LAWRENCE
– Heading into
Thursday’s Turkey Day contest between Merrimack Valley foes Central Catholic
and Lawrence, the biggest question was whether the game would feature the area’s
top two throwing quarterbacks.
Read More »
Football, 11/28/19 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
LAWRENCE
– Heading into
Thursday’s Turkey Day contest between Merrimack Valley foes Central Catholic
and Lawrence, the biggest question was whether the game would feature the area’s
top two throwing quarterbacks.
Read More »
Football, 11/28/19 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
LAWRENCE
– Heading into
Thursday’s Turkey Day contest between Merrimack Valley foes Central Catholic
and Lawrence, the biggest question was whether the game would feature the area’s
top two throwing quarterbacks.
Read More »
Football, 11/28/19 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
LAWRENCE — For the second straight season, Central Catholic could not find an answer for St. John’s Prep with a trip to the state title game on the line.
The top-seeded Raiders, forced to play the second half without injured star QB Ayden Pereira, were limited to just 66 yards of total offense, falling to the No. 2 seed Eagles 14-0 in the Division 1 North championship game.
“It was a tough one,” said Central head coach Chuck Adamopoulos. “That’s a very good Prep team. I’m proud of my team. The defense played well, and it hurt not having our QB. It’s tough to lose a game at this point in the season.”
Both losses for Central Catholic (8-2) this fall came against St. John’s (9-1). The Prep also beat the Raiders 21-0 last fall in the North title game, on the way to winning the Division 1 state championship.
Central’s potent offense — which entered Saturday averaging 38.6 points per game — was dealt a massive blow with the loss of their budding superstar sophomore quarterback.
Pereira attempted to play Saturday with a separated right, throwing shoulder suffered in last week’s win over Everett.
The Eagle-Tribune area’s leader in passing yards (1,587) and passing TDs (20) started for Central, but was clearly slowed by the injury,
which forced him to leave the game in the second half.
“Our QB played with a really rough injury,” said Adamopoulos. “He gave it a whirl and played very tough.”
Central opened fast, marching to the Prep 14-yard line on its first possession of the game, before the drive stalled. The Raiders drove to the Eagles’ 32-yard line two possessions later, but turned the ball over on downs.
A drive after that, Central’s Dom Tritto intercepted a pass and moved it into Prep territory. But Central was again stopped.
“We had some good field position early, because our defense was playing their butts off,” said Adamopoulos. “But we couldn’t take advantage.”
Central’s defense dominated early, limiting the Prep to just two first downs and 53 total yards, including no pass completions, on its first six possessions of the game.
But the Eagles grabbed the lead with 1:34 left until halftime, on a 5-yard touchdown by Pat Nistl. Central responded quickly when Tritto returned the following kickoff to the Prep 30, but the Raiders could not take advantage.
In need of a spark, Central seemed to find it when Nick Donatio intercepted a pass in the end zone to squash the Prep’s first drive of the second half. But the Raiders again turned the ball over on downs.
The Eagles then turned the game over to its rushing attack to close out the victory.
“We couldn’t throw the ball, so we turned to our run game to grind it out,” said Prep head coach Brian St. Pierre. “It just became a slug fest, and we were bigger and tougher. We wanted to hold the ball and tire them out. We called the same play (halfback dive) 30-plus times, and they couldn’t stop it.”
St. John’s delivered a 15-play drive that ate approximately eight minutes off the clock and ended with a Matt Crowley QB sneak touchdown. The Eagles then forced Central to punt, and needed eight run plays to finish off the clock and earn a second straight state title game berth.
Leading the Central defense were Dom Pedi (10 tackles), Brendan Cesati (10 tackles) and Michael Finneran (8 tackles), who also played quarterback in the second half.
Haverhill’s Matt Duchemin had three pass breakups for St. John’s.
Central Catholic will now turn its attention to Thanksgiving, when it takes on Lawrence High (2-8).
“We have one game left to play, and we’ll get after that one,” said Adamopoulos. “We will take a few days, regroup, and focus on Lawrence.”
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Football, 11/16/19 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
LAWRENCE — For the second straight season, Central Catholic could not find an answer for St. John’s Prep with a trip to the state title game on the line.
The top-seeded Raiders, forced to play the second half without injured star QB Ayden Pereira, were limited to just 66 yards of total offense, falling to the No. 2 seed Eagles 14-0 in the Division 1 North championship game.
“It was a tough one,” said Central head coach Chuck Adamopoulos. “That’s a very good Prep team. I’m proud of my team. The defense played well, and it hurt not having our QB. It’s tough to lose a game at this point in the season.”
Both losses for Central Catholic (8-2) this fall came against St. John’s (9-1). The Prep also beat the Raiders 21-0 last fall in the North title game, on the way to winning the Division 1 state championship.
Central’s potent offense — which entered Saturday averaging 38.6 points per game — was dealt a massive blow with the loss of their budding superstar sophomore quarterback.
Pereira attempted to play Saturday with a separated right, throwing shoulder suffered in last week’s win over Everett.
The Eagle-Tribune area’s leader in passing yards (1,587) and passing TDs (20) started for Central, but was clearly slowed by the injury,
which forced him to leave the game in the second half.
“Our QB played with a really rough injury,” said Adamopoulos. “He gave it a whirl and played very tough.”
Central opened fast, marching to the Prep 14-yard line on its first possession of the game, before the drive stalled. The Raiders drove to the Eagles’ 32-yard line two possessions later, but turned the ball over on downs.
A drive after that, Central’s Dom Tritto intercepted a pass and moved it into Prep territory. But Central was again stopped.
“We had some good field position early, because our defense was playing their butts off,” said Adamopoulos. “But we couldn’t take advantage.”
Central’s defense dominated early, limiting the Prep to just two first downs and 53 total yards, including no pass completions, on its first six possessions of the game.
But the Eagles grabbed the lead with 1:34 left until halftime, on a 5-yard touchdown by Pat Nistl. Central responded quickly when Tritto returned the following kickoff to the Prep 30, but the Raiders could not take advantage.
In need of a spark, Central seemed to find it when Nick Donatio intercepted a pass in the end zone to squash the Prep’s first drive of the second half. But the Raiders again turned the ball over on downs.
The Eagles then turned the game over to its rushing attack to close out the victory.
“We couldn’t throw the ball, so we turned to our run game to grind it out,” said Prep head coach Brian St. Pierre. “It just became a slug fest, and we were bigger and tougher. We wanted to hold the ball and tire them out. We called the same play (halfback dive) 30-plus times, and they couldn’t stop it.”
St. John’s delivered a 15-play drive that ate approximately eight minutes off the clock and ended with a Matt Crowley QB sneak touchdown. The Eagles then forced Central to punt, and needed eight run plays to finish off the clock and earn a second straight state title game berth.
Leading the Central defense were Dom Pedi (10 tackles), Brendan Cesati (10 tackles) and Michael Finneran (8 tackles), who also played quarterback in the second half.
Haverhill’s Matt Duchemin had three pass breakups for St. John’s.
Central Catholic will now turn its attention to Thanksgiving, when it takes on Lawrence High (2-8).
“We have one game left to play, and we’ll get after that one,” said Adamopoulos. “We will take a few days, regroup, and focus on Lawrence.”
Read More »
Football, 11/16/19 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
LAWRENCE – Chuck Adamopoulos was out of his comfort zone for 2½ hours yesterday at Lawrence’s Veteran Memorial Stadium.
Too many long kickoff returns. Too many passes. Too many penalties. Too many long plays. And, really, too many points.
“That’s not my kind of game,” said the Central Catholic coach after his team’s 39-37 overtime thriller over its official new rival, Everett High.
Central meets another rival, St. John’s Prep, in the Div. 1 North title game next Saturday at noon at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
“I’ve always been a defensive guy,” he said. “I was hoping this wouldn’t turn into that Springfield Catholic game (Central won 52-42 in season opener). These kinds of games are not good for my health. But we won. So you bet I’ll take it.”
For 10 bucks (5 for students), you couldn’t beat the non-stop drama.
The only thing crazier than the ending in overtime, with interference calls against both defense and very close plays on the conversion rushes – Central’s Mark Kassis barely getting over the white line and Everett coming up inches short to attempt to tie the game – was the start of the game.
Everett returned it the opening kick 89 yards to the Central 1-yard line leading to an easy score followed by Central senior Nick Donatio answering right back with a 75-yard touchdown return of his own.
“They had that penalty (on the conversion kick) that moved kick back 15 yards,” said Donatio. “They usually don’t kick it long, usually popping ball short. But they kicked it deep.
“I looked up and saw all of our front guys on a man and I saw this huge, gigantic hole in the middle. I just broke through and went left to the daylight,” said Donatio. “It was a pretty big play. Their crowd was going so crazy. That quieted them down very quickly.”
What made this game extra special was the fact that both teams have superior kicking games. Extra points were not only a formality, a rare occurrence in high school, but each team boomed field goals.
Everett’s Abraham Betancourt gave his team a 10-7 lead with a 27-yarder in the first quarter only to be outdone by Central senior Nick Mazzie’s 42-yarder at the end of the half.
In between those field goals was probably the play of the game.
Central’s sophomore quarterback, Ayden Pereira, who at 15 has the poise players two and three years older, saw a snap over his head.
Rather than jump on the bouncing ball, Pereira scooped it, going to the left side and then rolling out to his right and chucking a ball 25 yards in the air to a wide open Mark Cicciarelli who sprinted about 30 more yards for a 55-yard touchdown connection.
Why didn’t Pereira jump on the first down loose ball and take the loss?
“First of all, it was high but I should’ve caught the ball,” said Pereira. “If I dive on it we lose 15 yards and it probably ruins the drive. Luckily, the (receivers) kept playing and they were open.”
Central opened up a two-touchdown lead on another play-of-the-game nominee.
Everett isn’t “Everett” for a reason. And down 24-10, they clawed their way back.
The Crimson Tide answered with two touchdowns before the third quarter ended, the first on a 13-play, 68-yard drive (5-yard pass by Duke Doherty to Eli Auguste) and another following a Central fumble when, two plays later, Clarence Jules zig-zagged into to the end zone from 26 yards out.
Now it was Nate Hebert’s turn to make the highlight reel.
From the Everett 37, Adamopoulos called the fake punt on 4th-and-10. Michael Finneran hit junior Dominic Tritto, who was closely covered, and Tritto dragged the defender just over the first down marker .
On the next play, Pereria, under pressure, threw a deep ball to the corner of the end zone, appearing to be past Nate Hebert’s reach. But Hebert dove and caught it.
Of course, the 31-24 lead was not safe.
This time Everett went 15 plays covering 75 yards, which included a fourth-and-5 conversion, with Jayden Clerveaux finding the end zone from 20 yards out and the extra point tying it at 31-31 with 2:57 remaining.
Central had a quick 3-and-out and Everett was able to get to the Central 27 yard line, near field goal position, with under a minute remaining on a 17-yard run and 18-yard pass.
Enter Central’s Kassis.
He picked off a pass while the Everett quarterback was avoiding a rush and appeared to have daylight for a possible score. He was pushed out of bounds at the Everett 36 yard line.
But a sack and two incompletions and two last ditch plays from Everett went for naught , sending the game to overtime with each team getting the ball on the 10-yard line.
A pass interference on Everett gave Central the ball on the 5-yard line and Pereria faked a handoff and scored standing up.
On the conversion, Kassis was at quarterback. He faked a handoff to Pereira and dragged a defender to the goal line and score.
“We did that to change it up a bit,” said Adamopoulos. “Our offensive coordinator John Sexton did it earlier in the game, too.”
Everett’s opportunity looked similar to Central’s, with a third down pass interference penalty. Tyrese Baptiste scored on a 3-yard run.
What turned out to be the play of the game, Clerveaux took the ball and bull-dozed near the goal line.
The referees didn’t make the call right away, conversing for about 20 seconds before the lead official making the “no good” sign with his arms.
“It was the craziest game I’ve ever been involved with,” said Donatio. “We always believed. That’s our attitude. But this was crazy. It’s a game we’ll never forget.”
Next up for Adamopoulos and Central is “The Prep.”
“We were hoping for that number one seed because we figured we wouldn’t have to play Everett and St. John’s Prep,” said Adampoulos.
“We were wrong,” he said. “Honestly, we will enjoy this one for a few hours before we worry about next Saturday. This was an awesome day.”
Read More »
Football, 11/09/19 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
LAWRENCE – Chuck Adamopoulos was out of his comfort zone for 2½ hours yesterday at Lawrence’s Veteran Memorial Stadium.
Too many long kickoff returns. Too many passes. Too many penalties. Too many long plays. And, really, too many points.
“That’s not my kind of game,” said the Central Catholic coach after his team’s 39-37 overtime thriller over its official new rival, Everett High.
Central meets another rival, St. John’s Prep, in the Div. 1 North title game next Saturday at noon at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
“I’ve always been a defensive guy,” he said. “I was hoping this wouldn’t turn into that Springfield Catholic game (Central won 52-42 in season opener). These kinds of games are not good for my health. But we won. So you bet I’ll take it.”
For 10 bucks (5 for students), you couldn’t beat the non-stop drama.
The only thing crazier than the ending in overtime, with interference calls against both defense and very close plays on the conversion rushes – Central’s Mark Kassis barely getting over the white line and Everett coming up inches short to attempt to tie the game – was the start of the game.
Everett returned it the opening kick 89 yards to the Central 1-yard line leading to an easy score followed by Central senior Nick Donatio answering right back with a 75-yard touchdown return of his own.
“They had that penalty (on the conversion kick) that moved kick back 15 yards,” said Donatio. “They usually don’t kick it long, usually popping ball short. But they kicked it deep.
“I looked up and saw all of our front guys on a man and I saw this huge, gigantic hole in the middle. I just broke through and went left to the daylight,” said Donatio. “It was a pretty big play. Their crowd was going so crazy. That quieted them down very quickly.”
What made this game extra special was the fact that both teams have superior kicking games. Extra points were not only a formality, a rare occurrence in high school, but each team boomed field goals.
Everett’s Abraham Betancourt gave his team a 10-7 lead with a 27-yarder in the first quarter only to be outdone by Central senior Nick Mazzie’s 42-yarder at the end of the half.
In between those field goals was probably the play of the game.
Central’s sophomore quarterback, Ayden Pereira, who at 15 has the poise players two and three years older, saw a snap over his head.
Rather than jump on the bouncing ball, Pereira scooped it, going to the left side and then rolling out to his right and chucking a ball 25 yards in the air to a wide open Mark Cicciarelli who sprinted about 30 more yards for a 55-yard touchdown connection.
Why didn’t Pereira jump on the first down loose ball and take the loss?
“First of all, it was high but I should’ve caught the ball,” said Pereira. “If I dive on it we lose 15 yards and it probably ruins the drive. Luckily, the (receivers) kept playing and they were open.”
Central opened up a two-touchdown lead on another play-of-the-game nominee.
Everett isn’t “Everett” for a reason. And down 24-10, they clawed their way back.
The Crimson Tide answered with two touchdowns before the third quarter ended, the first on a 13-play, 68-yard drive (5-yard pass by Duke Doherty to Eli Auguste) and another following a Central fumble when, two plays later, Clarence Jules zig-zagged into to the end zone from 26 yards out.
Now it was Nate Hebert’s turn to make the highlight reel.
From the Everett 37, Adamopoulos called the fake punt on 4th-and-10. Michael Finneran hit junior Dominic Tritto, who was closely covered, and Tritto dragged the defender just over the first down marker .
On the next play, Pereria, under pressure, threw a deep ball to the corner of the end zone, appearing to be past Nate Hebert’s reach. But Hebert dove and caught it.
Of course, the 31-24 lead was not safe.
This time Everett went 15 plays covering 75 yards, which included a fourth-and-5 conversion, with Jayden Clerveaux finding the end zone from 20 yards out and the extra point tying it at 31-31 with 2:57 remaining.
Central had a quick 3-and-out and Everett was able to get to the Central 27 yard line, near field goal position, with under a minute remaining on a 17-yard run and 18-yard pass.
Enter Central’s Kassis.
He picked off a pass while the Everett quarterback was avoiding a rush and appeared to have daylight for a possible score. He was pushed out of bounds at the Everett 36 yard line.
But a sack and two incompletions and two last ditch plays from Everett went for naught , sending the game to overtime with each team getting the ball on the 10-yard line.
A pass interference on Everett gave Central the ball on the 5-yard line and Pereria faked a handoff and scored standing up.
On the conversion, Kassis was at quarterback. He faked a handoff to Pereira and dragged a defender to the goal line and score.
“We did that to change it up a bit,” said Adamopoulos. “Our offensive coordinator John Sexton did it earlier in the game, too.”
Everett’s opportunity looked similar to Central’s, with a third down pass interference penalty. Tyrese Baptiste scored on a 3-yard run.
What turned out to be the play of the game, Clerveaux took the ball and bull-dozed near the goal line.
The referees didn’t make the call right away, conversing for about 20 seconds before the lead official making the “no good” sign with his arms.
“It was the craziest game I’ve ever been involved with,” said Donatio. “We always believed. That’s our attitude. But this was crazy. It’s a game we’ll never forget.”
Next up for Adamopoulos and Central is “The Prep.”
“We were hoping for that number one seed because we figured we wouldn’t have to play Everett and St. John’s Prep,” said Adampoulos.
“We were wrong,” he said. “Honestly, we will enjoy this one for a few hours before we worry about next Saturday. This was an awesome day.”
Read More »
Football, 11/09/19 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
LAWRENCE - Ayden Pereira wore a well-earned smile as he left Veterans Memorial Stadium on Saturday."That was fun," said Central Catholic's sophomore quarterback. "We came out strong, we were clicking, and we got the job done. It was definitely fun."Pereira threw four first-half touchdowns, the Central defense allowed just 28 total yards for the game and the top-seeded Raiders rolled past No. 8 Lexington on Saturday in the Division 1 North quarterfinals."We felt like we could impose our will today," said linebacker Dominic Pedi. "We came out flying around the field, and we did what we needed to do. It felt so good to get a good win."Central (7-1) advances to host No. 4 Everett (7-1) in the Division 1 North semifinals on Saturday, scheduled for a noon kickoff. "We know that we have the ability to be a special team," said lineman Uyu Osayimwen. "We know we can do special things. We did our jobs today, and that gives us a lot of confidence moving on to face Everett."Central quickly dispatched of Lexington on Saturday.On the Raiders' first offensive play, Pereira tossed a shovel pass to Nate Hebert, who scampered 16 yards for a touchdown."That was a little bit of a cheesy touchdown for me," joked Pereira, who threw the ball a foot on the play. "We picked up a few good blocks, Nate got the edge, and he got into the end zone."A possession later, Pereira's third pass of the day went for a 12-yard touchdown to Nick Donatio. Moments after that, his sixth pass was a 12-yard touchdown to Jermaine Wiggins, a play after the two connected on a 33-yard completion.Pereira's final TD came six plays into the second quarter, when he hit Nathel Achuo for a 13-yard score. The young QB finished the day 9 of 10 passing for 133 yards, his lone incompletion after a defensive back dragged down his receiver."We always have confidence we can do this," said Pereira. "We know we can put up these types of points. The defense was giving us good field position, and we did our job."While the offense was rolling - Mark Kassis and Michael Brown each added a touchdown run before the starters left the game at halftime - the Raider defense was equally dominant. Central forced Lexington into five straight three-and-outs to start the game, then allowed one first down on the next drive before Raider Dom Tritto intercepted a pass. The Minutemen managed just 11 total yards in the first half against the Central starters, and 17 in the second half against the backups, including negitive-40 rushing yards for the game. Pedi, Enly DeLaCruz and Nick Palmer each had a sack in the first half, and Mathew St. Hilaire had two sacks after halftime. Justice McGrail and Stephen Piro each added an interception."We thought we could move people," said Pedi. "We just wanted to play our style of football. It didn't matter who we played today, we just wanted to go out and play our brand of football."Next week will serve as a rematch of last year's quarterfinals, when Central went to Everett and upset the No. 1-seeded unbeaten Crimson Tide 23-20 on a Nick Mazzie field goal."Everett is Everett, so they are always going to be good," said Pereira. "Today's win feels good, but it doesn't mean anything if we can't beat Everett."
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Football, 11/02/19 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
LAWRENCE - Ayden Pereira wore a well-earned smile as he left Veterans Memorial Stadium on Saturday."That was fun," said Central Catholic's sophomore quarterback. "We came out strong, we were clicking, and we got the job done. It was definitely fun."Pereira threw four first-half touchdowns, the Central defense allowed just 28 total yards for the game and the top-seeded Raiders rolled past No. 8 Lexington on Saturday in the Division 1 North quarterfinals."We felt like we could impose our will today," said linebacker Dominic Pedi. "We came out flying around the field, and we did what we needed to do. It felt so good to get a good win."Central (7-1) advances to host No. 4 Everett (7-1) in the Division 1 North semifinals on Saturday, scheduled for a noon kickoff. "We know that we have the ability to be a special team," said lineman Uyu Osayimwen. "We know we can do special things. We did our jobs today, and that gives us a lot of confidence moving on to face Everett."Central quickly dispatched of Lexington on Saturday.On the Raiders' first offensive play, Pereira tossed a shovel pass to Nate Hebert, who scampered 16 yards for a touchdown."That was a little bit of a cheesy touchdown for me," joked Pereira, who threw the ball a foot on the play. "We picked up a few good blocks, Nate got the edge, and he got into the end zone."A possession later, Pereira's third pass of the day went for a 12-yard touchdown to Nick Donatio. Moments after that, his sixth pass was a 12-yard touchdown to Jermaine Wiggins, a play after the two connected on a 33-yard completion.Pereira's final TD came six plays into the second quarter, when he hit Nathel Achuo for a 13-yard score. The young QB finished the day 9 of 10 passing for 133 yards, his lone incompletion after a defensive back dragged down his receiver."We always have confidence we can do this," said Pereira. "We know we can put up these types of points. The defense was giving us good field position, and we did our job."While the offense was rolling - Mark Kassis and Michael Brown each added a touchdown run before the starters left the game at halftime - the Raider defense was equally dominant. Central forced Lexington into five straight three-and-outs to start the game, then allowed one first down on the next drive before Raider Dom Tritto intercepted a pass. The Minutemen managed just 11 total yards in the first half against the Central starters, and 17 in the second half against the backups, including negitive-40 rushing yards for the game. Pedi, Enly DeLaCruz and Nick Palmer each had a sack in the first half, and Mathew St. Hilaire had two sacks after halftime. Justice McGrail and Stephen Piro each added an interception."We thought we could move people," said Pedi. "We just wanted to play our style of football. It didn't matter who we played today, we just wanted to go out and play our brand of football."Next week will serve as a rematch of last year's quarterfinals, when Central went to Everett and upset the No. 1-seeded unbeaten Crimson Tide 23-20 on a Nick Mazzie field goal."Everett is Everett, so they are always going to be good," said Pereira. "Today's win feels good, but it doesn't mean anything if we can't beat Everett."
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Football, 11/02/19 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
LAWRENCE
– Needing a win to clinch
the top seed in the Division 1 North playoffs that begin this week, Central
Catholic wrapped up things early Saturday afternoon.
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Football, 10/26/19 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
