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Iovanella, North Andover roll past Amesbury

Friday, September, 18 By David Willis
Staff writer

NORTH ANDOVER — After a crushing last-second loss to archrival Andover Week 1, North Andover running back Zac Iovanella admitted his squad entered Week 2 with a little extra fire in their eyes.

“We thought we should have had that game last week,” said Iovanella. “So there was a little bit of revenge on our minds. We wanted that first win so much, and we came out hard and took it.”

Behind the work of their defense and a methodical rushing game paced by Iovanella, North Andover rolled to a 21-0 win over defending Division 3A Super Bowl champion Amesbury last night at Walsh Stadium.

“We really felt like we should have had a win last week,” said senior lineman Kyle Kobierski. “We had a little extra motivation and wanted to come away with a win. Winning was amazing tonight.”

The Scarlet Knights used their potent running game to control the pace of play throughout. A week after being limited to 76 yards on 26 carries against Andover, Iovanella regained his form and tallied 131 yards on 26 carried, including all three North Andover touchdowns.

Iovanella and the offense were especially dominant in the second half. The senior back gained more than 8 yards just twice (10 and 11 yards), but on 13 carries totaled 69 yards. Senior Deshawn Gordon, at just 5-foot-5 and 145 pounds, added six carries for 20 yards.

That ball control allowed the Knights to dictate the pace after the break. They limited the Indians to just nine plays overall in the second half, compared to 25 plays run by North Andover. Sophomore QB Brandon Walsh finished 11-of-17 throwing for 111 yards.

“We realized we had the opportunity to win last week,” said Knights coach John Rafferty. “Zac had a very good night tonight. But we knew we couldn’t make the mistakes we made last week, and we cleaned those up tonight.”

North Andover surrendered just 133 yards of total offense, including only 11 through the air as they limited Indians quarterback Tyler Lay to 1-of-8 throwing. Much of Amesbury’s offense came on two plays — 24 and 19-yard gains — late in the fourth quarter. The Indians were without fullback Jesse Burrell, who scored 12 TD last season.

Kobierski paced the Scarlet Knights defense with five tackles, while Jack Murphy and Kevin O’Grady each had four tackles and Mike Weisman recovered a fumble to squash the Indians’ only substantial drive, which reached the North Andover 10-yard line.

“I’d say our defense played great tonight,” said Kobierski. “They are a young team after losing a lot of the guys form last year. But I think we played really well, and having guys like Brandon and Zac is pretty amazing.”