a lot of energy,” Mike Weisman said. “Especially being our first home game. It was a good chance to come home and show everyone what we could do.”


Weisman came out inspired, scoring on a pair of touchdown receptions from Brandon Walsh, including a nice hookup from 38 yards with 19 seconds left in the second quarter that came 41 seconds after Medford’s first touchdown of the night. Weisman also had six tackles and a fumble recovery that set up North Andover’s second touchdown.


“We’re on a pretty good track,” Weisman said. “But we can never get satisfied. There’s always another game to play.”


The Scarlet Knights (4-1) had six touchdown drives of six plays or fewer, and did much of its damage on the ground. Five of Jack Murphy’s 14 carriers gained at least 10 yards. The senior captain finished his effort with 104 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries despite sitting most of the second half.


“We have a lot of talent everywhere,” Murphy said. “We can certainly run the ball and definitely pass the ball. Brandon’s a great quarterback and the offensive line has been great.”


Walsh once again had an effective night, completing nine of his 12 attempts for 174 yards and three scores before giving way to freshman brother Conor in the third quarter. One of his touchdown passes went 13 yards to David Foote, who also scored on an 86-yard kickoff return.


North Andover’s second team saw significant game time and running back Eric Hoffman scored the final two touchdowns of the night on runs of 10 and 1 yards.


Despite the margin of victory, coach John Rafferty sounded as if he is yet to be impressed by his team’s performances midway through the regular season.


“We always have to get better,” Rafferty said. “All the time they’re making mistakes, but we’re working at it and trying to get better at it.”

Game Statistics:

First Quarter

NA — John Hufziger 11 pass from Brandon Walsh (Hufziger kick), 5:44

NA — Jack Murphy 5 run (Hufziger kick), 3:33

Second Quarter

NA — David Foote 13 pass from Casey Walsh (Hufziger kick), 10:55

NA — Mike Weisman 26 pass from Brandon Walsh (Dan Laorenza pass from Brandon Walsh), 7:33

M — Joe D'Alessandro 1 run (run failed), 0:50

NA — Weisman 38 pass from Brandon Walsh (kick blocked), 0:19

Fourth Quarter

M — Nick Olivieer 3 run (run failed), 10:32

NA — Foote 86 kickoff return (Hufziger kick), 10:15

NA — Eric Joffman 10 run (Hufziger kick), 5:54

NA — Hoffman 1 run (kick failed), 4:07 

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING: M (51-168) — Olivier 13-91, D'Alessandro 11-51, Nick Murphy 6-14, Gerard Jean-Leger 5-11, Bobby Stearns 4-7, Ron Pitterson 1-6, Lucas Mazzotti 3-3, Anthony Brown 1-2, Wayne O'Brien 2-(-4), Dan Kelley 1-(-6), Gene Conclaves 4-(-6); NA (32-202) — Murphy 14-104, Hoffman 5-36, Nick Oswald 4-25, John Iannone 3-23, Conor Walsh 4-14, Foote 1-7, B.Walsh 1-(-7)

PASSING: M — Olivier 0-1-0; NA (10-14-0, 181) — Brandon Walsh 8-11-0, 161, Casey Walsh 2-3-0, 20

RECEIVING: NA — Weisman 4-77, Foote 3-45, Hufziger 2-39, Jon Swanton 1-20

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