ANDOVER – Just four games into the season Methuen football coach Tom Ryan is already at a loss for adjectives when it comes to his standout tailback Shane Eason.
“If you don’t talk about him as being one of the two best players in the state then you’re crazy,” said Ryan succinctly after watching Eason find the end zone four times as the Rangers (3-1) cruised past MVC rival Andover, 37-10.
There really wasn’t much more to say as what was a 10-10 game at the half quickly turned into the Eason express the rest of the way. The senior scored three times in the final half with runs eight, seven and two yards and finished the night with 136 yards on the ground.
Afterwards the back was quick to shift the spotlight to the guys in front who opened up some huge holes all night.
“My line has been tremendous all season long,” said Eason. “I love those guys, I have been playing with most of them my whole life. It’s great to have a brotherhood like we do.”
Eason’s impressive ground total could have almost been double as he saw his 97-yard jaunt down the Ranger sidelines called back early in the fourth. Two plays later, however, it was the equally quick Josh Kwakye, who came up with a huge interception in the third quarter, who streaked 91 yards down the other sideline for the score to make it 30-10 with 10 minutes to go.
Andover (3-1) got on the board first in the second quarter after the ever aggressive Andover coach E.J. Perry actually opted to punt on fourth-and-one at his own 42. No worries. The Rangers were flagged for running into the punter and four plays later, Andover QB Dom Papa took advantage of the miscue as he connected with the fleet-footed Julius Martinez in stride right at the far pylon on a pretty pass to make it 7-0.
Undaunted, the visitors answered right back with an impressive nine-play, 67-yard drive behind the very capable wheels of Eason. The elusive senior carried the rock on eight of the nine plays and took advantage of a gaping hole up the middle to rumble in from 14 yards out to tie the game with 2:52 left.
It looked like Andover would take a 10-7 lead into the locker room after freshman kicker Andrew Belscher connected from 31 yards out with just 42 seconds, but Methuen went right back down the field courtesy of a pair of big hookups from quarterback Josh Danella to Adrian Blake and spiked the ball with six seconds left to set up Hicham Aboutoi’s 26-yard field goal.
“That was a huge play,” said Eason. “That got the game tied up going into half and we knew we had the ball to start the second half so we were definitely ready to go.”
