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Walsh, North Andover crush overmatched Newburyport

Saturday, October, 23 By Chuck Frye
Staff writer

NORTH ANDOVER — Imagine being covered with dozens of Band-aids and having each one ripped off as fast as possible.

That’s the best possible analogy for North Andover’s 40-0 victory against an overmatched Newburyport squad last night at Hayes Stadium. In almost every way the Scarlet Knights made the Clippers’ night as painful as possible.

An athletic, intuitive defense got the ball rolling as half of Newburyport’s eight possessions ended in interceptions.

On three straight Clipper drives, the ball ended up in North Andover’s hands starting with defensive end Mike Weisman’s diving pick at the Clipper 35-yard line with three minutes left in the opening period.

Defensive back Jon Swanton did the honors on the next two, deftly hovering just beyond the receivers then closing hard to snare the passes.

All three picks turned into touchdowns and an insurmountable 27-0 halftime advantage, then linebacker Bobby Trickett added a third-quarter interception.

“We’ve had problems with this all year,” Newburyport head coach Ed Gaudiano said, “where everything went kind of wrong.”

And North Andover’s no-huddle offense, orchestrated smartly by junior Brandon Walsh, clicked on all cylinders.

Walsh connected on all eight of his passes for 113 yards, hitting Glen Hartford and Weisman for touchdowns. He also had three of his seven rushing attempts end up as six-pointers.

“I cannot remember (the last time we had no incomplete passes in a game),” Knights head coach John Rafferty said. “Brandon’s a leader, he executes and does a great job.”

The North Andover second-stringers also got into the act. Walsh’s brother, freshman QB Casey Walsh, had a 21-yard completion. That set up a nimble 30-yard foray to the end zone by junior John Iannone.

“I’m glad we were able to put on a good showing and do a good job in front of our Homecoming crowd,” Rafferty concluded.