Football Preview: Andover Golden Warriors vs. Central Catholic Raiders
Andover hasn't had much luck against Central Catholic recently, but that could start to change on Friday. The Andover Golden Warriors will welcome the Central Catholic Raiders at 7:00 p.m. Both come into the contest bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Andover's defense heads into the matchup hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Friday. They claimed a resounding 29-0 victory over Haverhill at home. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Golden Warriors.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Andover to victory, but perhaps none more so than Dominic Papa, who threw for 177 yards and two touchdowns, and also rushed for 57 yards and a touchdown. That's the most rushing yards Papa has posted since back in October of 2023. Julius Martinez was Papa's top target, picking up 69 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Andover's defense stepped up as well, laying out the QB 8.5 times. The heavy lifting was done by Yasiah Yamaya and Lucas Souza, who racked up five sacks between them. Another thorn in Haverhill's side was Jackson Fuller, who picked up 1.5 sacks, made nine total tackles (4.0 for loss), and defended a pass.
Special teams played a big role in the game for Andover, adding 11 points to the final score. All those points came courtesy of Henry Belscher: he added nine points with three field goals, and another two kicking extra points.
Meanwhile, winning is always nice, but doing so behind a season-high score is even better (just ask Central Catholic). They took down Haverhill 57-40 two weeks ago. Given the Raiders' advantage in MaxPreps' Massachusetts football rankings (they are ranked 20th, while the Hillies are ranked 131st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Andover's win bumped their record up to 5-2. As for Central Catholic, the victory got them back to even at 3-3.
Andover came out on top in a nail-biter against Central Catholic in their previous meeting back in October of 2023, sneaking past 22-20. Does Andover have another victory up their sleeve, or will Central Catholic turn the tables on them? We'll have the answer soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
