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Defense leads Central over Reading

Monday, September, 12 By David Willis

LAWRENCE — By halftime, Central Catholic could see the Reading players dropping their heads.

“After the first half ended, they seemed pretty gassed and we were all hyped up,” said senior Max Faro. “I think we kind of took the momentum and we kind of had control after that.”

A smothering Central Catholic defense dominated from start to finish, allowing Reading just 135 yards of total offense and one garbage time touchdown as the Raiders, ranked No. 4 in Eastern Mass., downed the No. 11 Rockets 28-6 on Saturday afternoon.

“We went after it all game,” said senior David Onyemem. “We were pursuing and flying to the ball, breaking down and making good tackles. That’s what it was about.”

Central limited Reading to just 60 rushing yards and 75 passing yards for the game.

The Raiders were especially dominant in the second half, allowing the Rockets just 47 total yards, with 20 of those coming on just one play, and only a single first down.

“I thought our kids up front did a great job keeping the linemen off our linebackers,” said coach Chuck Adamopoulos. “What Reading does it they do a lot of different things with their formations and where they place their backs. So it was important for us to set up in the right places.

“Onyemem, Faro and (Ty) Donatio did an excellent job setting us up. I thought our pursuit angles were good and we tackled well.”

Reading’s lone touchdown came in the final moments following a questionable pass interference call after Central had made a stop on fourth down.

Other than that, the Rockets rarely threatened. Joe Howshan killed one drive with an interception and, when they did make it inside the 20, defensive back Johandy Gonzalez broke up a pass into the end zone on fourth down.

Calvin Driscoll added a huge sack for the Raiders, while Faro had eight tackles, Donatio added eight stops of his own and defensive tackle Carlos Cabrera made it impossible to run the ball up the middle.

“Our defense was the reason we won this game,” said QB Bret Edwards. “It wasn’t the best game for me but our defense was amazing. They’re the reason we got this win.”

While it may not have been a perfect night for the offense, Edwards and Co. made the plays when they needed to.

After turning the ball over on downs at the Reading 2-yard line on the first possession of the game, Edwards gave his squad the lead when he threw a dart of a 4-yard TD pass to Onyemem.

The QB added to the lead just before halftime when he ran a QB draw in for a score.

The Raiders put the game out of reach on the first play of the third quarter, when Edwards hit Gonzalez on a crossing pattern and he broke free for a 47-yard score. He set the TD up with a 43-yard kickoff return.

“That TD to start the second half was a big play,” said Adamopoulos. “That was huge for momentum. The kids really hung in there in this one. Reading is a good team and this is a good win.”

For Central, it was a long-awaited return to the field after last fall’s Division 1 state championship loss to Xaverian.

“All summer we have been waiting for this one,” said Onyemem. “All winter, all spring and all summer we’ve been working and waiting for this goal. We are so happy it’s finally here.”