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LOWELL — The building blocks for 2011 were put in place.

Despite a season-ending 38-21 loss to Lowell before 1,200 Cawley Stadium fans, extending its winless skein to 32 games, Haverhill made strides toward a positive future.

HAVERHILL — On a chilly senior night at Haverhill Stadium, the Hillies (0-10) lost to the Dracut Middies (7-3) 35-14 last night. Coach O’Connor commented on the Hillies defensive performance. “They were better,” said O’Connor. “There were still moments where we didn’t tackle well or didn’t contain well, but they at least came and they hit people tonight.” Even with the defensive effort, they were not able to stop Dracut senior quarterback Matt Silva. Silva ran 13 times for 59 yards and two touchdowns while passing for 116 yards with two touchdowns to Chris Malonis. Dracut scored a safety about halfway through the first on a bad snap by Haverhill. The Hillies had the ball at their own 2-yard line and snapped the ball out the back of the end zone. It was 15-0 Dracut before Haverhill got on the board with a 5-yard touchdown run from senior Malcolm Novello. He would rush for 61 yards on 12 carries, breaking through holes opened up by his offensive line. Coach O’Connor listed several reasons for Novello’s success last night. “The linemen were coming together. They’re all underclassmen and they are learning to communicate, and Malcolm has not been fully healthy until this week and it showed.” Novello not only showed he was healthy in the running game but also in the return game as well. He returned three kicks for a total of 100 yards, slipping and juking past Dracut defenders. Dracut had possession of the ball to start the second half and scored on a 14 play, 74 yard drive that took nearly seven minutes off the clock to make the score 28-7. Dracut, on a fourth-and-five from the Hillies’ 20-yard line, was stopped when Aaron Moisan sacked Jimmy Ryan. With 8:30 left to play in the contest, Haverhill drove the ball 75 yards in six and a half minutes, with the drive capped off by a 6-yard touchdown run from Chance Brady. This made the score 35-14 Dracut, and the Middies just sat on the ball to end the game. The Hillies don’t play again until Thanksgiving day when they square off against Lowell at 10 a.m. in Lowell.

HAVERHILL — It’s been an exhausting year for the Haverhill Hillies, but in the second half of yesterday’s 41-14 loss to Tewksbury, the Hillies showed more signs of life than they have all season.

Nathan Baez had three first-half TDs as Lawrence rolled past Haverhill, 35-6. Malcolm Novello scored in the fourth quarter for the Hillies.

BILLERICA — Nick LaSpada threw for three touchdowns, ran for one and caught another, leading Billerica to a 41-0 victory over winless Haverhill last night in a Merrimack Valley Conference cross-over game.

HAVERHILL — Methuen defensive back Mike Capomaccio provided a simple answer when asked about the way the Rangers defense played in a 34-0 victory over Haverhill last night.  

“The defense always plays well,” Capomaccio said, adamantly. “We really haven’t played bad yet, so it is what’s excepted of us.”

Central raced to a big 29-0 halftime lead over Haverhill behind interceptions for scores by Xavier Peralta and Cam Walsh.

ANDOVER — Despite the outcome, last Friday’s win left a sour taste in the mouth of Andover defensive lineman Lyle Baker that lingered heading into last night.

“Last week felt horrible,” said Baker, whose defense allowed 32 points to Tewksbury. “It felt like a loss. We came out in the second half and were just flat. This week, we wanted to keep going and put our foot on them. We wanted to finish off the victory.”

CHELMSFORD — When you’ve lost 24 consecutive games and playing only the third game under a new coach, you need to look anywhere you can for positives. And the Hillies of Haverhill had a few of those in their Merrimack Valley Conference opener last night.

WEST ROXBURY — There is not much positive you can take from this one if you're Haverhill, which totaled 81 yards of offense in a 35-0 loss to No. 8 Catholic Memorial yesterday.