The Andover defense held the Loomis offense to zero first downs as Andover cruised to a 38-0 victory on Saturday. Joey Lokitis ’06 threw for two touchdowns to Andrew Badger ’06. Matt Fernandez ’06 and Charlie Houghton ’06 each ran for two touchdowns. In its season opener, the Andover Varsity Football team treated its fans to an exhibition of talent and intensity not seen at Andover in years. From the opening kickoff, Andover outmatched Loomis. Andover’s defense stuffed three Loomis plays, and the offense came out clicking. Fernandez ran for a 40-yard touchdown on the team’s fourth play. A holding penalty, however, negated the score. Fernandez had another long touchdown run called back by a penalty on the next drive. While the offense shot itself in the foot with penalties, the defense left nothing to doubt with its dominating play. Colin Serafino ’06 had six tackles behind the line of scrimmage in the first half alone. On its third offensive possession, Andover finally broke through. Lokitis tossed a beautiful 40-yard bomb to Badger who waltzed into the end zone. Because of the two touchdown-negating penalties, Andover led only 7-0 after the first quarter, but soon took over in the second quarter. Houghton ran in two scores, one from one yard out and another on a 45-yard run. On his long touchdown run, five Loomis defenders had angles on Houghton, but he left them grasping at air. As Coach Modeste says, “You can’t catch smoke.” Fernandez finally scored a touchdown that wasn’t called back on a 15-yard run. Running to the right, Fernandez picked up a pancake block from Casey Shannon ’07 and strode untouched in to the end zone. With all the attention on the running backs, Lokitis flourished in the first half, going 6-8 for 112 yards and a touchdown. He finished the game 10-12 for over 200 yards and two scores. Brendan Gallagher ’06 caught a 30-yard pass from Lokitis, but his best work was done on defense where he and Peter Casey ’07 shut down the Loomis running game. Each player also recorded a sack. Coach Modeste said, “We had those penalties in the first half that took away two long touchdowns. Unlike last year, though, we kept attacking and broke through with all those points.” Andover went in to halftime with a commanding 25-0 lead. In the third quarter, Lokitis threw another bomb to Badger, and Fernandez scored another touchdown on the ground. Houghton also had a long touchdown run called back because of a holding penalty. On defense, the performance was spectacular. Fernandez, Tom Tassinari ’06, and Captain Matt Ward ’06 shut down the Loomis passing game, only allowing one completed pass. Serafino, Shannon, and Drew Apollonia ’06 dominated the line of scrimmage. Coach Modeste was most impressed with Andover’s command of the line of scrimmage. He said, “We dominated both sides of the line and controlled the game because of it.” Andover put in a terrific performance on Saturday, but that is history. The team looks forward to a titanic match-up on Saturday at the home of the defending New England champions, New Hampton Academy.
