LAWRENCE — The numbers, 9 of 11 for 134 yards and two TD passes, plus a running touchdown in Lawrence High's 28-0 Thanksgiving Eve shutout of Salem dictate that senior Louis Rosa breezed through the final football exam.
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Football, 11/21/12 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
LAWRENCE — The numbers, 9 of 11 for 134 yards and two TD passes, plus a running touchdown in Lawrence High's 28-0 Thanksgiving Eve shutout of Salem dictate that senior Louis Rosa breezed through the final football exam.
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Football, 11/21/12 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
HAVERHILL – With the “Ice Man,” Chance Brady banged up and
out of action, Haverhill, nursing a one-TD lead simply went to the “closer by
committee” theory.
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Football, 11/02/12 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
LAWRENCE — All night long, Mike Yameen was forced to endure watching the ghosts of seasons past.
But this time around it didn't hurt, sting or irritate. This time, it soothed..
After seven weeks of frustration, the Lancers watched the Dracut defense melt and give up huge chunks of yardage on 3rd-and-long — the ultimate bane of Lawrence's football existence over past seasons.
Lawrence moved the chains on 8 of 13 third downs and 1 of 2 fourth down situations, claiming its first victory of the year, 20-7, over the Middies.
"It was good to see. We made a million mistakes again," said coach Yameen, whose Lancers were flagged 9 times for a whopping 105 yards in penalties on the night. "But we finally got the job done."
Trigger man Nelson Valerio enjoyed a monster night, hitting 15 of 22 passes for 275 yards and all three TDs. Most of that damage was done with his 6-foot-1 senior book ends, George Urena and Franger Baez, who combined to catch nine balls for 181 yards.
"They're nice. I mean outstanding," said Valerio. "We were faster, bigger and stronger out there, and we took advantage of it. We thought we'd do well there, and we did."
Get up, stay up: As you can imagine, keeping the focus as you stumble through seven straight losses to start the season.
"It's been tough on them, tough on us," said Yameen, who tended to some disciplinary issues last week and put them behind his team this week.
The Lancers kept it together, though, with a solid practice week and kept their minds on business.
"Our coaches, our players, our family, we came to practice this week with our head up," said Valerio. "We'll play for pride, respect, we're not done yet."
Yameen figures the first win might launch a mini-win avalanche.
"Now, we're just looking for the winning divisional record," he said. "We can go 3-2, we're looking to win on Thanksgiving and make it a 4-game win streak to end the year."
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Football, 10/26/12 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
The Lancers were unable to maintain its first lead of the season as Tewksbury scored 24 unanswered third-quarter points and held on for a 38-20 MVC 2 victory.
Sophomore quarterback Nelson Valerio continued to mature, completing 15 of 30 passes for 161 yards and a touchdown to Fanger Baez, who hauled in seven receptions for 111 yards. Baez also caught a TD pass from Louis Rosa while Chris Pena's 40-yard run gave the Lancers a 6-0 lead late in the opening period.
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Football, 10/20/12 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
ANDOVER — By mid-second quarter, all the boxes were filled for Andover High.
Offense??? Check.
Defense? Check
Special teams? Check mate.
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Football, 10/12/12 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
The Lancers remained winless despite the team's first rushing touchdown of the season and an outstanding effort from quarterback Nelson Valerio.
The sophomore signal caller completed 16 of his 29 attempts for 314 yards and a pair of scoring tosses to Chris Pena and George Urena.
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Football, 10/05/12 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
CARL RUSSO/Satff photo. Central Catholic defeated Lawrence High in Friday night football action. Central's D'andre Drummond-Mayire follows his teammate's block as he runs for the sideline while Lawrence's Nathaniel Cruz (47) tries to hold on for the tackle. 9/28/2012. 16 Photos
LAWRENCE — One team rode its rising sophomore quarterback, the other let the big-play guys surrounding him make life easy for the young gun.
And while we should hear plenty in the future from Lawrence's dynamic Nelson Valerio and Central Catholic's smooth Mike Milano down the road, it was the latter with a vastly superior supporting case who had their way in Central's dominating 35-6 defeat of the Lancers before about 300 rain-soaked fans at Veterans Memorial Stadium last night.
Junior D'andre Drummond-Mayire and sophomore Michael Balsamo each ran for a pair of touchdowns in a night where the Raiders grabbed a 21-0 halftime lead and never looked back.
"We have good size on the line, and we took advantage of it. (On the TD runs) I saw nothing but green, wide open holes, I just hit them hard," said Drummond-Mayire. "We had to come out hard and make a statement. We have stuff to work on, we improved from last week. We only have 11 games, and they all count."
Drummond-Mayire carried just six times for 81 yards, while Balsamo's three touches went for 8, 37 and 44 yards.
Central now moves to 3-1 and heads to Methuen Friday night, while 0-4 Lawrence will host Lowell here Friday.
'Fast Times' remake?: For a minute, it sounded an awful lot like the football scene back in the 1980s classic "Fast Times at Ridgemont High."
The silky voice of the Lancers, Rich Gorham was all over it: "Tackle by Central's Matt Halaby ... Crushed by Halaby ... Ripped by Halaby ... Halaby ... Halaby ... Halaby."
Said Gorham, "He was ridiculous, the dominant Central Catholic player on the field tonight. The back of my says eight solo tackles and four sacks, at least."
Central coach Chuck Adamopoulos said the performance came to him as no surprise.
"He's been doing that all year," said Adamopoulos of the 6-foot-1 senior. "He and the other defensive tackle, Joe Brown, have been tearing it up inside."
Pair of blocks: Lawrence continued to struggle in the punting game, and the Raiders made them pay with a pair of blocks, one apiece by captain Ryan Doherty and scrappy special teams maven Zach Canto.
Each set up a Central TD inside the Lancer 10.
Lancer positives: Lawrence's QB Valerio didn't put up the big numbers, but the nifty sophomore continues to show some explosive ability in the pocket. Valerio hit on 12 of 21 passes for 127 yards with a 25-yard TD hookup to George Urena (5 catches, 91 yards).
Senior Jaddiel Polanco continues to play well on the corner for the Lancers and added another field goal block to his docket in the fourth quarter.
"We're just making too many mistakes right now," said Lancer coach Mike Yameen. "And you can't do that against a team like Central Catholic."
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Football, 09/28/12 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
By the time the Lawrence High offense, finally puts points up on the board this season, deep into the third quarter of Game 2, North Andover had things well in hand, scrambling the Lancers, 33-12, before about 600 fans at Veterans Memorial Stadium last night.
Junior Casey Walsh worked the short-passing game with pin-point precision, connecting on 19 of 25 passes for 167 yards and three TDs as the Knights made their first official football act as a member MVC Division 2 a winning one. The gritty Walsh added a game-high 79 yards rushing on just six carries.
"He's a different guy out there," said Walsh's top receiver on the night, Robert "Bubba" Shkliew. "He's very disciplined out there, and he's an excellent leader. You just love to be in his huddle."
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Football, 09/14/12 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
