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New faces lead Central

LAWRENCE — Understandably Jared Siverio was a bit anxious before his first varsity start Friday night.

The junior from Methuen was, after all, taking over as the first new Central Catholic quarterback in four years, taking over for three-year standout Bret Edwards, who is now at UNH.

“I was pretty nervous, but after the first drive, I felt fine,” said Silverio, who quarterbacked the JV team last year.

Silverio was actually more than fine as he completed 7 of 9 passes for 87 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 67 yards on six attempts, all in just slightly more than a half as the Raiders opened their season with a 48-6 romp over outmaned Dartmouth at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

“He (Silverio) did a good job,” said Central coach Chuck Adamopoulos, who obviously didn’t want to get carried away after just one game.

Silverio was just one of several standouts in a rousing first half as the Raiders unveiled a bunch of new names in the wake of heavy graduation losses.

Anthony Caggianelli also made his mark as he rushed five times for 75 yards and two touchdowns and also had a touchdown on defense when he stripped the ball from a Dartmouth ball carrier in the second quarter, turned around and sprinted 19 yards into the end zone.

“I’ve never done that before,” smiled the senior from Pelham. “It felt good. I’m very happy with my first game.”

Although he didn’t get many touches, junior Shaun Morgan from Andover looked impressive. Showing electric speed, he had a 34-yard run in the first half and returned a punt 65 yards for a touchdown that was called back by a penalty.

Junior tight end/outside linebacker Jermaine Wiggins also looked promising with a pair of receptions while making several tackles on defense. 

The outcome was really never in doubt as Central scored on their first three possessions to take a 21-0 lead. Cameron Boes opened with a 15-yard TD reception from Silverio, Caggionelli followed with an 8-yard run and Nick Donatio grabbed a 16-yard TD pass to close out the first quarter.

The defense, meanwhile, led by backer Lewy Baez-Troncoso, completely dominated Dartmouth, holding the Indians to minus-7 yards in the first quarter when all the starters were in the game.

A four-yard scoring run by Joe Howshan and Caggionelli’s stripped-ball TD put the Raiders ahead 35-0 at halftime even with Central substituting freely in the second quarter. After Caggianelli scored on a 50-yard run early in the third quarter to make it 41-0, the second and third teamers took over for good.

“We made some mistakes that we have to work on but overall I saw a lot of good things,” said Adamopoulos. “We’re going to have a much tougher test next week.”

The Raiders play at St. John’s Prep next week.