Andover Central snaps losing streak to rival Andover

ANDOVER — Three straight losses to crosstown rival Andover had moved past the irksome stage and into unbearable for Andover Central football coach Tom Audley.

Three years, he admitted, actually felt like 15.

“It starts to eat at you,” Audley said.

He hopes Andover Central started a new streak Friday night with its 37-13 win over Andover.

So do the Andover Central players, who ran off the field after shaking hands with Andover for a raucous celebration with the Jaguars’ student section.

“Whenever we can hear (senior) Grant Schoonover, our chanter, we know we’ve won,” Andover Central senior Darraja Parnell said. “There’s no sweeter sound.”

The Jaguars (2-0) are ranked third in Class 4A-Division I.

“We were due,” Audley said. “We’ve got some nice ballplayers, and we played well tonight. Our kids got after them, and we were physical early in the game. And we played that way the rest of the game. I think that was the whole key.”

Andover coach Mike Lee concurred.

“We needed to play at the level that Andover Central played at,” said Lee, whose team is 0-2. “They took the game to us. These are the things we talked about before the game — ‘You have to initiate it. You have to be physical, because they are.’

“They took the game to us, and we didn’t respond. They knocked us back on our heels and we never recovered.”

The physicality was visible on Andover’s opening series, as the Trojans managed one yard on three plays. Andover Central blocked the ensuing punt and took over on the Andover 17-yard line.

It took eight plays and two fourth-down conversions, but Jaguars quarterback Peyton Huslig connected with Darraja Parnell for an eight-yard touchdown.

Andover’s next two possessions were a combined six plays and three yards.

Another short punt resulted in Andover Central starting at the Andover 29 late in the first quarter, and Huslig capitalized by throwing 29 yards to Isaac Anthemides for the 14-0 lead.

Anthemides had 98 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Huslig threw for 159 yards.

“The first (touchdown pass) … the defender came up, I saw the opening. It was just a great pass by (Huslig),” Anthemides said. “The second one, it was like a needle. He had to slide it in there between the defenders.”

Andover Central running back Jordan Birch had 106 rushing yards on 34 carries and a 5-yard touchdown run.

“He was consistently making yards and moving the chains,” Audley said. “And their offense was not touching the ball, and that was big. Even on the drive we had late in the second quarter, where we kicked a field goal, that was a (14)-play drive. We pretty much ate up the whole clock when we were going into the wind. I thought that was important.”

One of the biggest plays came in the final seconds of the first half when Parnell returned an Andover punt 78 yards for a touchdown and a 23-0 halftime lead.

“I want to give a shoutout to the blockers, the wall on the left side,” Parnell said. “They opened like a little wedge, like Moses, and I just ran straight through. I didn’t see a hole, but then I did. And then I ran through and it was like Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, sweets everywhere.”

Robert Bundy led Andover with 140 rushing yards and a touchdown.

This story was originally published September 12, 2015 at 8:08 AM with the headline "Andover Central snaps losing streak to rival Andover."