PA Football put forth another fantastic team effort Saturday, shutting out a talented Cushing team 26-0. Luke DeLuca ’07 and Anthony Ambrosi ’07 combined to rush for over 275 yards and three touchdowns as the Big Blue ran its way to a 4-0 record at the halfway point of the season. In a cool, sunny afternoon at the warm and receptive Phelps Stadium, Cushing presented itself “as the toughest opponent we had faced this season,” according to Coach Leon Modeste. The Penguins came into the league contest with a 2-0 record and a strong passing game to compliment a mobile defense. Andover, however, picked up right where it left off in last week’s 48-6 win over Choate, scoring on its opening drive via an Ambrosi rushing touchdown to take a 7-0 lead. The game took a defensive turn for the rest of the half, as PA dug in to stop the Penguins’ passing attack. The Blue effectively managed to contain Cushing’s rushing game, but the strong Cushing quarterback utilized quick and short out patterns to build three drives that struck into the PA red zone. While the Cushing secondary was causing problems for the Big Blue on the opposite side of the ball, the PA defensive backfield stepped up its game each time it was asked and held the Penguins scoreless in all three trips to the red zone. Before the end of the half, as Cushing was set up to kick a field goal, Chad Hollis ’08 flew around the right side of the line and blocked the kick into the hands of Tyler Palin ’07. “If there was a turning point in this game, it was the blocked kick,” described Coach Modeste. With the halftime lead at only seven points, the Blue carried the momentum and energy into the second half, coming out and running over, through, and around the eight Penguin defenders stacked at the line of scrimmage. In a drive consisting of only running plays, Andover drove 74 yards on nine plays, culminating in a DeLuca touchdown rush, his fourth of the season, to give Andover a 13-0 lead. The Big Blue defense continued to allow Cushing no room to breathe in the second half, as the Penguins could not muster anything remotely resembling a successful drive. Still, in what was a two possession game after three quarters, PA needed to ice the game with a score or two of its own. “The knockout punch in the game was the touchdown pass from [Co-Captain] Will Sherrill [’07] to Austin Monahan [’07] to start the fourth quarter,” said Coach Modeste about Sherrill’s lengthy touchdown toss down the right side to the senior wideout. As Cushing stacked the line heavily to stop the run, its secondary was left vulnerable, “and it forces us to pass. We have to throw and catch, to execute and keep the defense honest, and it was exactly what we needed to put the game out of reach,” said the coach. Ambrosi finished off the scoring at 26 points in the fourth quarter, on a touchdown run to the right side of the end zone, bringing his season totals to 13 touchdowns and an average of 205 rushing yards per game. Defensively, Kevin Wood ’07 and Gigi Cadet ’07 led the Blue defense in its shutout with two sacks and 12 tackles respectively. Looking comparatively around the league, the Big Blue leads all teams in both points scored and points allowed per game, and its average margin of victory is over 31 points. This leads the league as well, and only 4-0 Exeter (18 points) shares a positive margin of victory in the league. Andover looks to continue their streak as they head westward to take on 2-2 Northfield Mount Hermon, fresh off a loss to Exeter. Andover will need to contain NMH’s agile and cagey quarterback and focus on breaking the inevitable oppositional strategy of stacking eight men on the line to stop the Big Blue running game.
