Justin Hardy ’23 and Co-Captain Aidan Porter ’23 (left to right) lead the team onto the field.
With an 80 yard drive minutes in, Andover Football’s start against Suffield looked promising, but after a Suffield interception and touchdown, the halftime score was 0-19. Andover ultimately lost 13-25 at Suffield on Saturday. The team’s record now stands at 2-6.
Co-Captain Aidan Porter ’23 stated that leading up to the game, practices included a change in defense in order to adjust to Suffield’s offense strategy. Though the defense applied these adjustments, Porter wished that the team would have been more motivated during practices.
“Suffield did run a different offense than most of the teams in the league so defensively we had a lot of adjustments that we had to make… Our big thing is that regardless of wins or losses we want to get better every game and I think maybe we didn’t hold each other accountable as much as we could have to that mindset during our practices. I will be honest, we did take a step backward, I feel against Suffield, so I think we were not holding each other accountable as much as we should have,” said Porter.
Co-Captain Joe Carrara ’24 echoed Porter’s sentiment. According to Carrara, the beginning of the game did not demonstrate the team’s potential, with low energy holding the team back.
“The way we started the game was not how we would have liked. We came a little bit flat and Suffield wasn’t a great opponent, so we shouldn’t have struggled like we did in the first half. Definitely, our strength was the second half, [when] we put together a great drive with a bunch of great plays. In general, [in] the second half, we played like we wanted to be there,” said Carrara.
Scoring 13 points in the second half, the team adjusted to put points on the board — but according to Co-Captain Andrew DeBenedictis ’23, the shift came too late.
DeBenedictis said, “Suffield scored quickly various times so we had to respond [quickly to that]. But in that second half, we really made the game and I was really proud of us since we kind of came up short in the end. We showed a lot of fight and a lot of effort in that second half. We just need[ed] to show it in the first half.”
Looking ahead, Porter forsees the challenge that Exeter will pose in the upcoming A/E game. Porter noted that Exeter, with high NEPSAC standings and a top record, is Andover’s “toughest opponent,” but hopes that Andover will end the season strong.
“Given that Exeter does have such a good record, we have nothing to lose at this point, and they do have a lot to lose… We’re gonna go out there, and it’s our last game of the season. For a lot of our Seniors it’s their last time ever putting on a football uniform, so [we’re] just leaving everything out on the field. We’re going to go out there, have fun, [and] hopefully have some surprises in store,” said Porter.
Andover Football will host Exeter at 3 p.m. for A/E this Saturday.
