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Central Catholic Raiders Football '14

Fri, Oct 10, 2014 07:00 PM @ Lowell
Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
Central Catholic 6 18 13 7 44
Lowell 0 0 0 7 7

Central rips through Lowell

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Friday, October, 10 By Hector Longo

 
LOWELL — The Friday night showdown expected here at Cawley Stadium between No. 4 Lowell and No. 5 Central Catholic never materialized.
 
The reigning Division 1 Super Bowl champions never let it happen.
 
With an offense that played angry and a defense looking to make amends for its last two outings (31.0 points a game allowed), Central simply steamrolled the previously 4-0 Red Raiders from the opening snap right through garbage time, 44-7.
 
"They came in 4-0, but we know we've played great competition so far," said Raider lineman Pat Dziedzic. "We knew that, so we just took it to them."
 
Dziedzic, who had two big sacks, and the Raiders allowed Lowell a total of 10 yards of offense on 36 plays. Lowell's lone first down of the night came with 1:10 left in the second quarter, and that was it.
 
"We're in the driver's seat now with the league and that feels good," added Dziedzic.
 
Offensively, Central called its shots. On the ground, the Raiders chewed up 222 yards on 32 dashes. In the air, Mike Milano had an off-the-charts night, hitting 16-of-18 for 192 yards and three TDs. In all, the savvy senior connected with seven different targets.
 
The hosts hardly knew what hit them, and when Syracuse-bound Shy Cullen left the game with some sort of foot midway through the second with Central already up, 18-0,  you might as well have stopped the fight.
 
"The bye week was huge for us," said senior Mike Balsamo, who had a big night running for two TDs and catching another on a "Cannoli route" hookup from Milano — the quarterback, not the city in Italy.
 
"Andover and St. John's Prep were hard, hard games for us. We had some very good, very key practices where we worked on some of those mistakes we had made."
 
For Central, now 4-1 overall, that's three up and three down in the MVC large race with only (0-5) Billerica and a road trip to Chelmsford standing between the Raiders and a third straight conference title.
 
About the only gripe a Central fan could have had is about the struggles in the point-after kicking game. The Raiders missed conversion kicks or runs on its first five TDs, including one dribbler through legs on the offensive line. It took senior Nick Worden to knock in Central's first PAT in the third quarter. In the fourth, sophomore John Mooney made his try as well.
 
Lowell's only points came on a late, 95-yard Egan Ojunga kick return against the Central sophomore cover team.

Game Statistics:

First Quarter

CC — Mike Mercuri 12 run (kick failed) 5:47 

Second Quarter

CC — Mike Balsamo 9 run (rush failed) 7:32

CC — Balsamo 37 run (kick failed) 4:34

CC — Greg Marggraf 49 pass from Mike Milano (kick failed) 2:36 

Third Quarter

CC — Balsamo 22 pass from Milano (kick failed) 7:00

CC — Milano 11 pass Milano (Nick Worden kick) 4:30

Fourth Quarter

CC — Johandy Gonzalez 35 run (John Mooney kick) 2:43

L — Egan Ojunga 95 kick return (kick) 2:25 

 


INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING: CC (32-222) — Mike Milano 8-35, Markus Edmunds 4-26, Omar Deschamps 5-38, Mike Balsamo 2-46, Mike Mercuri 2-14, Robert Fitzgerald 3-9, Johandy Gonzalez 5-41, Elias Chaya 1-5, Nino Mastrangelo 1-3, Aidan Norton 1-5; Lowell 20-(-9)

PASSING: CC — Milano 16-18-1, 192; L 4-16-0, 19

RECEIVING: CC — David Onyemem 3-41, Greg Maggraf 3-54, Edmunds 2-25, Balsamo 2-27, Mercuri 2-16, Steven Jackson 3-27, Gonzalez 1-2

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