Carissa Dessin, Harry Guo, Eva Liss, & Brandon Nguyen || EXECUTIVE EDITORS

After an unexpected varsity basketball loss to North Andover on January 3, Andover students faced North Andover’s pride and resentment in the form of heckling and physically threatening behavior. This occurrence was only the most recent in a long line of Andover-North Andover rivalry standoffs. 

Tensions between Andover and North Andover have always run high, dating back to 1854 when the Massachusetts General Court split Andover’s South and West Parishes from the North Parish, giving North Andover its own identity. While the towns have coexisted amicably, their sports rivalry—fueled by proud and devoted students—has been anything but friendly as of late.

While members of the basketball team said they could not comment on the event on January 3, senior and Jungle Leader Jed Gallaudet gave some details on what occurred from his perspective: “[There was] a lot of colorful language. There [were] some personal chants going on during the game,” he said. But the main altercation occurred in the parking lot after the game, where “there was a lot of swearing, F-bombs, stuff like that.” From what Gallaudet could recall, “[he] mostly heard [comments] from North Andover. There’s definitely bad blood, so they weren’t the only ones doing anything, but they were the ones starting it.” 

ANDOVERVIEW sought comment from North Andover High School administration for this article. Interim Principal Deborah Holman directed the ANDOVERVIEW to North Andover High School Athletic Director Steve Nugent; however, repeated emails and multiple phone calls to Nugent were not returned. Emails to Assistant Principals Scott Young and Allynn Graham were also not returned. 

Physical altercations between the Andovers are nothing new. “Last year I saw North Andover students spit on our gym floor after we beat them in basketball,” said Gallaudet. “There have been fights [after] the Thanksgiving games… so it’s kind of par for the course for this rivalry.” He acknowledged the history between the towns: “It’s a fun thing to be a part of. [We’ve] just got to keep it on the court, on the field, on the track, on the rink, and not in the parking lot.” 

Boys’ Basketball Coach David Fazio remarked that the rivalry against North Andover remains strong among players. Before every season, Fazio has his players write their three biggest goals for the season, and “the majority of the kids put down ‘I want to beat North Andover.’” 

Fazio gave this advice on avoiding conflict altogether to his team: staying off social media. “Someone will say something on Instagram, and then someone will give a [rebuttal], and then it doesn’t stop,” he said. “Just avoid the noise that’s out there.” 

Fazio also commented on the North Andover student section, comparing them to Andover’s other rival, Central Catholic. Being a Central alum himself, he reflected that the best rivalries are the ones that are based on fun banter, not aggressive competition. “The thing with Central is that we’ve always had fun with it,” Fazio said. “Sometimes I think the North Andover crowd crosses the line with the things they say and do.” He also gave his praises to the Jungle: “Our [students are] second to none. They’re classy, witty; they could easily be thrown into the fire of retribution unscathed.” 

According to Athletic Director Wayne Puglisi, the athletic office takes advantage of the long-standing rivalry in order to promote games and increase student attendance. “By shaping the rivalry, it allows us to promote the games that are coming up,” said Puglisi. “If there’s a big, big game that happens to be coming up in our schedule, we want to try to get as many people here as possible.” 

However, the athletic department is also cognizant of how easily a rivalry of this nature can escalate, and have since implemented measures to limit interactions between students of opposing schools at home games. According to Principal Jimmy D’Andrea, for games following the January 24 game against Central Catholic, the ticket stand was moved to be in front of the doors to the Dunn Gym, and students were instead to enter the gymnasium through separate entrances; one for AHS students, and one for visiting students. 

“The way that we had things set up, students who were in the visiting student section had to walk in front of our student section to get to that other side, which increased interaction between opposing audiences,” said D’Andrea. Visiting and home audiences will also continue to be dismissed at staggered times, with visiting students exiting first, allowing AHS students to speak with friends on the team. This plan was successfully enacted at the February 7 varsity boys’ basketball game.

“We want to make sure that what our students are doing in the Jungle is appropriate for the game, that we’re not being disrespectful or rude,” said Puglisi. But, as long as the comments and back-and-forth during games remain appropriate, the Jungle is looking to continue the verbal rivalry. “We’re just going to try to be louder than them, be better than them at cheering, then hopefully we beat them. But there’s not going to be any extra… chirping or fighting or anything like that, because that’s not what we do,” said Gallaudet.

image credit: eagle tribune