RallyNorth.net

Whittier knocks off Greater Lawrence

HAVERHILL – The Whittier football team has been unable to fully enjoy Thanksgiving dinner in five years.

Today, the Wildcats will feast joyfully.

Playing its first true night game on its new field Wednesday night, Whittier knocked off Greater Lawrence for the first time since 2014 with a 28-14 victory.

“This is absolutely as good as it can get,” said senior running back AJ Espinal, who scored Whittier’s first and last touchdowns. “It’s been five, six years, and its been very rare beating Greater Lawrence especially in the Thanksgiving Bowl.

“To go out in my last game like that with a win, it has me speechless. I’ve worked so hard these four years just for this win. I’m going to remember it forever.”

Whittier used two time-consuming drives that lasted a combined 16 minutes to open a 14-6 lead midway through the first quarter. The Wildcats went 72 yards on 13 plays on their first drive that lasted 7:29 and ended with Espinal’s 1-yard plunge. A Joe Iannalfo conversion run made it 8-0.

Greater Lawrence, playing without the area’s leading ground gainer and quarterback Shamil Diaz who suffered a concussion on Saturday, cut the deficit to two when Maleek Dejesus ran in from 2 yards.

But Whittier responded with another 11-play drive that was aided by a Reggie offside penalty on fourth-and-4. Burke went the final 20 yards when he busted out of a gang tackle on a quarterback sneak.

“Our team has gotten better every week once we hit midseason,” Bradley said of his squad winning four of its final six outings. “It’s a great thing as a coach to know your guys have gone out there every week and gotten better and better. It’s one of the best feelings in the world.

“We just went out and executed our game to a T. We only had three drives in the first half, but we ate the clock up because that’s a dangerous offense. You don’t want to give them the ball. Our defense just stood up to them.”

Whittier (6-5) took over its third possession with 2:35 left in the half when the Reggies ran out of downs at their own 43. Burke completed his first pass for 19 yards then moved the chains with a fourth-down run before throwing his first touchdown pass of his career as time ran out with a 4-yarder to Nolan Mann.

“That 2-minute drive he executed it perfectly,” Bradley said. “There were things we could do, but with the weather conditions we were limited in the second half. Burke doesn’t play like a sophomore. I wouldn’t call (the TD pass) earlier in the season. The key was he knew to threw it away if it wasn’t there. He had the option to read either guy, and he picked the right one.”

Rain limited both offenses in a second half in which Greater Lawrence (7-5) fumbled on three consecutive possessions, the last of which set up the Wildcats at the 18. Three plays later Espinal ran in from two yards out for his 16th touchdown of the season.

With a team-high 78 yards, Espinal finished the season 15 yards shy of a grand. In the past two years, Espinal has gained 2,323 yards and 30 touchdowns on 318 carries.

“He’s been a dream come true,” Bradley said of his workhorse. “As a coach you dream of a player coming into your program, staying with you and getting better. The thing about AJ is he was never happy with what he did. He always wanted to get better. He made a fulltime commitment.”

Greater Lawrence, which lost a Division 7 state semifinal match to Abington on Saturday, had trouble bouncing back so quickly. The Reggies (7-5) finished the night’s scoring on a 17-yard pass to Christopher Tineo from Franklyn Espinal, who replaced Diaz. Espinal finished with a game-high 142 yards on 20 carries.

“I think it had an effect,” Greater Lawrence coach Tony Sarkis said of the short week. “It’s been a very grueling schedule on these kids. I’m not taking anything away from Whittier because they played better than us today. They’re effort was better than us and their execution was definitely better. Not having Shamil in the lineup offensively definitely threw us off a little.”

Sarkis hopes Diaz will be available next Thursday when Greater Lawrence goes for its second straight Vocational State Large Division title when it plays host to Assabet Regional at 6 p.m.