10/14 – Andover: 14, Cheshire Academy: 42
Andover Football (1-4) fell to one of the strongest teams in New England, Cheshire Academy (Cheshire), on Saturday. Despite the team’s loss, Andover was able to take positives from the tough matchup.
Cheshire featured players committed to Penn State, University of Miami, Yale University, and University of Southern California, among others. Wide receiver Elan Shetty ’26 described the team’s mentality heading into the game against Cheshire.
“We saw them as one of the best teams in New England, but we went with it. They are beatable. We can beat them, and we’re going to give our best effort in beating them,” said Shetty.
However, Cheshire’s reputation as a football team still caused some unease within the team starting from kickoff, according to defensive back Carter Aime ’25.
“We knew coming into the game that they would be a really good team… We were scared in that way, like when we got on the field [on the] first drive… We were just scared at the beginning of the game, and that kind of just carried [through] the whole [game],” said Aime.
Despite this anxious energy, some moments in the game allowed the team to gain momentum and fight back. Shetty noted that safety Nick Jones ’24 made an impactful play that raised the team’s spirits.
“Nick Jones recovered a fumble [in] the second half, and it just gave our team life, and it gave us momentum to go out there and want to get some points on the board,” Shetty said.
Although Andover made some memorable plays, Shetty talked about how the team has been let down by its lack of effort in practice. He believes that this is one of the main contributors to Andover’s poor record.
“We got to take practice more seriously. We can’t go around with an arrogant attitude…we [got to] bring our best at every single practice in every single game. Can’t take plays off. We [got to] do the best that we can,” said Shetty.
Defensive back Bennett Rodgers ’26 is proud of the improvement the team has made since last year and expressed his high hopes for the rest of the season.
Rodgers said, “We have a much better team than last season. We [have] a lot more talent and I think it’s a great group of guys… We always say we’re like a family and I think it is really good.”
Shetty held similar sentiments to Rodgers, mentioning that the team has improved substantially since it played together last year. Andover has not only shown growth in its level of play, but also in its chemistry .
“The brotherhood and the camaraderie between the team is a lot better than last year. You can definitely see the level of talent on both the offensive side of the ball and the defensive side of the ball, which is substantially better,” said Shetty.
Andover Football will play at home next Saturday against Brunswick.
