RallyNorth.net

DRACUT — It looked as if Methuen would finally tie up its Thanksgiving day rivalry with Dracut — which the Middies led heading into Thursday 26-25-3.

METHUEN - As the wind intensified in the second half, making an already bitter and miserably cold Friday night even worse, Saul Cespedes was just heating up.

"I was warming up! Oh yeah, man I was loving it," said the Methuen senior. "I felt warm the entire time."

 LAWRENCE — When the two teams met in the regular season, Central Catholic need three fourth quarter scores to rally past an upset-minded Methuen squad.

With a trip to the Division 1 North final on the line on Friday, the Raiders would need no such comeback.

METHUEN — Peter Kwakye took a direct snap, faked a handoff, juked to his left and took off right towards the right. In a flash, the Methuen senior had scored a 29-yard touchdown, and Lowell was left with the question it simply could not answer — how to stop Kwakye?

METHUEN — Peter Kwakye picked the right evening to have the game of his career.
Leading a determined group of Methuen veterans on senior night, Kwakye impacted both sides of the ball, scoring three touchdowns and piling up three tackles for losses, including a pair of sacks to lead the Rangers to a 28-21 victory over visiting Lowell in Friday night's regular-season finale.
The senior saw action at receiver and running back and played in both the secondary and on the line for the defense. His first scoring reception tied the score while his second provided Methuen (5-2, 4-1 MVC) a lead. But it was Kwakye's 80-yard kickoff return that gave the Rangers the lead for good late in the third quarter.
"I might have had (three scores) in Pop Warner, maybe," Kwakye said. "I'm not sure if I've had that good of a game in high school. This was Senior Night and we knew it could be our last game at home, so we weren't going to lose on our field."
Lowell quarterback Curtis Gentles, who entered the game leading Division 1 with 14 touchdown passes, took advantage of a 55-yard return on the opening kickoff. He needed only two plays for a 7-0 advantage on a 26-yard scoring pass to Aquantise Byard.
The Rangers needed only two plays themselves to tie the score on a 73-yard hookup from Jordan Perdomo to Kwakye. Two possessions later, Kwakye capped a nice 12-play drive with a 29-yard pass from Perdomo on a slick double flea-flicker early in the second quarter.
Lowell (4-3, 2-2) used a 71-yard pass from Gentles to Byard to tie the score with 48 seconds left in the half, but Kwakye immediately responded with an 80-yard return on the ensuing kickoff for a 21-14 advantage at intermission.
"I fumbled the ball a little bit, then I looked up and saw the hole and I was gone," Kwakye said.
Late in the third, David Kelly gave Methuen a 28-24 lead on an 8-yard run, finishing off a 10-play, 74-yard drive.
"This was big, it was huge but wasn't our biggest win yet," Kwakye said. "The biggest win will be in the Super Bowl."
Gentles finished with 277 yards through the air, but was harassed all night by Methuen's strong pass rush, completing only 14 of his 35 attempts. More than half of his yardage came on the touchdowns.
"Our defense stepped up tonight," said Methuen coach Tim Ryan, who rotated defensive linemen throughout the game in the absence of senior Bryce Smith, who will return next week. "We played tremendous defense and were really disruptive. We threw their passing game off."
The victory sends the Rangers into the postseason with momentum.
"Based on what I know — it isn't official — but we'll play Lowell again here," Ryan said. "I heard St. John's lost, so we'll likely play Lowell. We have to quickly recover because (the Red Raiders) can really run. They have some speed. Playing a playoff game at home was one of our goals to start the season."

METHUEN — Senior running back Saul Cespedes could tell that something wasn’t right with the Methuen football team in the first half.
“I was trying to get the team up but we just couldn’t get anything going,” said Cespedes. “It was a rough start. I think we were getting ahead of ourselves.”
But, trailing 14-0 to winless but fired-up Lawrence at halftime, the Rangers stormed back in the second half to take a 27-14 victory and improve to 4-2.
And Cespedes, who has been overshadowed a bit this year by multi-talented quarterback Jordan Perdomo, was at the center of the comeback. He rushed for 104 yards on 10 carries after halftime and sealed the comeback in the fourth quarter with a 19-yard TD run.
“He (Cespedes) is amazing,” said Perdomo, who rushed for two TDs and kicked three extra points in the second half. “He and Peter (Kwakye) are different backs but they both give us so much.”
After Perdomo scored on short runs to cap off long drives in the third quarter, Kwakye scored what proved to be the winning TD on a 61-yard dash through the line. Earlier, he set up Perdomo’s second TD with a 44-yard scamper. Cespedes finished the scoring.
Cespedes, who missed all of last year with a broken clavicle, now has rushed for 464 yards and eight touchdowns on the year.
“Saul has done a great job for us and gives us a lot of options,” said Methuen coach Tom Ryan. “He runs hard and is like our doubles hitter. Kwakye is our home run hitter and Jordan (Perdomo) is like someone who spreads it all around.”
Explaining the slow start to the game but solid second half by the Rangers (4-2), Ryan said:
“We just didn’t execute in the first half. Nobody did including the coaches. We made some adjustments at halftime and played a lot better.”
Indeed, held to 15 yards rushing in the first half, the Rangers rushed for a whopping 308 yards on the ground after halftime.
Just as impressive in the second half was the Rangers’ defense, holding the Lancers to 65 yards of total offense. Among those making big stops was senior defensive back A.J. Borrelli, who also had a late interception to seal the deal.
In the first half, Lawrence looked like anything but a winless team. Juniors Jonathan Velilla and Jiovanny Murray were monsters up front defensively and the backers were immense coming up to make tackles.
Offensively, quarterback Jacob Tamayo was sharp in the first half for the Lancers, completing 7 of 14 passes for two touchdowns, one a 43-yarder to Ronyell Pena and the other 13 yards to Miguel Camacho. The latter was 10 seconds before halftime and was set up by a Pena interception.
“That was tale of two halves,” said Lawrence coach Mike Yameen. “We did some good things but we need to learn how to finish.”
Playing well consistently for the Lancers (0-6) was kicker Musset Mezidor. He averaged 40 yards on six punts, one of which went 60 yards, and was perfect on both of his extra point tries.
Lawrence will host Haverhill next Friday in a battle of winless teams while Methuen plays host to Lowell.

METHUEN — For years, Jordan Perdomo had dreamt of facing off against Andover football, and he was heartbroken a season ago when he missed the matchup with an injury.

One year later, he delivered the game of his career against Methuen’s rival.

HAVERHILL - Methuen knows that there are no moral victories in football.

The Rangers played well enough to win their last two games against powerhouses Tewksbury and Central Catholic, but came up short.

LAWRENCE — Heading into the fourth quarter, the upset seemed to be within Methuen’s grasp.

When Saul Cespedes sprinted into the end zone with 3:26 to go in the third, he gave his Rangers a two-score advantage, as Methuen drew closer to its first win over Central Catholic since 2010.