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MANCHESTER — Londonderry scored first but Manchester Central regrouped and took control, scoring 24 fourth quarter points en route to a 36-7 romp.

It was a defensive struggle early with  the Lancers getting on the board first on a Jonathan Young 4-yard run with 2:45 left in the half. The hosts, however, answered with Hector Velez crashing in from the 3 with 23 seconds left in the half.

LONDONDERRY – Pinkerton Academy junior Matt Madden had to have thought he died and went to football heaven:Playing before a standing-room crowd of over 3,000 fans under lights.Tackling a legitimate heated rival in Londonderry High.And facing the single-wing offense, one that he was born and raised to defend.“It’s always a great rival game, and playing for a crowd like this is a one-time-a-year thing. It’s unbelievable,” said Madden.Madden’s 10-tackle night highlighted a thorgoughly dominating 41-0 Astro win here on Mack Plaque weekend at Lancer Field. “Our linebackers, Madden and (Matt) St. Onge like playing the single wing style teams, because it’s all mucking it up inside,” said Astros coach Brian O’Reilly. “They’re both very good at it, and they put some pretty good shots on kids out there tonight.”Turnovers and Lancer mistakes greased the rails for a Pinkerton runaway.An early fumble set up Sean Conroy’s 3-yard TD plunge, and Manny Latimore made it 14-0 with a eye-popping 41-yard punt return that was even more exceptional considering the Astros had only 10 players on the field for it.Latimore dashed up the middle for one more TD, a 29-yarder before the break that essentially ended things, especially the way Madden and his mates were hunting and destroying the football.“We’ve the had same scheme every year against them, and I just key the power back,” said Madden. “But our whole defense tonight was just awesome. It was a great effort tonight from everyone."Madden, an honorable mention E-T All-Star as a sophomore, laid out some bone-rattling hits along the way as the Astros limited Londonderry to 75 first-half yards.But none of the hits were as big as the three pancake blocks he through like a locomotive leading Conroy down the sideline on a third-quarter interception return, all the way to the Lancer 5.“I saw my boy Sean Conroy coming in hot, and I went to help out because I wanted him to get the runback,” said Madden, who draw smiles of admiration from all the Pinkerton coaches on the sideline for the courageous performance.Londonderry, now 1-2 in Division 1 play, looks to recover and find a way to kick-start the offense again and get back into the playoff hunt.Step 1 is Friday night at Concord.

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. – When looking for season-opening opponents in the future, Londonderry might want to avoid the Division 3 ranks.