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Central Catholic takes out frustration on Andover

Friday, September, 27 By David Willis
Staff writer

ANDOVER — Central Catholic walked onto the Eugene V. Lovely Field turf with redemption on its mind.

Redemption for last year’s Thanksgiving Day loss on the same field, which cost the Raiders a trip to the playoffs.

Redemption for last week’s loss to St. John’s Prep, which saw them embarrassed on ESPN countless times.

The Raiders then took out all of that frustration on Andover High.

“We wanted to prove that we were not a joke after last week,” said senior Cody Demers. “And we remember how much last year’s Thanksgiving Day hurt. We wanted to make up for it.”

Central Catholic did just that, with a dominating defensive effort and plenty of offense on the way to a 26-7 victory.

“This means a lot to us in the (Merrimack Valley Conference Division 1) race,” said running back/defensive back D’Andre Drummond-Mayrie. “We also wanted to prove that we weren’t the joke we were made out to be. And we wanted revenge for Thanksgiving. That pumped us up a lot. It was a big part of our pregame talk.”

The Raiders grabbed the lead on the first play of the second quarter, when Markus Edmunds pounded in from 5 yards out. Then added to that advantage with 48 seconds left in the quarter when Drummond-Mayrie scored a 4-yard touchdown.

“After that first score we felt like we had something going,” said Drummond-Mayrie. “Then (Mike) Milano hit Cam Manning on the big (44-yard) pass to set up my score and I knew we were going to have a good day.”

Andover may have rallied for victory a season ago in their annual holiday matchup, and St. John’s Prep dominated the second half a week ago, but the Raiders did not loosen their grip last night.

Central held the Golden Warriors to four straight three-and-outs to start the second half, and finally increased the lead early in the fourth when Milano connected with Demers on a 35-yard touchdown. The Raiders finished their scoring in the seven minutes later on a 23-yard TD run by Mike Balsamo.

“We didn’t play in the second half last week,” said Demers. “So we wanted to set the tone and play the whole game. We wanted to prove that we could dominate and play four quarters. I feel like we did that today.”

The Raider defense was sharp, allowing Andover just 45 first-half yards and held them to just a single first down in the third. The Warriors’ touchdown came with 1:45 left on the clock in the fourth.

Drummond-Mayrie was again a force on defense with a game-high 12 touchdowns and an interception, while Edmunds added the 10 stops. Patrick Dziedzic and Jonathan Parsons also combined for a sack.

Christopher Nicholas led Andover with a first-half interception and a caught the touchdown pass from E.J. Perry IV for the squad’s lone touchdown.

“Seeing them celebrate last year hurt,” said Demers. “We wanted to give them a taste of what will have this year on Thanksgiving.”