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Lawrence wins in OT, snaps 23-game losing streak

MEDFORD — Lawrence football has seemed snakebitten over the past few years, and Friday night it looked like the Lancers might snatch defeat from the jaws of victory once again.

In the second half, the Lancers missed a field goal, fumbled the ball twice in the red zone and had a potential touchdown pass caught out of bounds. Coach Mike Yameen said afterwards he thought it just wasn't going to be his team's day once again.

But then a funny thing happened. Lawrence's Anthony Garcia scored a 10-yard touchdown on the first play of overtime, and then the defense smothered the Medford offense on the subsequent possession, as it had all night, giving Lawrence a 21-13 win, its first victory since 2015. 

"They're happy, they're relieved, it's been very frustrating this season. We've been in every game and it seems like we get to the fourth quarter and can't seal the deal," Yameen said. "For a minute we thought we were really snake bitten but we got the win in overtime." 

Brandon Santell was terrific on defense (13 tackles), and the offense was paced by Dyan Montanez, who rushed for 96 yards on nine carries. 

Lawrence (1-7) scored its first touchdown on a 17-yard pass by Jacob Tamayo to Manny Lara in the first quarter, and followed that with a 37-yard pass to Garcia in the second quarter. Medford (0-8) scored on its first two possessions in the first quarter, but didn't even record a first down in the second half.