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LOWELL — The pride was there, but too much talent was missing.

Haverhill threw a lot of physical play at Lowell before about 1,000 fans at Cawley Stadium. Bottling up standout running back Ambruce Carter while forcing three fumbles, the Hillies held its own in the trenches.

Haverhill opened the season in style with a win over Malden, but has dropped the last nine straight. The Hillies hope to end the season the way it started with an upset over Lowell.

The Red Raiders are one of the most improved teams in Eastern Mass. They entered last season with high hopes led by QB Matt Welch, who earned a scholarship to UNH. But with Welch battling injuries, Lowell struggled to a 2-9 record and fell to Haverhill on Thanksgiving Day, 28-7. Things looked to be only growing even worse when star running back Jethro Kollie transferred to New Hampton Prep.

HAVERHILL - Awash in a week of tumult, anger, confusion and disappointment, Mike Yameen wondered how his Lawrence High football team would respond at Haverhill last night. The 27-point opening quarter pretty much answered the question.

“Take our wins, but you can’t take away our pride,” said the Lancer coach after his inspired gridders devoured Haverhill, 46-12, last night.

Earlier in the week, the Haverhill administration reported the Lancers’ use of an ineligible player, costing Lawrence its second most prolific season since the 1980s.

“All that was going on, we all took it personally, and we showed it on the field,” said senior quarterback Ramon Heredia, who threw a pair of long TD bombs and ran 31 yards for a third touchdown, all before the final whistle of the first quarter was blown.

“It bothered us. We were definitely bothered by the timing of the whole thing,” added senior Demetri Brown, on the receiving end of the first two scores, one a 50-yarder and the other 55. “They took our year away. We were going to come out and do it for him.”

In hindsight, it might have been a strategic mistake by Haverhill, one that galvanized the opposition behind the cause.

Coach Tim Briggs, whose Hillies fell to 1-8, disagreed. “The stuff that went down this week is called integrity. There are rules for a reason,” said Briggs. “Quite frankly, it wasn’t something that Haverhill did other than read in the newspaper that one of their friends, with the class that graduated last year, is still playing. I’d like to have Justin Cook and all those guys back this year too.”

The added motivation, combined with a slew of Hillie injuries, turned this one into an ugly mismatch just minutes in. Heredia simply ran wild, chewing up 76 yards on six carries - three for touchdowns - while hitting 10 of 17 passes for 202 yards. Brown led the pass catchers with five for 137 yards.

Haverhill show a bit of life when Tim Nutter hit nifty Noel Figuereo on an 81-yard bomb, but the joy was only temporary.

Heredia answered untouched on a 31-yard TD sweep, and his senior classmate Dimar “Tiger” Torres struck the knockout punch, picking off a pass and dashing 42 yards to paydirt for a 27-6 lead with 2:08 left in the first.

Up 33-6 at halftime, Heredia ran for his second score, a seven-yarder midway through the third, prompting the Lawrence bench to empty for an impromptu dance in the Haverhill end zone, one that was greeted by an unsportsmanlike conduct call.

Linebackers Harvey Blanco, Donea Robinson and Steve Mannion anchored a Lancer defense that allowed Haverhill 160 yards on 39 carries but pounced on four turnovers.  

METHUEN — Talk about a fast start.

Just 1:31 into the game, Methuen had already caused two turnovers and Mike Bartlett turned them into a pair of touchdowns as the Rangers went on to down pesky Haverhill 28-6 last night.

HAVERHILL — What started out as a warm Halloween evening finished as a cold, somber night for the Haverhill Hillies, who ended up on the wrong end of a 49-13 beating by the Dracut Middies, a team ranked fourth in Eastern Mass.

HAVERHILL — With Haverhill moving the ball at will, Andover needed to make a statement. So the Golden Warriors turned the ball over to their backfield duo.

Quarterback John Hennessy and halfback Tucker Devine responded with two long touchdown drives, almost entirely on the ground, to clinch Andover’s 40-27 victory over the pesky Hillies last night.

LAWRENCE - The will and desire exhibited on the run were admirable, the athleticism and balance at times brilliant.

LAWRENCE — The will and desire exhibited on the run were admirable, the athleticism and balance at times brilliant. 

BILLERICA — In spite of dominating the time of possession battle (33:48 to 10:12), Haverhill succumbed to unbeaten Billerica 43-19.
With Billerica holding a commanding 30-13 lead at the half, the Hillies never really had a chance.
Dan Triplett led the way for Haverhill with 130 yards on 16 carries. He kept the Hillies in it early with a 70-yard touchdown run shortly after Billerica’s Nick Laspada opened the scoring in the game by running back a 42-yard fumble recovery for a score.
Noel Figuereo rushed for 71 yards on 14 carries, while quarterback Isiah Ocasio had 54 yards on 16 attempts. Ocasio threw for 99 yards and he also had a rushing touchdown.
For Billerica, Laspada almost single-handedly dismantled the Hillies with 195 passing yards and 66 rushing yards. Perhaps most impressively, he was involved in six of Billerica’s seven scoring plays, including three passing touchdowns. Two of his three touchdown passes went for 61 and 71 yards, and he also had a particularly impressive 75-yard kickoff return to conclude the first half scoring.

TEWKSBURY — Just a week removed from a game in which it racked up over 330 yards on the ground, Haverhill could never quite get the offense going as the rain-slicked Doucette Stadium field kept them from gaining traction in yesterday’s 27-0 loss at Tewksbury.