LAWRENCE — No matter who won Thursday between Central Catholic and Lawrence, there was a common theme which brought both teams together.
It felt good to be home.
The old turf at Veterans Memorial Stadium served as the home for both the Raiders and the Lancers, but neither team thought they would play on it again this season after it was destroyed Oct. 2 during the “Festeja Boston” festival.
But there everyone was Thursday morning, gathered together on the brand new turf with Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera tossing the ceremonial coin toss.
For the seniors for both teams, playing their last game on their home field meant everything.
“We’ve been wanting to play here all year,” said Central senior co-captain David Onyemem. “We only got to play one home game here this season so I’m definitely glad we were able to play here today.”
While both teams enjoyed the homecoming, it was Central that came away with the 32-6 victory to finish its season 8-2.
Lawrence faced an uphill task trying to earn its first win of the season against the powerhouse Raiders, and finished the season 0-11.
“It was very big to come back here and get a win,” said Central’s dominating senior linemen Carlos Cabrera. “We hadn’t been able to play here since early September so it was good to come back home.”
Central blitzed to an 18-0 lead by the end of the first quarter thanks to a 6-yard run by Max Faro and a 33-yard interception return by T.J. Vaughan.
As time expired in the first, junior quarterback Bret Edwards found Onyemem over double coverage in the back left end of the endzone.
“I just ran the route, stuck to the right and then broke left and the ball was right there waiting for me,” said Onyemem. “I just went up there and got it.”
The Raiders increased their lead to 25-0 at the half when Mathias Villafane caught a 48-yard bullet of a pass from Edwards. Villafane led the team with 68 yards on five receptions.
Late in the third quarter, Edwards found Anthony Farelli on a 25-yard strike for his third touchdown pass of the day. Edwards finished an impressive 14-of-18 passing for 178 yards.
Lawrence scored midway through the fourth when senior Angel Abreu hit Andre Wilson on a 2-yard fade route in the right corner of the endzone.
Abreu led the Lancers with 77 yards on 13 carries and also went 2 for 3 passing for 50 yards and the touchdown. He also caught a pass, and deservedly won his team’s MVP award for the game.
Edwards was not the only junior who was spectacular for Central Thursday. Faro rushed for 116 yards on only eight carries.
“It was awesome to get to play here today,” said Central coach Chuck Adamopoulos. “I love it here. When I got here, I was just hanging over the fence and watching us warm-up and just smiling. I know it meant a lot to Lawrence too so it was just a great day!”
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Football, 11/24/16 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
NEWTON – With less than a minute left, Lawrence was able to put together a nice drive and salvage a late touchdown to avert the shutout. But by that point it was too little too late.
Newton South smothered Lawrence for a 27-6 non-playoff victory Friday afternoon (noon kickoff) at a windy Newton South High.
“We didn’t play well from the start,” said Lawrence coach Mike Yameen. “We fought the last two weeks but today we didn’t have it in us.”
Before the late scoring drive, the Lancers’ offensive possessions included four three-and-outs, two interceptions, a blocked punt and a turnover on downs after a short drive.
The team had only managed five yards of total offense by halftime, and while the defense played well for most of the first half, Newton South’s running game began to wear the Lancers out as time went on.
There were some highlights, however. In the first quarter, junior Ruben Morillo grabbed an interception to abruptly end the Lions’ opening drive. The Lancers stuffed the hosts on their next two drives, too, but just before halftime Newton was able to grind out a 12-play drive for a touchdown.
Lawrence started with the ball in the third quarter, but Newton South forced a punt and then blocked it to start off with great field position. Four plays later, Sasha Hoban (10 of 22, 193 yards) found Legaun Pope for a 5-yard touchdown.
Newton South got touchdowns from sophomore running back Aidan Lopci (29-169) and Hoban in the fourth to pull away.
But with the clock winding down, Lawrence quarterback Ronny Pena and receiver Dylan Montanez were able to string together some passes to bring the Lancers down field, capping the drive off with a 8-yard pass with 44 seconds remaining.
Angel Abreu finished with a team-high 34 yards rushing on 11 carries, and Pena was 9 for 18 with 54 yards passing and Montanez had three catches for 32 yards.
Lawrence (0-10) will now have some time to regroup before facing crosstown rival Central Catholic on Thanksgiving.
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Football, 11/11/16 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
LYNN — Lawrence thrived with its backs against the wall Saturday afternoon at Manning Field in Lynn.
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Football, 11/06/16 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
MALDEN — In a rough season for Lawrence, junior Miguel Camacho has emerged as a bright spot.
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Football, 10/31/16 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
HAVERHILL — Chants of “MVC, MVC, MVC” rained down from both the Haverhill postgame huddle as well as the soaked fans in the stands as the players raised their helmets in triumph.
Haverhill (6-1) had just came off a convincing 34-6 win over conference foe Lawrence (0-7), improving the Hillies to a perfect 4-0 in the league and sealing the Merrimack Valley Division 1 crown outright.
The Hillies now have five straight winning seasons, which the program has not done since 1971-75. There other recent titles were in 2014 (MVC 2) and 2001 (one division then, quad-champ, won coin flip for playoff berth). Those are the only titles since Haverhill, a longtime member of the Greater Boston League, joined the MVC for the 1980 season.
“It feels really good,” said a beaming Teshaun Watson, “You know we put in a lot of work this year and it feels great to see that hard work pay off.”
Watson led the Hillies Friday night with 85 yards on six carries and two touchdowns. After having season-ending surgery as a junior last year, the senior Watson transferred from North Andover to Haverhill before the school year.
“Coming from North Andover they welcomed me here with open arms,” said a smiling Watson. “It’s like a family here. I’m winning with my brothers and nothing feels better than that. Hopefully we can keep going to the end.”
Haverhill had a great day defensively, holding Lawrence to only 42 yards of total offense minus sacks. The Hillies had four sacks Friday, one from Mason Ocasio while Cam MacDonald recorded another.
“We knew (Lawrence) was young up front,” said Haverhill coach Tim O’Connor. “So we took advantage of our senior leadership and really put the pressure on them early and were able to keep it up until halftime.”
After Haverhill forced a stop on defense to start the game, Watson capped off an 12-play, 69-yard drive with a 1-yard rush. Quarterback Broghean McGovern added a 13-yard TD rush early in the second quarter, and then used his arm to find Jukka Morales on a nice deep ball for a 70-yard pass. On Lawrence’s first play on its next drive, a fumble was picked up by MacDonald and returned for another score.
Up 28-0 at the half, Watson broke off a 65-yard rush on the second play of the third quarter.
Lawrence got on the board late when Miguel Camacho hit Kelvin Ynfante for an 11-yard pass at the end of the game. Dylan Montanez made a couple of great catches for the Lancers, finishing with 50 receiving yards on three catches.
Haverhill will host a playoff game next Friday, but the opponent will not be known until Sunday.
“Hopefully we can take it all the way, but we need to take it playoff game by playoff game,” said Watson. “We’ve progressed a lot during the regular season and are seeing that with each win. It feels good, but we got to keep it up in the playoffs.”
Haverhill 34, Lawrence 6
Lawrence (0-7): 0 0 0 6 — 6
Haverhill (6-1): 6 22 6 0 — 34
First Quarter
H — Teshaun Watson 1 run (kick blocked), 2:31
Second Quarter
H — Broghean McGovern 13 run (Jake Dion run), 9:30
H — Jukka Morales 70 pass from McGovern (Dion run), 6:32
H — Cam MacDonald 15 fumble return (kick failed), 6:13
Third Quarter
H — Watson 65 run (kick failed), 9:43
Fourth Quarter
L — Kelvin Ynfante 11 pass from Miguel Camacho, :10
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: HAVERHILL (23-195): Teshaun Watson 6-85, Pedro Santiago 5-47, Broghean McGovern 5-35, J.C. Laguerre 4-22, Kyle Connors 3-6; LAWRENCE (20-(-36)): Miguel Camacho 4-1, Randy Reyes 5-(-3), Brandon Santell 1-(-3), Anthony Garcia 4-(-10), Ronny Pena 6-(-21)
PASSING: H — Broghean McGovern 3-4-0, 87; L — Ronny Pena 3-8-0, 42, Miguel Camacho 2-3-0, 36
RECEIVING: H — Jukka Morales 2-73, Ivan DelaRosa 1-14; L — Dylan Montanez 3-50, Camacho 1-17, Kelvin Ynfante 1-11
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Football, 10/25/16 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
METHUEN – Methuen High quarterback David Kelly has spent the better part of the last two weeks cramming every scrap of the Ranger football playbook into his head.
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Football, 10/17/16 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
LAWRENCE — The first thing sophomore Darren Watson did after scoring all three North Andover touchdowns in a comeback 22-13 victory over Lawrence was give the obligatory thanks to his blocking.
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Football, 10/06/16 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
LAWRENCE — Lawrence High coach Mike Yameen looked up at the score, 34-7, and admitted the better team, Lowell High, won.
In fact, when it was over, statistically, it was as bad-looking from the Lancers sidelines as the score looked, 291 rushing yards versus 121 yards; zero turnovers versus three turnovers; and Lowell, a wide open passing team only attempted three passes in the second half.
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Football, 09/09/16 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
