Auffant ’09 helped PA trounce Cushing in the team’s home opener on Saturday. Auffant’s two rushing touchdowns were both electrifying runs. He also played impressively on the defensive side of the ball, coming up with an interception in the first half. Q: How has your Dad being a football coach influenced your football knowledge and the way you play the game? A: Growing up with someone who coached the game put me in the football environment a lot. This definitely helped because overall I had a better opportunity than most kids to get a lot of football knowledge. Q: What is the most evident difference between your old high school, Winnacunnet, and Andover in respect to football? A: Overall, they’re both pretty similar in terms of football but probably the biggest difference is the speed of play. It’s a lot faster in this league and it is definitely a good intermediate step between high school and college football for me. Q: Why did you decide to PG at Andover? A: It was definitely the combination of football and academics that drew me to Andover. Coming to a great school like Andover will open up alleyways for me to hopefully attend top academic colleges. In terms of football, it is just very helpful for me to get another year of experience. Q: What are your plans to continue playing football in college? A: Right now I’m most likely going to be playing in either the NESCAC, the Ivy League, or for a Division I-AA school, such as Northeastern. Q: How did the team respond following the disheartening loss at Choate? A: The whole next week the team was very serious in practice. Everyone was really focused at practice, and we were all on the same page. We were all saying to ourselves that we are not going to lose again. Q: Do you tend to be more relaxed or anxious before games? A: I try to be as laid back as I can before a game. I just try to focus and relax in order to get in the right mindset. For the most part, all the guys on the team are pretty quiet and focused before games. Q: How does Eddie Houghton’s ’09 powerful running style complement your speedy rushing game? A: Eddie and I have both complemented each other greatly. Because we both have distinct running styles, the defense has to stay on their toes trying to guess which one of us is going to get the handoff. Eddie is a very powerful back with a lot of speed as well. His power certainly does help open up holes for me, where I like to get in the open field and use my speed. Q: Who is your favorite offensive lineman to run behind? A: To be honest, I love running behind all of them. They are all unbelievable blockers and Eddie and I would not have the success that we’ve been having without these guys. So truthfully I can’t just pick one guy, because they’re just so dominant together as a unit.
