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Lawrence toughens up on Tewksbury

Friday, September, 16 By Hector Longo
Staff writer

LAWRENCE — The turf under Mike Yameen at Veterans Stadium looked very familiar.

Who could figure on this chilly Friday night that his Lawrence High footballers would venture into such unchartered territory.

For the first time since the 1994 season, Lawrence is off to a 2-0 start, thanks much in part to some opportunistic work by Nate Baez and the Lancer offense in a 22-15 win over Tewksbury.

"We survived it with our defense," said Lawrence coach Mike Yameen. "We'll take it, but this game was very uncharacteristic of what we preach here."

Tewksbury owned the yardage battle, 228-151.

And the Lancers lost their cool early and often, racking up 96 yards in penalties — including a pair of rare 30-yard backups for double unsportsmanlike conduct flags and an ejection.

"I think a lot of it was the seniors on this team," said Baez. "I think a lot of the guys around here understand what it takes to keep your head in a game like this."

The difference between heartbreak and elation last night was the diminutive 5-foot-3 QB, who threw a pair of TD passes and pounded in on a 1-yard-keep for what eventually became the winning score.

"I'm guessing they scouted Kelvin (Severino) and sought out to stop him," said Baez. "We just changed up our gameplan, studied their defense and found the right holes in the gameplan."

A three-yard Redmen punt helped put Lawrence on the board in the second quarter. From the Redmen 24, it took three plays, the third being a 19-yard TD hookup to Joel Rodriguez.

Last week's Lancer hero, Severino stepped in front of a Kevin Saunders pass and raced back to the Tewksbury 16.

Then, facing a 4th and 12, Baez evaded the rush and hit Brian Montero-Ford for an 18-yard touchdown.

From there, the game turned ugly, first with tempers flaring and athletes going at each other.

Somehow, Lawrence just kept making plays when it mattered defensively, right to the very end.

As explosive as Lawrence was a week ago, they were gritty this time around.

Jiovanny Vasquez squelched one Redmen drive with an interception. Chris Pena and Justin Flores injected themselves in the Tewksbury ground game, holding the opposition to 4.4 yards on the ground.

But it wasn't until the final Tewksbury snap, a bouncer that Saunders struggled to handle with the subsequent sack of Saunders by Marianel Garcia, that the Lancers could actually say they had their second straight win.

Additional stories:

• Lawrence toughens up on Tewksbury