Fri, Sep 19, 2014
07:00 PM @
Lawrence
| Team |
Q1 |
Q2 |
Q3 |
Q4 |
Final |
| Dracut |
14 |
21 |
0 |
0 |
35 |
| Lawrence |
7 |
22 |
7 |
2 |
38 |
Lancer defense arrives at halftime
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Friday, September, 19
By Hector Longo
LAWRENCE — Kicked, mangled, eviscerated.
The Lawrence High defense hit rock-bottom last night.
Ahh, the resilience of youth.
After allowing 118 points in its first 10 quarters of action — including 35 to Dracut High in the first half last night — the Lancers lifted themselves from the depths and put up 22 glorious, scoreless minutes.
The second half whitewash of the Middies proved just enough as Lawrence High move to 2-1, 2-0 in the MVC Small, by rallying for a heart-pumping 38-35 victory before about 400 fans here at Veterans Memorial Stadium last night.
"We have good coaches, who wouldn't allow us to get down on ourselves," said junior Eddie Cabrera, whose first two career interceptions denied Dracut drives into Lancer territory last night. "We stepped it up. I'm proud of this defense for what we did."
Remember, this is a Lancer team that gave up 42 points to winless Methuen last week.
And you have to wonder what they were thinking when Tyler Bassett broke off back-to-back kick returns for TD in the second quarter as the Middies built leads of 28-14 and 35-21.
"Kickoffs killed us, we'll need to make some changes on that," said Lancer coach Mike Yameen. "But in the second half, the kids played well. Bassett is so good. We'll take it."
Lawrence simply kept fighting.
The offense, teeming with weapons, was bound to wear down the Middies, who dress only 35 players.
And they did just enough.
Bill Belichick would have been proud of the strategy as the Lancers cut the Dracut lead to 35-29 with a score in the waning seconds of the first half then came out and seized their first lead on the opening possession of the third quarter.
Nelson Valerio (19 of 26, 226 yards) dove in from the 1 with 18.5 seconds left in the second quarter. Cabrera came on for the PAT kick and ended up getting twice the return on investment.
"I kicked the ball into my own guy's back and it came right back to me," said Cabrera. "So I just ran into my own guy, but as I did that he helped push me into the end zone."
If the Middies thought that one a bit odd, the winning TD was one for Youtube.
Jacob Toledo swept left and broke downfield for a huge gain, but a Middie jumped on his back at the Dracut 40, stripping the ball loose. In a scramble, the ball went forward and bounced free, when Toledo got up, scooped the football up at the 31 and raced to paydirt for the score.
Cabrera's kick made it 36-35, a number that would stand until late when the Lancers' put the finishing touches on the defensive masterpiece with a safety.
"That's a pretty good offense, (Bassett)'s a fast dude. He can throw it, too," said Cabrera. "The whole week I've been saying that this secondary is a no-fly zone. They completed some passes, but we made the plays when we needed to in the second half."
Game Statistics:
First Quarter
D — Tyler Bassett 14 run (Ty Duff kick) 8:06
L — Jacob Toledo 83 kick return (Eddie Cabrera kick) 7:47
D — Jack McKenna 37 pass from Bassett (Duff kick) 3:35
Second Quarter
D — Donovan Ly 44 pass from Bassett (Duff kick) 10:27
L — Mikey Caban 27 pass from Nelson Valerio (Cabrera kick) 7:53
D — Bassett 90 kick return (Duff kick) 7:40
L — Kenny Richards 2 run (Cabrera kick) 4:03
D — Bassett 84 kick return (Duff kick) 3:20
L — Valerio 1 run (Cabrera rush) :18.5
Third Quarter
L — Toledo 31 fumble return (Cabrera kick) 10:38
Fourth Quarter
L — Rafael Medina, Manny Vlaun tackle runner in end zone, 2:48
INDIVIDUAL LAWRENCE LEADERS
RUSHING: Nelson Valerio 16-25, Jacob Toledo 4-51,Kenny Richards 11-72, Mikey Caban 2-15
PASSING: Valerio 19-27-0, 226
RECEIVING: Luis Crispin 7-96, Toledo 1-0, Caban 7-92, Justin Rivera 4-38
