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'Super Seve' delivers Lancer upset of Reading

Friday, September, 09 By Hector Longo

LAWRENCE — Last spring, stopping the timer in a sizzling 11.06 seconds, Kelvin Severino flashed his blazing speed in cruising to the Eastern Mass. Division 1 100 meter title.Last night in the Lawrence High football opener, Severino showed Reading High he was pretty much untouchable in the 52, 57, 11 and 1-yard dashes, too – in full pads and helmet, mind you — scoring four touchdowns in the Lancers’ 32-13 upset of the No. 17 Rockets.“We came out too hungry. This is our house, and we want to protect it,” said the senior Severino.  “We did what we had to do. This year, somebody had to step up. I fought for it in the offseason. I was in the weight room all day.”“Super Seve” set the tone for what he hopes is the season on Lawrence’s first possession, grabbing a simple swing pass from Nate Baez and outrunning everybody for the 52-yard score on just the second play of the year.His second-quarter bolt of 57, around right end pushed the margin to 13-6.“There’s not much more you can say than what he showed,” said Lancer coach Mike Yameen of Severino. “He’s a workhorse. That’s the work he put in, back in the spring time. He just needs to develop football legs. We needed to get that track speed and get it on the field. There’s speed and there’s football speed. He’s got that football speed.”The standout in the show with 162 yards of offense and a handful of nasty sticks in the trenches from his linebacker spot, Severino was right, he wasn’t alone.“It was a team thing tonight,” added Severino. “If the line does its job, I do my job, everyone does their jobs, good things are going to happen.”Senior classmate Mario Encarnacion delivered the play of the game, a clean 34-yard strip and stroll to the end zone, making it 20-6 Lancers before the break.Even with the comfortable lead, Lawrence’s mettle would be tested. The Lancers passed brilliantly.

Reading, which went 12-1 last fall, caught a break, cashing in on a Nate Baez interception, slicing the lead to 20-13. It is there that Lawrence stood tall, with potentially the best drive in coach Mike Yameen’s seven years on the Lancer sideline, featuring the best of Baez.The 5-foot-3 signal-caller went off for runs of 9, 3, 13 and 18 yards, mixing in a pair of completions to Joel Rodriguez along the way,  setting up Severino’s 1-yard plunge in the fourth as Lawrence put it away with a 13-play, 76-yard clock-swallower.Lawrence looks to carry the momentum into conference play when it hosts MVC Division 2 rival Tewksbury here on Friday night.