In addition to punter, Kevin Diaz PG’20 plays wide receiver, tight end, and defensive end.
Quarterback Julian Dahl ’22 believes that the team’s inability to score early in the game resulted in the loss.
Dahl said, “That game really challenged our toughness and our ability to work together as a team. We should have won that game and we just need to play with more toughness and perseverance. The last couple of games, we have just been a first-half team, so we have to learn [how] to not let that intimidate us and to keep moving [forward] in the second half—[coming] out swinging faster and [trying] to just get on the scoreboard. Because if we had gotten on the scoreboard early in the second half, we could have won that game.”
Both Dahl and Co-Captain Michael Thompson ’21 were impressed by players who impacted the game with their defensive contribution.
“The game was more of a defensive effort [as] our linebackers, Anderson [Sirmon PG’20] and Ben [Carbeau ’21], and also our defensive ends, Hunter [Lane PG’20] and Graham [Archer ’21], all played good,” said Dahl.
Thompson believes that Troy Pollock ’21, this weeks Phillipian Athlete of the Week, added to Andover’s performance on Sunday with the influence he had on both offense and defense.
“Troy Pollock played really well not only on [defense] but also on offense too. He had some good runs at running back and overall had a really impactful game playing defense,” said Thompson.
According to Co-Captain Jake Jordan ’20, the difficult weather conditions should not be viewed as a reason for Andover’s loss.
Jordan said, “Even though the weather was a disadvantage during that game, that can’t be an excuse for any team to not play together. So personally, I think that we have to put a lot more work into putting drives together and really making sure that everyone does their job. We also need to look at what the opposing defense has to offer in order to exploit their weaknesses so that we are able to drive down the field and ultimately put points on the board.”
According to Jordan and Thompson, the team is not currently playing at its best, and there is a lot of room for improvement.
“I definitely think that we have not fulfilled the potential that our team has. We have to come together as a unit. For lack of a better [expression], we are just not playing together. We’re out of sync and I think that at Deerfield, that really showed,” said Jordan.
Thompson added, “We’ve had some key injuries this year and also some growing pains adapting to the new coaching system, but the team is definitely headed in the right direction. We still have our season-defining game against Exeter coming up November 9th.”
Seeking its second win of the season, Andover will travel to Worcester on Saturday.
Editor’s Note: Jake Jordan is a Live Editor for The Phillipian.
