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Late drive give Central Thanksgiving classic win over Andover

Thursday, November, 26 By David Willis
Staff writer

LAWRENCE — Central Catholic’s Trae Musumarra never dreamt the ball would be coming his way.

“I was just supposed to block on the play,” said Musumarra. “Then, there was no one there to block and I just looked up and was staring at the football. I had no idea how I got out there.”

After the Raiders took a 15-point lead into halftime, Andover delivered a furious second-half rally to take a one-point advantage with just 3:35 left to go in the game.

But Central’s Andrew Ouellette had just a little magic left.

The senior QB led his Raiders on a picture-perfect drive, and finished it off on fourth down with the 13-yard touchdown pass to Musumarra with just 1:38 left on the clock to give Central Catholic a 35-30 win over Andover, snapping a three-game Thanksgiving Day losing streak.

“It was play action to the left,” said Ouellette. “There wasn’t anything there, so I looked backside, then pulled the ball down to run. Then  I saw Trae out of the corner of my eye running out his fake and hit him. I knew he could catch it.”

Andover seemed to have stolen the momentum as the Golden Warriors drove 55 yards and QB John Hennessy hit fullback Brian Martin for a touchdown pass with just moments left in the game for its first lead of the day.

Ouellette opened the winning drive with a 14-yard run, and Musumarra added a 28-yard gain. But after three runs netted only 4 yards, Central faced a fourth-and-5 from their 13-yard line, without kicker Cam Walsh, who could play defensive back but could not kick due to injury. 

“We have a really good kicker that was hurt,” said Central coach Chuck Adamopoulos. “That is a spot we would usually kick. But I looked at Andrew and said, ‘Give me a little more of your magic.’”

Ouellette — who was just 1-of-6 throwing for 3 yards and an interception in the second half — did just that, tossing the beautiful pass to his back.

“I threw my hand up because I saw I was wide open,” said Musumarra. “I caught it and felt a guy coming at me, but (receiver Zach) Bardwell threw a block, I went around and into the end zone. My heart was pounding.”

It appeared early on that Central may run away with the contest. On the Raiders’ first play from scrimmage, halfback Zack Lattrell (6 carries, 114 yards) rumbled 79 yards to set up Ouellette’s first touchdown run. They scored on their first three posessions of the day, while limiting Andover to only 78 yards of total offense in the first half, its lone score a Brian Miller kickoff return.

But Hennessy and Christopher McConnell would lead a final Golden Warriors rally.

On their first drive of the second half, Hennessy hit McConnell on a 33-yard bomb to set up a Martin touchdown run, and one posession later they connected on a 56-yard touchdown pass.

Hennessy (23 for 34, 282 yards) finished with a stunning 240 passing yards after the break, and added a 37-yard score to Miller and the 9-yard strike to Martin to give his squad the lead.

But Ouellete, whose 117 rushing yards gave him 1,089 for the season, and his offense would not be denied.

“It doesn’t get better than this,” said Ouellette. “Throwing a game-winning touchdown pass on your last high school throw. To finish 8-3 is pretty special, and there is nothing better than winning on Thanksgiving. This was amazing.”