New to the team, Adam Landry PG’24 is Andover Football’s first-string quarterback.
Co-Captain Diego Velez ’24 is a wide receiver for Andover Football.
Andover Football took its second loss of the new season against Salisbury School with a final score of 28-35 on Saturday. In an intense game, the team fought from behind but came short at the final sound of the whistle.
Despite the loss, Andover still put on an impressive performance, according to one-year Senior Alexandro Armour ’24. He praised Sebastian Haferd ’25, Daniel Bandar ’24, and John Furey ’24 for their defensive abilities throughout the game.
Armour said, “Our front seven is probably, other than [at] IMG [Academy], the best I played with in my school career. No one can run the ball on us, so they are forced to do it through the air. And you know, our safeties and our cornerbacks don’t have to cover for long for me, DB [Bander], Sebby [Haferd] and Furey to get home, so definitely our front seven is where it’s at.”
On the other side of the ball, Andover was able to get down the field efficiently, but ran into some red zone troubles. New quarterback Adam Landry PG’24 felt pleased with the team’s offense, noting its success in maintaining possession and transitioning the ball down the field.
“Offense moved the ball really well. That game, we had a lot of long drives, which really helped us chew the clock. Our special teams performed well too. Our kicker’s great. I don’t think he’s missed a field goal or an extra point yet so that’s a good takeaway. Overall, I think the offense is doing really well,” said Landry.
Although the team put up a great show on both sides of the ball, Andover conceded numerous touchdowns due to technical issues on the field. Defensive lineman Daniel Bandar believes the team could have done better in getting the opposing ball carrier down at first contact.
Bandar said, “We could have tackled them way better. We did better this last game, but I think we need to lower the shoulder more and go for the legs and just tackle because we had some missed tackles against Salisbury that we should have gotten. But just one more week of just getting tackling fundamentals down, we should be good to go.”
Andover looks forward to developing its team throughout the season by using an iron-sharpens-iron mentality. According to Armour, offensive lineman Grant DeHoog ’25’s unwavering determination and hard work in practices is reflective of this mindset, raising the quality of play in others.
“One thing about [DeHoog] is he ain’t gonna quit. No matter what I do…he’s gonna keep coming and I definitely respect that he can. You can see it in the game. He ain’t gonna quit. Let’s say someone who’s really really strong is trying to have their way with him. He’s gonna keep coming at him, which I really respect,” said Armour.
Previously on the road against Salisbury, Andover Football looks forward to returning to its home field, Phelps Stadium, this weekend. Bandar believes that Andover’s time in the film room will provide a great advantage for them in the upcoming game.
Bandar said, “Our plan to prepare for our game against Kent next weekend is to watch a lot more film and focus on their offense and their defense and how to counteract it. We want to be prepared on how to read their plays and overall know what’s going to happen before the play even begins.”
Andover Football will host Kent on Saturday.
