Andover football rolls St. Francis in section semifinal 51-21

The Andover Huskies (7-2) defeated St. Francis 51-21 in the Class 5A, Section 7 semifinals. 

Andover led a close game 17-7 at halftime, but the second half was a much different story.

St. Francis' Joe Waldock plunged in a 1-yard touchdown run and pulled St. Francis within a field goal, 17-14. This was the last time the game would be this close.

D’Mario Davenport ran for a 59-yard touchdown with eight minutes, 43 seconds left in the third quarter and put Andover up 24-14. Andover would quickly score again on a 7-yard run by Dylan Kirchner, putting the Huskies up 31-14 with 6:13 left in the third quarter.

St. Francis (7-2), and Waldock, responded with a touchdown with 10 seconds left in the third quarter. The third quarter ended and the game was still within reach for St. Francis, 31-21.

Andover scored 20 straight points and put the game away in the fourth quarter. Teddy Heller scored on a 32-yard touchdown at the 11:05 mark to put Andover up 37-21 after a blocked extra point. Landyn Nelson connected on a 37-yard touchdown to Sam Musungu with 9:17 left to put Andover up 44-21. The Huskies scored one more touchdown in the fourth quarter, a 6-yard touchdown pass from Nelson to Michael Robertson to put them up 51-21.

Here are four takeaways from the game:

Andover pulls away in the 4th quarter

The Fighting Saints offense was not capable of a comeback from such a large deficit. It struggled to keep up with the explosive passing game and playmakers of Andover, and the game essentially turned into a track meet halfway through the third quarter.

Andover assistant coaches Dave Paddock and Zach Hahn stated the game played between both teams earlier in the season, a St. Francis win, would have likely been a different outcome because the field conditions were terrible and that it was a, “slop fest.”

St. Francis had no answers for Andover offense

The Fighting Saints allowed the most points of its season by 21 points. It only allowed 30 points to a top Elk River team the previous week.

St. Francis struggled to maintain drives, outside of their initial drive of the 2nd half, which led to their defense being on the field way too much to be effective against an explosive Andover offense.

“It’s never easy whether it’s a one point loss in overtime or like this,”  St. Francis head coach Brent Swaggert said.

The Fighting Saints should be given a ton of credit for the fantastic season they had. St. Francis has not had a season with this much success since 2015 when it went 6-2. 

No one wants to lose in the playoffs at home by being blown out by a rival, but Swaggert has the St. Francis program moving in the right direction.

D’Mario Davenport dominates with limited touches

Junior running back D’Mario Davenport scored on two long touchdowns to take away any momentum by St. Francis.

Davenport scored on an 80-yard touchdown pass early in the game to give Andover a two score lead and a 59-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter to deliver a devastating blow to St. Francis.

Davenport was only featured in a few plays, but he was electric in this one. Anytime that Davenport touched the ball, the St. Francis defense did not have an answer. Davenport’s speed and agility was way too much to handle. Andover needs to continue to find ways to get Davenport involved, especially next week, when they travel to face undefeated Elk River.

Rematch with Elk River is looming for Andover

Andover will travel to Elk River next week to face a team that defeated them 67-35 back in week two. The Elks rushed for a ludicrous 621 yards with 11.5 yards per carry and eight touchdowns against the Huskies that week.

Andover was short handed against the Elks back in week two with several key players injured early in the season. The Huskies are back to full strength and will look to hand Elk River its first loss of the year next week.