9/26 – Andover: 28, Williston: 48
Following a comeback win over Hotchkiss in its season opener, Football (1–1) faced a tough challenge against Williston Northampton (Williston). Williston is ranked first according to the New England High School Football Report, as of September 28. Andover lost 28–48 against Williston on Saturday in its first away game.
After a tense buildup, the team felt energized going into its game against Williston, according to Thomas Perri ’29.
“Pregame, we were very hyped up and ready for the game. The other team was talking a lot of smack before the game, they were pretty high on themselves since they just beat a really good opponent. That lit a fire inside of us that made us really want to go out and beat them,” said Perri.
To prepare for its matchup against Williston, which was coming off a win over highly ranked Tabor Academy (Tabor), the team watched film. Perri described the team’s film study and Interim Head Coach Ernie Adams’s planning for the expected rainfall.
“We watched every single play from our previous game to analyze our team, and also Williston, from their game the week before. Another drill we did was something [Head] Coach [Adams] came up with. We expected to play in a lot of rain, with the nor’easter coming in, so for most of practice, he had a water bottle and squirted water on the football to simulate wet conditions,” said Perri.
Since the team faced many injuries early in the season, some players had to adapt to new positions, noted Colin O’Brien ’29. O’Brien commented on the team’s grit and perseverance throughout the game.
“We kept fighting until the end. We persevered through the game. The big challenge was that there were a lot of injuries, we had some people playing positions they probably never played before. The biggest success we had was that we didn’t give up because we kept scoring multiple touchdowns in the second half,” said O’Brien.
Trevor Morasse ’29 added that the team found its rhythm in the second half of the game and maintained unity throughout. Morasse also highlighted a moment in the game that raised the team’s energy.
“We really stuck together as a team atmosphere. Every time we scored, they also had big plays, but we always had each other’s back and helped each other back up. I remember our tight end Michael [Vallarelli ’27] caught a one-handed ball and ran it in for a touchdown. Everybody was going crazy. We really supported each other,” said Morasse.
The team will face Salisbury on Saturday.
