Scarlet Knights Ground Rockets

North Andover bounced back from a 30-20 home-loss against Andover on Sept. 9, and the Knights bounced back big, defeating Middlesex power, Reading 32-18 at home Friday.

“We weren’t trying to do anything schematically different than last week,” Head Coach John Rafferty said. “The difference was mistake-free football. We’re not handing out free passes to the opponent.”

The Knights picked up their first win of the 2011 campaign.

“It definitely was important to get the first win out of the way,” senior quarterback Brandon Walsh said. “We’ve been working hard all week, preparing for this team. [Reading] is a good team. Getting that win is big.”

Punters were on display as defense stole the show early. Reading won the toss and deferred to kick the ball to North Andover, who traded three-and-outs with the Rockets until about five minutes remained in the first quarter. North Andover’s Brandon Lash returned a punt into Reading territory, which set up a 36-yard Walsh run to open up scoring. RB/LB/K Glen Hartford missed the extra point leaving NA with a 6-0 score.

Hartford made up for the botched PAT, intercepting Reading QB, Drew Belcher on the following drive and taking the ball all the way to the Reading 20-yard-line.

“We were aggressive to the ball,” said Rafferty of the defense. “That front seven, I’m really happy with them, I thought they did a real good job. For the most part, I thought our secondary did well too.”

North Andover’s John Iannone capped the Knights’ following drive with a 20-yard scamper to pay dirt. Ryan Quinn missed the PAT, and NA was suddenly ahead 12-0.

Early penalties prevented the Rockets from trying to find any momentum. Reading returned the following kickoff into North Andover territory, but a low block pushed the Rockets all the way back to their own nine. The drive fizzled and Reading was forced to punt again to end the first quarter.

Walsh and the Knights picked up right where they had left off in the first with the QB marching them right down the field to the Reading one-yard-line. Walsh plunged into the end zone on a keeper, and Quinn blasted the extra point to put North Andover up 19-0.

“It definitely felt good,” Walsh said of the offensive success. “We kind of shot ourselves in the foot last week with stupid things like penalties and turnovers, and we were just looking to improve on that, so we did.”

After another North Andover score on a Nick Oswald rush, and a 25-0 deficit, Reading running back, Anthony DiSimone finally muscled the Rockets into enemy territory. However, another Rockets drive burned out Reading punted with 1:45 left to go in the half.

Walsh got his two-minute drill working. He hit co-captain, Dan Laorenza with two quick, long passes, marching right down field. Two ticks remained on the clock and the Knights had the ball on the Reading 15. Wash dropped back to pass, but found no one in the Reading coverage, so he hoofed it for the end zone, breaking one tackle and muscling his way through two defenders that met him at the goal line. North Andover went into the locker room up 32-0 on Reading at halftime.

“The play was kind of dead,” Laorenza said of the broken play to end the half. “The [offensive] line kept him open in the pocket for a while, and he was able to make a play after that.”

“We just came out and played North Andover football, hard-nosed football and everyone did what they needed to do,” Walsh said.

The Rockets held the Knights to zero in the third quarter, but couldn’t muster a score for themselves.

Reading took a shot a comeback in the fourth quarter, scoring three times and running out of time for a fourth touchdown. Belcher went 12-23 in the second half, including a 28-yard fade to WR Ryan Maney. Maney made seven catches on the night for 70 yards, while DeSimone had a team-high 37 yards on 13 carries.

Walsh had 10 passing attempts and 10 rushing attempts, going 7-for-10 for 93 yards in the air, and 86 yards on the ground for three TDs. Laorenza caught six receptions for 85 yards.

The Knights hit the road for the next three weeks before returning home on Oct. 14 to take on Phillips Academy.