ANDOVER – Three times Greater Lawrence responded to an eight-point deficit to tie St. Mary’s.
But the fourth-seeded Spartans took one last lead, and this time the visitors didn’t leave the top-seeded Reggies enough time to answer in Friday evening’s Division 7 North semifinals,
Jalen Echevarria (3 TDs) hauled in a 31-yard pass from Derek O’Leary with 20 seconds remaining to hand St. Mary’s a 30-24 victory and a spot in the Division 7 North title game.
“Our guys came back real good,” Greater Lawrence coach Tony Sarkis said. “I can’t say enough about them. It stinks that we made some mistakes. They made some mistakes, but they played better at the end. They made more plays than we did.”
The Reggies (6-3) sputtered in a first half that saw St. Mary’s grab an 8-0 lead when Brendan Laundry returned one of the Spartans’ three first-half interceptions. After Laundry’s 35-yard TD return, Echevarria ran for the two-point conversion – one of six the teams combined for.
After gaining just 36 yards on their first 22 plays, Greater Lawrence tied the score early in the third on a 51-yard wide-receiver screen from Jose Caceres to Donnie Croteau. Caceres ran for the conversion, which he did on all three Reggie scores.
Echevarria hauled in a 12-yard pass from O’Leary before a George Freeman conversion run to give the Spartans from Lynn (6-3) a 16-8 lead with 45 seconds left in the third.
Greater Lawrence responded with a 10-play, 74-yard drive that Croteau capped with a 25-yard scoring toss from Caceres.
Already playing without standout defensive back Stevie Polanco, the Reggies also lost starting center/defensive end Pablo Arias with a sprained ankle early in the second half.
“The (amount) of injuries, that kind of killed us,” Sarkis said. “But that’s part of the game. We made some adjustments (at halftime) on the outside guys, and we starting cutting inside more.”
Echevarria, a basketball star playing his first year of football, answered on St. Mary’s first play of its ensuing possession with a 70-yard run for a 24-16 lead with 5:53 remaining.
But the Reggies once again clawed back when Shamil Diaz finished off a 54-yard drive with a 14-yard run. Caceres’ conversion tied the game at 24 with 2:45 left.
Both teams had another possession, but Greater Lawrence’s ended with Laundry’s second interception at the Spartan 27 and 41 seconds remaining. Three plays later Echevarria hauled in a 31-yard toss from O’Leary in the end zone for the game winner.
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Football, 11/02/18 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
The Georgetown-Pentucket girls volleyball team improved to 3-4 on the year after picking up a 3-1 win at St. Mary's of Lynn. The Royals won 25-22, 25-18, 20-25, 25-17, bouncing back from a loss in the third set to finish off the win. Izzie Schutz led the team in kills (6) and Kalyn Markuns was the team leader in assists (10).
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Girls Volleyball, 09/24/18 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
LYNN — In a game where just about everything that possibly could have gone wrong for Greater Lawrence football did, there was one bright spot that came in the team's final offensive possession of game.
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Football, 11/03/17 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
LOWELL — It wasn’t the most successful birthday she’s ever had, but St. Mary’s of Lynn senior third baseman Katie Terban of Georgetown will take it.
Coming into the tournament, Terban was hitting a robust .501 and one of the team’s top RBI hitter, In Saturday’s 5-2 Division 3 North semifinal victory over Whittier Tech, Terban was just 1 for 4 and didn’t drive in a run. But the Spartans still prevailed, 5-2, and that was the main thing.
“It was a good team win and we’re just happy to keep playing,” said Terban, a third baseman who is headed to St. Michael’s College in the fall. “That’s the third time we’ve played them in the tournament.”
And Terban has been a stalwart for the Spartans every time as has center fielder Francesca Simon, shortstop Vanessa VanBuskirk and starting pitcher Michaela Hamill, all seniors. They comprise the first four batters in the St. Mary’s batting order.
“All those kids played against us two years ago,” said Whittier coach Cheryl Begin. “They have so much experience and we’re so young.”
And yet the Wildcats (20-3) gave St. Mary’s all it could handle and was within a base hit of taking the lead until the Spartans added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh
Whittier freshman pitcher Nicole Verrette retired the first six batters she faced and nine of the first 10 but the only two walks she issued all day plus a pair of hits gave St. Mary’s a 3-0 lead in the top of the fourth. It was a lead it would never relinquish.
But the Wildcats battled back with two runs in the bottom of the fourth. Jackie Verrette and Lena Faranna both had base hits and Kayle Hobbs drove them both in with a hard line drive single to center that got past the center fielder.
After that inning, junior Mia Nowicki came into the game in relief for Hamill and was nearly unhitable, striking out eight in three innings and allowing just two base runners.
But Whittier definitely made St. Mary’s work for the win and had several positives. Jackie Verrette and Hobbs both had a pair of hits and Kaley Thibault made several sound defensive plays at third base, recording all three outs in the sixth.
“I’m really proud of the girls,” said Begin. “They played hard and left it all out in the field.”
Despite the loss, the Wildcats’ season is not quite over. They’ll be playing in the Vocational State championship game at Greater New Bedford (21-4) on Monday,Tuesday or Wednesday. Greater New Bedford won the Division 3 South title.
St. Mary’s Lynn 5, Whittier 2
Division 3 North Semifinals
St. Mary’s (5): Simon cf 3-0-0, VanBuskirk ss 3-1-1, Terban 3b 4-0-1, Hamill p/rf 4-0-1, C.Nowicki rf/lf 2-1-0, Dicenso 1b 3-1-1, Smaller lf 3-0-2, M.Nowicki p 0-0-0, Stephenson c 3-0-1, Sullivan pr 0-1-0, Fraher 2b 3-1-2. Totals 28-5-9
Whittier (2): Thibault 3b 4-0-1, Boutin cf 3-0-0, Campbell dp 3-0-0, Ja.Verrette c 3-0-2, O.Beauchesne pr/ph 1-1-0, Wilson 1b 2-0-0, Faranna ss 3-1-1, Hobbs 2b 3-0-2, Slocum rf 3-0-0, N.Verrette p 2-0-0, A.Beauchesne lf 0-0-0. Totals 27-2-6
RBI: SM — Dicenso 2, Smaller, VanBuskirk, Hamill; W — Hobbs
WP: Hamill; LP: N.Verette
Whittier (20-3): 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 — 2
St. Mary’s Lynn (19-4): 0 0 0 3 0 0 2 — 5
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Softball, 06/11/16 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
LYNN — The Whittier baseball team found magic just days ago, with a shocking seven-run seventh inning to stun Pentucket.
Unfortunatly for the Wildcats, however, that magic did not carry into the next round.
No. 10 seed Whittier managed just a single hit, falling to No. 6 St. Mary’s of Lynn 4-1 in the Division 3 North semifinals at Fraser Field in Lynn. The Spartans move on to face Austin Prep in the North final on Saturday at LeLacheur Park in Lowell.
“I thought we played pretty well,” said Whittier head coach Joe Boland. “But when we hit the ball hard it was right at people. The kids scrapped and stayed in the game, but St. Mary’s was just better than us today.”
Whittier grabbed the lead in the second without the benifit of a hit.
Jorge Martinez led off the inning with a walk, the first of four free passes in five batters that ended with Josh Barton walking to force Martinez home.
St. Mary’s threatened in both the second and third to tie the game, putting runners at second and third. But both times Whittier ace Austin Toohey was able to escape the jam.
The Spartans did take the lead, however, with an RBI double and triple in the fourth.
Other than that, Toohey pitched a stellar game. After working in releif on Monday, the senior pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing three runs on five hits and striking out four.
“Toohey pitched a terrific game,” said St. Mary’s head coach Derek Dana. “That is one tough kid who really fought. We had heard he pitched the other day, but he hung in there and I was really impressed.
But Toohey just could not match the effort by Spartans pitcher Clay Yianacopolus. The lanky senior allowed just the single hit in six innings, striking out seven. He walked seven but other than the one run wasn’t hurt.
“It was a very good pitcher’s duel,” said Boland. “Toohey did a very nice job. We may have over-pitched him a little. They got to him a little bit at the end, but he wouldn’t come out. He wanted to do everything he could for the team and he did a nice job.
“This is a great group that have played for me for a lot of years. I am going to miss them. It was a nice run.”
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Baseball, 06/10/15 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
In just their second meet as a duo, senior captains Andrew Dickinson and Jack Donahue won No. 1 doubles 6-0, 6-2 as No. 6 Pentucket downed No. 3 St. Mary's of Lynn 3-2 in the Division 3 North quarterfinals.
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Boys Tennis, 06/05/15 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
Trailing 6-0, Haverhill rallied for six runs with two out in the top of the seventh to tie the game but St. Mary’s plated the game-winner in the bottom of the inning for the win. Connor Manning went 3-for-4, including a bases loaded triple in the seventh inning. Matt Fenderson threw his fifth complete game of the year but was once again the hard-luck loser. The senior right-hander has a 1.45 ERA but has been on losing end of four, one-run losses.
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Baseball, 05/17/15 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
HAVERHILL — In the rain, cold, win and mud, Whittier Tech outlasted St. Mary's of Lynn, 22-14, in a thriller that was decided in overtime.
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Football, 11/01/14 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
Andres Hernandez 19pts and Richard Vazquez 10pts to lead Whittier, which fell to St. Mary's 78-49
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Boys Basketball, 01/30/14 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
Colby Maiola's two-out, two-run single in the top of the ninth propelled North Reading to a 3-1 win over St. Mary's in the first round of the Niiper Clancy Tourney at Lynn's Fraiser Field.
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Baseball, 05/25/12 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
