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Smith twins, Central drill cross-city rival Lawrence

Sunday, September, 09 By Hector Longo
Staff writer

LAWRENCE — Both the Central Catholic and Lawrence High football teams showed their inexperience, mixed with some opening night jitters.

Central adjusted and eliminated its miscues, at least the giant ones. Lawrence simply had theirs multiply exponentially.

The Lancers, who led 6-0 after one quarter, succumbed to their now cross-city rival, Central, 35-12, before a gathering of about 2,000 at the sparkling Veterans Memorial Stadium.

In a flash, like the pre-game lightning, a brewing Lancer upset bid soured.

"Mistakes killed us," said Lancer coach Mike Yameen. "We're starting an awful lot of sophomores and first-year juniors out there and it showed. A fumble led to their first touchdown, then a pass goes right through the receiver's hands and goes for an interception and touchdown for them."

Central, down 6-0, pounced like a team needing a break. Considering the Raiders and their injury woes, they probably did.

Matt Smith pounced on a Lawrence fumble at midfield and, six plays later, his twin, Michael, made the Lancers pay, breaking off tackle for 18 yards and a score with 9:23 left in the second quarter.

The Raider sideline had barely quieted when a Ramon Heredia pass to the flat skimmed off his receiver's hands, into the arms of Central corner Edrian Mendez, who waltzed 32 yards for another TD, just 10 seconds later.

Harrison Davis' second of five perfect PAT kicks put the Raiders ahead for good at 14-6.

"I wasn't nervous, I was unhappy at the way we were playing early," said Raider QB Shain Jowett. "Once we got going, we were OK. With the (pregame rain delay), we got a little nervous, but we're very happy with the win."

Lawrence never quit scrapping but the penalties — all 13 of them — mounted, and stifled any momentum the Lancers got. Michael Smith's second TD run of the second quarter was followed up by a three-yard Andy Scott TD sweep in the third that put things on ice early.

The bad news on the injury front keeps piling up for the Raiders, and so does the opportunity.

With all-scholastic halfback Mike Leavitt in street clothes, the Smith Brothers more than did their share to anchor a Raider ground attack that rolled up 323 yards on 39 rushes.Michael paced the Raiders with 77 yards on 10 tries, and Matt chipped in 67 on five tries.

The efficient junior Jowett, in his second year under center, hit 6 of 12 passes for 48 yards and scrambled for 38 more on seven carries.

Central played without Leavitt and co-captain Mike Schlosser and then suffered another gigantic loss when sophomore Zach Latrell went down with an ugly first-half leg injury.

"That's three two-way starters we're missing, so that does hurt. And (Latrell's injury) doesn't look good," said Raider coach Chuck Adamopoulos. "The good news is we do have guys picking it up."

For Lawrence, there were some bright spots, namely the two-way play of sophomore backs Devin Montanez and Harvey Blanco.

Montanez ran nine times for 28 yards and also caught two balls for 27 yards. A trio of other long gains were wiped away by the officials' yellow hankies.

Blanco paced the defense with 13 tackles and took on all comers.

Demetri Brown caught three balls for 57 yards and a score. Heredia ran nine times for 54 yards but completed only 9 of 26 passes for 127 yards. He didn't get a ton of help from his receivers who had numerous drops.