RallyNorth.net

PAT problems punish Lawrence in loss

Friday, October, 14 By Hector Longo
Staff writer

BILLERICA — As much as he might have thought his Lancers let one slip through their grasp on a mud-caked Calabrese Field, Lawrence High football coach Mike Yameen had reasons to be enthused.

"I'm a little satisfied we played better than the previous couple of weeks," said Yameen after his club pushed Billerica to the brink in a 21-18 Indians win. "The little things killed us — a missed PAT, missed two-point conversions. They were the difference in the game."

The heart of Lawrence's season — three more MVC Division 2 two-point collisions and next week's Friday night date with intra-city rival Central Catholic — lies ahead.

Sweep those, and the postseason awaits. But first things first.

"We are still having the mental breakdowns on defense as you saw on that long TD pass," added Yameen. "We've still got Central and the small schools ahead. But we still have to clean up some things."

Last night, the conditions and a gang-tackling group of Lancer defenders help keep All-Scholastic Nick LaSpada in check.

In LaSpada speak, that translates to a pair of TD runs and a long TD hookup, accounting for about 85 percent of his team's offense. It was a performance in the slop that Lancer QB Nathan Baez equalled or surpassed.

Baez, who led all ball-carriers with 146 yards on 14 carries, scored on a pair of short runs of his own and added a 42-yard TD strike to "Super Seve" Kelvin Severino.

"Nate's command of the run game was better," said Yameen, whose club falls to 2-4. "Conditions weren't great for the passing game, but he played much better."

But while Lawrence matched the TDs, the Lancers failed on all three PAT tries. Billerica's Steve Trask was money on his three kicks, yielding the margin.

Give Lawrence credit, the Lancers fought to the final seconds, actually recovering an onside kick at the Billerica 49 with 10 seconds left.

With a rain-soaked football that had to feel like a shot put, Baez's desperation heave was picked off by Eddie Jankowski to end it.