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Zavrl boots game-winner as Andover edges Lawrence

Friday, October, 08 By David Willis
Staff writer

ANDOVER — Sophomore Mark Zavrl tried in vain to calm his nerves.

“My heart rate was about 250 when I walked onto the field,” said the kicker. “I couldn’t even talk. I almost threw up on my way out there. But just before the snap, everything went quiet.”

Facing a 4th-and-6 with 53 seconds left in the game, Andover QB Tom Dempsey connected with Brian Miller on a 17-yard touchdown pass to tie the game 20-20.

That sent Zavrl to the field with a chance to give his squad the lead, and he booted it through just before the hard-charging defense knocked him to the ground to give the Golden Warriors a 21-20 victory over upset-minded Lawrence last night.

“I knew with 4:59 left on the clock that it would come down to me,” said Zavrl. “I had complete confidence the guys would drive down and score.”

With 4:59 left in the contest, Miguel Rodriguez scampered in from 6 yards out to give the tough Lancers a 20-14 lead. Lawrence then attempted a fake field goal, which Miller busted up in the backfield for a loss.

“It was a designed play,” said Lancers coach Mike Yameen. “We had an extra point and a punt blocked earlier in the game, and we weren’t confident in the blocking scheme. It was a play we worked on, so we took a shot.”

The Golden Warriors then took over at their 35-yard line with 4:48 remaining. Nine plays later, Andover had moved to the Lawrence 17-yard line with 1:21 left. But a short run and two incomplete passes later the Warriors stood at 4th-and-6 with 1:00 even left, leaving it to one final play.

“My first read was short but the cornerback was there,” said Dempsey. “Then I looked to Miller, but had to let it develop a little. I kept my feet moving, saw him come open in the end zone and I knew that even if I gave him a bad pass he could pull it down.”

Miller did just that, jumping to grab the pass for the tying score.

“It was a perfect throw,” said Miller. “It was the best feeling in the world. That is why we come out and play football.”

That then sent out Zavrl, who won a tough battle for the kicking job in camp, to give his Golden Warriors the lead.

“I didn’t want to be the reason the game went to overtime,” he said. “I kicked it and it looked good, but then I just blanked out for a second because of the pressure, and was on the ground. Then I had (Ben) McQuaide shaking me and saying, ‘It went through! It went through!”

Zavrl was crushed on the play, and had to be helped off the field with an apparent ankle injury.

“They hit him so hard on that play,” said Andover coach E.J. Perry. “We almost went with the other kicker out of camp. They really hit him hard, but he got it off.”

Lawrence gave Andover all it could take. Nifty Lancers QB Nathan Baez finished the game 11-of-27 passing for 211 yards and two scores. Miguel Rodriguez (87 yards rushing) caught three passes for 82 yards and D.J. Ramos grabbed four passes for 89 yards.

Steve Mannion led Lawrence with 12 tackles and Joshua Espinal had six stops.

Ned Deane again led the Golden Warriors with 12 tackles, while Lyle Baker had 10 tackles and a sack, Miller had eight stops and Andy Coke and Andrew DeLoury each picked off a pass.

Coke also carried 32 times for 134 yards and Andover’s first two scores of the day.

“This was the most surreal game I have ever been a part of,” said Perry. “We were ahead 14-0, then they just kept coming. They had a great effort, but we hung on.”