By MIKE GRENIER
Correspondent
LAWRENCE – For a brief time, when it took a one-point lead in the first quarter last night, Essex North Shore had reason to believe it could maybe win a wild game against Greater Lawrence.
But it turned out to be just a fleeting moment of hope. Like J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox, the Reggies of Greater Lawrence were hitting the long ball in this one.
Repeatedly.
Inspired by senior quarterback Jose Caceres, who connected on 19 of 25 passes for 363 yards and a career-high six touchdowns, Greater Lawrence routed Essex North Shore, 53-32. The Reggies improved to 2-2 in the process while the Hawks fell to 1-3.
Essex North Shore had considerable confidence in its offense and it seemed justified when quarterback Vincent Brazzo threw a 55-yard touchdown pass to Ben Condon and Pat Sauvageau added the extra point, giving the Hawks a 14-13 edge with plenty of time left in the opening quarter.
However, the remainder of the game belonged to the fast and versatile Reggies. Big time.
Coach Tony Sarkis’ team piled up 27 points in the first quarter and led 39-14 at the half. The Reggies kept pushing the pace in the third quarter, increasing the lead to 53-20, before putting the engine in neutral for the final 11 minutes.
Caceres, who received superb protection from his offensive line, was simply unstoppable. By halftime, he was already 14-for-19 for 314 yards and five touchdowns, and the onslaught continued in the third quarter.
The Reggies quarterback hit Omar Medina for a 7-yard touchdown on the team’s first possession and hooked up with Dannie Croteau for a 23-yard touchdown on their next drive.
Steve Polanco electrified his teammates and the crowd with an 87-yard kickoff return to make it 21-14 and then Caceres hit Medina again, this time for a 45-yard touchdown that stretched it to 27-14. At this point, there was still 1:57 left in the opening quarter.
The second quarter was more of the same. Shamil Diaz was on the receiving end of a 51-yard pass play that boosted the score to 33-14, and Diaz would score again before halftime, this time on a 32-yard pass from his quarterback.
“We just worked on our passing game all week,” said Caceres. “We’ve been a second half team all season and we wanted to change that, wanted to step it up in the first half. As a captain and talking to our co-captain Humberfy Contreras, we had to (play better in the opening half). The passing game has been my weakness, so we talked about sharpening up in practice.”
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Football, 09/28/18 » 0 Comments & 0.0 Stars
