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Lawrence Lancers Football '17

Fri, Oct 13, 2017 07:00 PM @ Methuen
Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
Lawrence 14 0 0 0 14
Methuen 0 0 14 13 27

Ranger turnaround

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METHUEN — Senior running back Saul Cespedes could tell that something wasn’t right with the Methuen football team in the first half.
“I was trying to get the team up but we just couldn’t get anything going,” said Cespedes. “It was a rough start. I think we were getting ahead of ourselves.”
But, trailing 14-0 to winless but fired-up Lawrence at halftime, the Rangers stormed back in the second half to take a 27-14 victory and improve to 4-2.
And Cespedes, who has been overshadowed a bit this year by multi-talented quarterback Jordan Perdomo, was at the center of the comeback. He rushed for 104 yards on 10 carries after halftime and sealed the comeback in the fourth quarter with a 19-yard TD run.
“He (Cespedes) is amazing,” said Perdomo, who rushed for two TDs and kicked three extra points in the second half. “He and Peter (Kwakye) are different backs but they both give us so much.”
After Perdomo scored on short runs to cap off long drives in the third quarter, Kwakye scored what proved to be the winning TD on a 61-yard dash through the line. Earlier, he set up Perdomo’s second TD with a 44-yard scamper. Cespedes finished the scoring.
Cespedes, who missed all of last year with a broken clavicle, now has rushed for 464 yards and eight touchdowns on the year.
“Saul has done a great job for us and gives us a lot of options,” said Methuen coach Tom Ryan. “He runs hard and is like our doubles hitter. Kwakye is our home run hitter and Jordan (Perdomo) is like someone who spreads it all around.”
Explaining the slow start to the game but solid second half by the Rangers (4-2), Ryan said:
“We just didn’t execute in the first half. Nobody did including the coaches. We made some adjustments at halftime and played a lot better.”
Indeed, held to 15 yards rushing in the first half, the Rangers rushed for a whopping 308 yards on the ground after halftime.
Just as impressive in the second half was the Rangers’ defense, holding the Lancers to 65 yards of total offense. Among those making big stops was senior defensive back A.J. Borrelli, who also had a late interception to seal the deal.
In the first half, Lawrence looked like anything but a winless team. Juniors Jonathan Velilla and Jiovanny Murray were monsters up front defensively and the backers were immense coming up to make tackles.
Offensively, quarterback Jacob Tamayo was sharp in the first half for the Lancers, completing 7 of 14 passes for two touchdowns, one a 43-yarder to Ronyell Pena and the other 13 yards to Miguel Camacho. The latter was 10 seconds before halftime and was set up by a Pena interception.
“That was tale of two halves,” said Lawrence coach Mike Yameen. “We did some good things but we need to learn how to finish.”
Playing well consistently for the Lancers (0-6) was kicker Musset Mezidor. He averaged 40 yards on six punts, one of which went 60 yards, and was perfect on both of his extra point tries.
Lawrence will host Haverhill next Friday in a battle of winless teams while Methuen plays host to Lowell.

Game Statistics:

First Quarter

L — Ronyell Pena 43 pass from Jacob Tamayo (Musset Mezidor kick), :32

Second Quarter

L — Miguel Camacho 13 pass from Tamayo (Mezidor kick), :10

Third Quarter

M — Jordan Perdomo 4 run (Perdomo kick), 8:21

M — Perdomo 3 run (Perdomo kick), 4:10

Fourth Quarter

M — Peter Kwakye 61 run (Perdomo kick), 9:26

M — Saul Cespedes 19 run (kick failed), 1:53

 


INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING: M (31-323) — Peter Kwakye 5-105, Jordan Perdomo 14-79, Saul Cespedes 13-114, Xavier Ortiz 2-25; Lawrence (13-30) — Brandon Santell 9-24, Miguel Camacho 1-(-1), Jacob Tamayo 2-5, Anthony Garcia 1-2

PASSING: M — Perdomo 4-8-0, 23; L — Tamayo 13-27-1, 136

RECEIVING: M —David Kelly 3-21, Kwakye 1-2; L — Isais Richards 3-14, Manny Lara 4-46, Ronyell Pena 3-59, Camacho 2-17, Ruben Morillo 1-0

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