RallyNorth.net

Lawrence Lancers Football '19

Thu, Nov 28, 2019 10:00 AM @ Lawrence
Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
Central Catholic 7 7 6 3 23
Lawrence 0 6 0 8 14

Central fends off Lawrence

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Thursday, November, 28 By Jeff Hamrick

LAWRENCE – Heading into Thursday’s Turkey Day contest between Merrimack Valley foes Central Catholic and Lawrence, the biggest question was whether the game would feature the area’s top two throwing quarterbacks.

Not only did Central’s Ayden Pereira return from a separated shoulder suffered in the Division 1 North title game, but the Raider sophomore and Lawrence senior Jacob Tamayo hooked up to provide the closest game the city rivals have played in a couple decades.

The two canceled each other as Tamayo threw for one touchdown and caught another while Pereira threw for two in his limited action, but Central proved to have a bit more depth as the Raiders hung on for a 23-14 victory. The victory wrapped up another MVC Division 1 regular-season championship for Central.

Lawrence (2-9), has not beaten Central (9-2) since 1985 and the Lancers had lost by at least 12 points each year since at least 2005 entering Thursday’s encounter.

“Lawrence played really tough like they always do,” Central Catholic coach Chuck Adamopoulos said after his club scored the first nine points after halftime. “Give them credit. We were a little sluggish in spots, but give the kids did what they had to do.

“I’m really proud of them to win nine games. Not a lot of teams in the state have nine wins, and we have a league title, so it’s a good way to end the season. You get to the point where you lose in the state semifinals and you have to rally them to play a game, and they did their job.”

Pereira, who entered the game trailing only Tamayo for most passing yards in the area, had a couple throws in Central’s first three plays. The first ended up losing 2 yards, but the second was vintage Pereira as he escaped a potential sack, scrambled to his right and found Nate Hebert open about 30 yards downfield. The senior receiver did the rest, shaking a couple would-be tacklers at the 35 en route to a 62-yard scoring connection.

“I didn’t know until Monday,” Periera said about his return. “I didn’t practice at all last week. I threw Monday without pain and it just got better every day. On Tuesday, I realized I was good. I was told it was going to be three weeks, and this is two and a half, so I’m at about 85%. I was only supposed to play two drives, but the way the game worked out, I ended up playing the entire first half.”

Central only had two first downs in the first 15 minutes. Donatio’s touchdown was the first and a 20-yard touchdown run by sophomore Nathel Achuo provided the second with 11:53 left in the second for a 14-0 lead.

Lawrence responded to Achuo’s score with a 77-play drive that ended on a beautiful leaping end zone catch by Manny Lara who caught Tamayo’s 13-yarder while reaching around the defender’s back.

“It was a great first half,” said Lawrence coach Rhandy Audate, whose squad put in three-hour practices the past week. “In the second half, we couldn’t stay away from the little mistakes. We needed to prepare for this game, it’s a different beast. Not making the playoffs was a huge letdown for us, and we saw the drop in the kids. But getting the kids up for this game wasn’t hard. They definitely wanted to come in and show their best of effort.”

The Lancers outplayed the Raiders the first half. Lawrence ran 20 plays for 203 yards while picking up 12 first downs while the Raiders were held to 112 yards on 19 plays with five first downs. The Lancers, however, lost a fumble to set up the Raiders second touchdown and then were held out of the end zone before intermission despite having four plays from the 3 when three receivers were unable to secure Tamayo passes.

Central appeared set to run away in the second half, when Pereira hooked up on a 32-yard scoring pass to Mark Ciccarelli on the first possession then increased the lead to 23-6 early in the final period on a 25-yard Nick Mazzie field goal – his fourth of the year.

But Lawrence rallied, even overcoming a tough possession early in the fourth during which the Lancers had another superb Tamayo-Lara 18-yard touchdown hookup negated by a holding penalty only to see the drive basically end with a 17-yard sack on the ensuing play.

The Lancers scored the game’s final eight points when Tamayo ended up on the receiving end of a Vinny Schmidt pass for 47 yards, and Schmidt’s conversion run with 3:38 remaining wrapped up the scoring.

“I had no doubt in my team,” said Tamayo, who finished the season with an area-best 1,874 yards after putting up 171-yard performance. “After seeing in the newspapers that this wasn’t going to be that close, we came in with fire. We took it personally and we came out swinging … we just came up short today.”

While Tamayo ended up with the area’s lead in passing yards, top receiver Lara also led the region in catches (59) and yards (909).

“(Tamayo) has definitely set the example here, but we have some young guys who are coming up,” Audate said. “We’re going to continue to build around them and get them some work in the offseason and go from there. Hopefully people will see this and decide to come out and we’ll continue to be competitive.”

Pereira, meanwhile, will face high expectations in his junior season after finishing the year with 1,693 yards while throwing an area-best 20 touchdowns against three interceptions. He’ll also have sophomores Achuo and Michael Brown and freshman Matthias Latham returning for running back help.

“They’re all very good,” Pereira said of his fellow youngsters who saw significant playing time. “We have three very good guys and they’re all going to be studs. I’m already excited for next year.”

Game Statistics:

First Quarter

CC — Nathan Hebert 62 pass from Ayden Pereira (Nick Mazzie kick) 5:21

Second Quarter

CC — Nathel Achuo 20 run (Mazzie kick) 11:53

Lawrence — Manny Lara 13 pass from Jacob Tamayo (pass failed) 9:43

Third Quarter

CC — Mark Ciccarelli 32 pass from Pereira (kick failed) 9:16

Fourth Quarter

CC — FG Mazzie 25, 11:19

Lawrence — Tamayo 47 pass from Vinny Schmidt (Schmidt run) 3:38

 


INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING: CENTRAL (32-121) — Nick Donatio 2-34, Mark Kassis 12-34, Matthias Latham 3-26, Achuo 2-24, Michael Brown 5-22, Michael Finneran 4-8, Team 2-(-10), Pereira 2-(-17); LAWRENCE (25-120) — Tamayo 9-59, Gianni Vargas 9-38, Schmidt 4-19, Estarling Morales 2-2, Isaias Richards 1-2

PASSING: CENTRAL (5-11-0, 123 yards) — Pereira 4-8-0, 99, Finneran 1-2-0, 24, Donatio 0-1-0; LAWRENCE (11-22-1, 218) — Tamayo 10-20-1, 171, Schmidt 1-1-0, 47, Julian Rosario 0-1-0

RECEIVING: CENTRAL — Jermaine Wiggins 2-22, Hebert 1-62, Ciccarelli 1-32, Connor Finneran 1-7; LAWRENCE— Wilquel Lara 3-42, Manny Lara 3-34, Adonis Garcia 2-36, Tamayo 1-47, Schmidt 1-37, Morales 1-11

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