Classical falls to North Andover

NORTH ANDOVER – The North Andover football team defeated Classical, 16-14, at Joe Walsh Stadium Friday night.With the loss the Rams fall to 5-5 on the season.”Our defense played real well,” said Classical coach Tim Phelps. “The kids played hard until the end and that’s all you can ask for. Now we have to focus our attention to Thanksgiving.”The Scarlet Knights got the scoring started on their first drive of the game when they were able to take advantage of a short field, driving 44 yards on a drive that was capped by a 32 yard touchdown pass from Casey Walsh to Robert Shkliew.After a successful conversion, the Scarlet Knights led 7-0.Classical struck right back on the ensuing drive when it drove 73 yards downfield for their own touchdown. Adam Lovett did the honors for the Rams as he punched in a 9-yard run to make the score 7-6. The conversion failed and the score remained the same.North Andover drove down to the Classical 2-yard line and had a second-and-goal on its next possession, but the Ram defense came up huge as it stonewalled the Knights and forced a turnover on downs.Unfortunately for the Rams, the Scarlet Knights defense came up equally as big as on the very next play it tackled the Classical running back in the end zone for a safety making the score 9-6.The score stood that way until the North Andover’s first drive of the fourth quarter, as the Knights drove 63 yards, resulting in a 3-yard touchdown rush by Nichols.After the Knights extended their lead on an extra point the score was 16-6 in favor North Andover.The Rams struck right back on their next possession as they marched down scored when quarterback Jordan Brown found wide receiver Josue Diaz on a 33-yard pass for a touchdown. rad Scuzzarella ran the ball in for the two point conversion as Classical cut the lead to 16-14.Any hope Classical had at completing the comeback was defeated when North Andover recovered the onside kick and ran out the clock.”It was a nail-biter, ” said North Andover Head Coach John Rafferty. “They are a tough team and we are happy to come away with a win.Lovett had a monster game on the ground for the Rams as he ran 14 times for 89 yards. Brown was also impressive offensively as he went 5-7 with 70 yards and a touchdown.For North Andover Tom Stabile was strong on offense as he rushed the ball 21 times for 85 yards. Quarterback Casey Walsh finished the game 13-16 with 142 yards and an interception.