After ending the 2016 season with three straight victories and a rivalry win over Phillips Exeter Academy, Andover Football began this year with its preseason, where the team worked hard and became better acquainted with its new players and plays. The team focused mainly on its offensive concepts during its preseason, working to be a strong offensive-minded team this year, according to Co-Captain Larson Tolo ’18.
Tolo said, “Basically we just did some basic drills that showed talent with the ball on offense. We focused on offense almost the entire time. Then we worked on defense and defensive group work.”
“Then we starting hitting on Wednesday, which was the first time we had hit all year. There weren’t very many cuts, but we came together chemistry-wise over that week of training. We grew closer; we grew closer with the playbook and with the coaches and each other in general,” continued Tolo.
At the end of preseason, Andover had a scrimmage against Brooks. Although the teams did not keep score, the game was an opportunity for Andover to identify areas for both offensive and defensive improvement.
Kevin Milkowski ’18 said, “The scrimmage gave us a good indicator of how our team has progressed since the start of preseason. We were able to see what we did and didn’t do well so we can better prepare for the first game.”
Andover is hopeful for a strong season and is looking forward to its first official game against Hotchkiss on Saturday, according to Tolo.
Speaking on the overall team goals for this season, Tolo said, “We want people to fill their position, bring everything that they can to their position and make sure that we can do what we need to do as a team to win. I am confident that we can do so. We ideally want to go for an undefeated season, but at the end of the season we want to go and beat Exeter.”
Editor’s Note: Larson Tolo is a Copy Editor for The Phillipian.
