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Dominant second half gives Central victory over Andover

Friday, October, 16 By David Willis
Staff writer

ANDOVER — For all the big games and the big victories, there is still nothing that feels quite like beating Andover High to Central Catholic's Carlos Cabrera.

"It is the most exciting feeling I can imagine,” said the hulking lineman. “Playing Everett and St. John's Prep is great, but nothing gets me going like playing Andover. Nothing is like beating them.”

With the Golden Warriors leading late in the first half, Central Catholic struck for two touchdowns in 24 seconds, and it was all Raiders from there as Central earned a 30-14 victory over their former Thanksgiving rivals.

"To beat them, especially on their field, is so great,” said receiver Steven Jackson. “It's sad that the Thanksgiving rivalry is over. But it is still a huge rivalry and it's even better when it means the MVC title.”

With the victory the Raiders (5-1) locked down at least a share of the Merrimack Valley Conference Division 1 title. They need only beat struggling Chelmsford in their regular season finale next week to win the league outright for the third straight season.

The victory also marked the sixth straight victory for Central over Andover.

"Amazing night,” said linebacker and running back Omar Deschamps. “It's always a big deal to beat Andover. We didn't start out great, but we got a shutout in the second half, and not we are playing for the outright MVC crown.”

The game started in wild fashion. On Central Catholic's first play on offense, QB Bret Edwards connected with Steven Jackson on a 61-yard touchdown pass.

But Andover bounced right back, scoring two plays into their next drive on a 49-yard touchdown strike from E.J. Perry IV to Andrew Soucy. The Warriors then took the lead early in the second quarter on a 1-yard Perry Wynn run.

"We started very slow," said Deschamps. "But we just had to keep playing hard and playing our game, and finally we found our groove."

Central tied the game on an Edwards 37-yard TD pass to Mathias Villafane with just over two minutes left in the half. The Raiders then caused a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, and one play later Edwards found Jackson for a 5-yard score in which he had to dive for the goal line, giving Central a 20-14 lead at halftime.

That was exactly the spark the Raiders needed to take control. 

The Golden Warriors managed just one solid drive in the second half, but Cabrera broke in on third down to blast Perry IV, then on fourth down Cabrera and Deschamps flew in for a second straight sack to end the drive.

"Everything was going good on defense,” said Cabrera. “We were rushing the passer, defending the pass and doing everything right. We made a few adjustments at the half to really come after the passer and that really worked.”

The Raiders iced the victory with just over five minutes left when Robert Fitzgerald broke free for a 40-yard touchdown run.

After scoring his first career 100-yard rushing game a week ago, Deschamps followed that up with a game-high 113 this week. Edwards threw for 203 yards and three TDs, 104 and two scores to Jackson.

"It's really a thrill to lock up at least a share of the MVC title here," said Jackson. Now we want to win it outright."

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