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Faro, Central Catholic rolling into final weeks of regular season after beating Haverhill

Saturday, October, 07 By David Willis
Staff writer

LAWRENCE — It was a short day at the office for Max Faro and his fellow Central Catholic starters.

Faro and Co. spent the second half of Saturday’s 41-7 win over Haverhill on the sidelines as spectators, cheering on the stream of reserves that shuttled onto the field.

“It was definitely a little different,” said Faro with a laugh. “But it was fun to watch the other guys getting into the game. They cheer so hard for us when we’re in the game. It was our turn to cheer as loud as we could for them.”

The Raiders surged to 5-0 on Saturday, cruising past a young Haverhill team. It was a bit of revenge for last year, when the Hillies upset Central 21-10 to win the Merrimack Valley Conference Division 1 crown.

“We still haven’t gotten over that loss last year,” said running back/linebacker Ty Donatio. “So even though it’s a very different Haverhill team, we got a little revenge. We are still feeling that loss from last year. There is that empty spot in the banners for that (2016) MVC title. So today felt good.
“Everyone did their job quick today. We did everything we needed to do early. Max was playing awesome. Everyone was doing great. Max brings a lot to the table for us.”
It was a much-deserved day for rest for Faro and the rest of the red-hot Central Catholic football team.
Faro, a star linebacker who shares the starting running back duties with Donatio, is usually called upon as a workhorse on both side of the ball, one of the foundations of the Central Catholic team that many have picked to go to the state title game.
On Saturday, he carried the ball three times in the victory, two of those going for touchdowns.
On his first carry of the day, he went untouched 25 yards for a touchdown. And on his third carry he ran through a monster hole 8 yards for a score.
He added six tackles, but it was otherwise a light day for the 5-foot-8, 185-pound wrecking ball.
In fact, his impressive head of hair still looked perfect at the end of the game.
“We came out and got the job done,” said Faro. “Everything was working. We were efficient. Last year’s loss to Haverhill killed us. It might not be the same (Haverhill) team this year, but we came out like it was.”
Faro has now run for 268 yards and seven touchdowns on the fall, two of those scores in Central’s win over St. John’s Prep. It could be more, but he isn’t about to sweat sharing the ball.
“We have an amazing situation in the backfield,” said Faro. “And we all run a little different. Ty is a great down-hill runner, I am a tough runner with a few more moves and Joe (Howshan) is a really elusive back. Then there’s Bret (Edwards). No one knows what to expect.”
Now in his third year with the varsity team, Faro has made many of his greatest contributions on defense.
“Max gives us a lot of consistency,” said Central coach Chuck Adamopoulos. “At running back he is very tough, and at linebacker he’s all over the field making plays. We ask him to do a lot of things that often go overlooked at linebacker. He’s a kid that’s played three seasons at this level and that experience is invaluable.”
Central Catholic now heads into its final two games of the regular season — at Lowell (4-1) on Friday then at archrival Andover (2-3) next Friday — before heading into the postseason. And Faro’s squad is feeling very confident.
“We’re feeling great,” said Faro. “We’re rolling. We learned a lot from the Methuen game and we feel great. But we aren’t looking too far ahead yet.”