SPRINGFIELD — Springfield Central’s 42-8 win over Lawrence High in the state Division 1 playoff opener Friday night was a tale of two halves.
The one that mattered, the first, was all Springfield Central, owning both sides the line of scrimmage en route to five of their six touchdowns while holding the Lancers scoreless.
The one that told us about Lawrence High’s program, according to Coach Rhandy Audate, the second half, was even-Steven with each team scoring eight points.
In the end, missing three two-way players – lineman Brandon Lavasta, running back Janiel Herrera and maybe its most explosive player Jayzius Perez to injuries – it was too many key bodies.
“We knew it was David versus Goliath. We knew this was going to be tough for us, as good and as complete of a team that Springfield Central is,” said Audate. “But if we took care of business during the regular season, maybe we get a better seed and don’t play a team as good as this.
“The key for me was competing for the entire game. I know the score doesn’t look great, but we competed until the end. That’s Lawrence High football.”
Offensively Lawrence tried to run the ball in the first half. It couldn’t (10 rushes, 21 yards).
Defensively wasn’t much better as the one of the state’s high-powered offenses, led by all-state junior quarterback William Watson (13-for-21, 189 yards, 2 TDs, one 55-yard rushing TD) and Boston College-bound wideout Joseph Griffin (3 catches, 42 yards) were too tough to cover.
In fact, Springfield Central had four other receivers with at least two catches and 20 yards. And, oh yeah, they ran the ball pretty well, too, with 192 yards on only 18 carries.
But Lawrence aided the victors' cause. The Lancers committed 16 penalties, 11 in the first half.
Lawrence, though, earned some big-time kudos to open the second half after not showing anything in the first 24 minutes.
The Lancers went 12 plays and ate up 8:36 of clock on their first drive, which was keyed by three, crunching runs by senior Estarling Morales (27, 10 and 8 yards).
The drive ended with receiver Joenel Figueroa basically stealing the ball from the cornerback in the end zone for a 16-yard hookup.
“I was not happy after the first half and said I was going to give it my all in the second half,” said Morales, who also had some of the biggest hits at linebacker, too.
“We don’t give up,” said Morales. “That’s big with Coach, playing the entire game. We did.”
Lawrence’s record drops under .500 for the first time this year, now 4-5. They will await word from the MIAA on their next opponent in the consolation round while the Golden Eagles will play Xaverian in the quarterfinals.
“We hope to have another game or two before Thanksgiving against Central Catholic,” said Audate. “If they give us a game, we will be ready. We will treat it like a playoff game. We can’t and don’t take games off. We have to get some guys back healthy and we can still do some damage.”
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