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Central Catholic Raiders Football '17

Thu, Nov 23, 2017 10:00 AM @ Central Catholic
Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
Lawrence 7 0 7 6 20
Central Catholic 21 23 0 0 44

Central rolls to easy win over Lancers

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Thursday, November, 23 By Michael Muldoon

LAWRENCE — Ryan Burns knows full well nothing is guaranteed in football. He watched when his injured older brother, Kyle, had to sit out his senior year at Central Catholic.

So the brawny Irishman from Danville felt blessed. The Raiders took it to Lawrence, 44-20, before about 500 fans on a beautiful Thanksgiving morning. He had family at Veterans Stadium and he was getting hugs left and right from pretty classmates. And in his final football game of his career, Burns was named the Raiders' game MVP (Michael Sullivan Award).

"It's good to go out with a bang," said the 6-1, 245-pound lineman, who did a good job masking eyes that appeared to be welling up. "It's good to get recognized for all the hard work." 

When asked about getting emotional, he said, "A little bit. A little bit. I'm ready to move on."

He's a top discus thrower with a 139-8 personal best. He described himself as "farm strong" and will put it to good use for the Assumption College track program.

There is one more big Burns boy on the way to Hampshire Street, eighth grader Sean.

Raider coach Chuck Adamopoulos joked since the family has been very good to Central, he can forgive dad, Steven Burns.  

"I still like Dad, even though he played at Triton!" said Adamopoulos, who played for archrival Pentucket.

The win was Central's 20th straight over its city rival dating back to Lawrence's win in 1985. Central has won all three Thanksgiving matchups. 

RUNNING TIME

Burns and Co. were dominant on Central's offensive line and Lawrence shot itself in the foot too often on special teams.

 

It was 44-7 late in the first half and then the game zipped by as the teams went to running time. Central QB Bret Edwards threw the 54th (15-yarder to Anthony Farelli) and 55th (8-yarder to Jake Delaney) TD passes of his tremendous career and his 55 yards passing gave him 4,705 for his career.

He's No. 2 all- time in the area for TD passes and fourth in yardage.

 

In a perfect world, this might be a perfect season. Central (10-1) was good enough and nearly perfect. But like Kyle Burns learned, there are obstacles.

And when you are a Massachusetts football power, that obstacle is often known as Everett High School. Everett took the pedal off the metal early in the Division 1 North final, and Central almost pulled off a comeback that would have been talked about for generations. Alas, the Tide held on, 37-29, and will play Xaverian for the Division 1 state title at Gillette Stadium.

 But Adamopoulos, who has been an assistant and head coach (21 years, 160-69 record) for 34 years at Central, ranked this team among the top few he's ever had.

"One of the top 2 or 3," he said. "It was as good a senior group as we've had. It was a special group." 

 LAWRENCE POSITIVES

While they were certainly no match for Central Thursday, this Lancer team can take pride in the fact that it snapped its 23-game losing streak and won two games. Baby steps but important steps.

Obviously, it wouldn't have changed the outcome, but the Lancers had to deal with a lot of adversity particularly with injuries at quarterback. 

Former running back Anthony Garcia was the Lancers' third starting quarterback of the year and he went down and missed about half the game with Manny Lara replacing him.

Miguel Camacho won Lawrence's Robert Fitzgerald Award as team MVP on Thanksgiving. He scored on a long fumble return yesterday while Brian Perez also scored on a fumble return. 

 

............ 

LAWRENCE — Ryan Burns knows full well nothing is guaranteed in football. He watched when his injured older brother, Kyle, had to sit out his senior year at Central Catholic.

So the brawny Irishman from Danville felt blessed. The Raiders took it to Lawrence, 44-20, before about 500 fans on a beautiful Thanksgiving morning. He had family at Veterans Stadium and he was getting hugs left and right from pretty classmates. And in his final football game of his career, Burns was named the Raiders' game MVP (Michael Sullivan Award).

"It's good to go out with a bang," said the 6-1, 245-pound lineman, who did a good job masking eyes that appeared to be welling up. "It's good to get recognized for all the hard work." 

When asked about getting emotional, he said, "A little bit. A little bit. I'm ready to move on."

He's a top discus thrower with a 139-8 personal best. He described himself as "farm strong" and will put it to good use for the Assumption College track program.

There is one more big Burns boy on the way to Hampshire Street, eighth grader Sean.

Raider coach Chuck Adamopoulos joked since the family has been very good to Central, he can forgive dad, Steven Burns,  

"I still like Dad, even though he played at Triton!" said Adamopoulos, who played for archrival Pentucket.

RUNNING TIME

Burns and Co. were dominant on Central's offensive line and Lawrence shot itself in the foot often on special team.

 

It was 44-7 late in the first half and then the game zipped by as the teams went to running time. Central QB Bret Edwards threw the 54th (15-yarder to Anthony Farelli) and 55th (8-yarder to Jake Delaney) TD passes of his tremendous career and his 38 yards passing gave him 4,688 for his career.

He's No. 2 all- time in the area for TD passes and fourth in yardage.

 

In a perfect world, this might be a perfect season. Central (10-1) was good enough. But like Kyle Burns learned, there are obstacles.

And when you are a Massachusetts footbal power that obstacle is often known as Everett High School. Everett took the pedal off the metal early in the Division 1 North final, and Central almost pulled off a comeback that would have been talked about for generations. Alas, the Tide held on, 37-29, and will play Xaverian for the Division 1 state title at Gillette Stadium.

 

 LAWRENCE POSITIVES

While they were certainly no match for Central Thursday, this Lancer team can take pride in the fact that it snapped its 23-game losing streak and won two games. Baby steps but important steps.

Obviously, it wouldn't have changed the outcome, but the Lancers had to deal with a lot of adversity particularly with injuries at quarterback. 

Former running back Anthony Garcia was the Lancers' third starting quarterback of the year and he went down and missed about half the game with Manny Lara replacing him.

Miguel Camacho won Lawrence's Robert Fitzgerald Award as team MVP on Thanksgiving. He scored on a long fumble return yesterday while Brian Perez also scored on a fumble return. 

Game Statistics:

First Quarter

CCHS — Joe Howshan 13 run (Zach DeBay kick), 7:05

CCHS — Anthony Farelli 15 pass from Bret Edwards (DeBay kick), 1:58

LAW — Brian Perez 3 fumble return (Musset Mezidor kick), 0:10  

CCHS — Greg Desrosiers 96 kickoff return (DeBay kick), 0:00  

Second Quarter

CCHS — Ty Donatio 6 run (DeBay kick), 9:19

CCHS — Joe Howshan 13 run (DeBay kick), 7:05

CCHS — Jake Delaney 8 pass from Edwards (DeBay kick), 2:22

CCHS — Safety, ball fumbled out of endzone, 1:37  

Third Quarter

LAW — Miguel Camacho 58 fumble return (Mezidor kick), 8:34

Fourth Quarter

LAW — Brandon Santell 4 run (kick fail), 0:00 

 


INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING: CENTRAL: Bret Edwards 3-12, Joe Howshan 5-61, Ty Donatio 6-46, Mathias Villafane 1-17, Daniel Almarante 1-(-3), Anthony Cagianelli 2-4, Jared Silverio 1-1, Matt Shaw 1-0, Shaun Morgan 1(-2), Anthony Mendonca 1-0, Mark Kassis 2-3, Aidan Gordon 1-2, Deven DeBay 2-5, J.J. Mercuri 1-3; LAWRENCE: Miguel Camacho 1-16, Brandon Santell 4-16, Ruben Morillo 2 (-8), Manny Lara 5-16, Gianni Vargas 2-(-2), Anthony Garcia 3-(-2)

PASSING: CENTRAL: Edwards 6-9-1, 55 yards, Silverio 0-1-0LAWRENCE: Garcia 4-9-1, 47 yards; Lara 0-5-0

RECEIVING: CENTRAL: Jake Delaney 2-7, Villafane 2-16, Anthony Farelli 1-15, Almarante 1-17; LAWRENCE: Andre Wilson 4-47, Morillo 1-0  

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