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Greater Lawrence Reggies Football '19

Sat, Nov 02, 2019 02:00 PM @ Greater Lawrence
Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
St. Mary's 0 0 0 8 8
Greater Lawrence 6 14 13 0 33

Greater Lawrence advances

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Saturday, November, 02 By Jeff Hamrick

ANDOVER – Given a chance at redemption for the final-minute upset suffered last year as a No. 1 seed in the Division 7 North semifinals, Greater Lawrence took full advantage of the opportunity Saturday afternoon.

Seeded second this time, the Reggies scored the game’s first five touchdowns en route to a 33-8 quarterfinal victory over St. Mary’s. A year ago, the Spartans scored on a long pass with 20 seconds remaining and defeated Greater Lawrence 30-24. St. Mary’s went on to lose the state title game.

The Reggies came out physical, causing a fumble on the game’s opening kickoff, and dominated the Spartans, who managed a mere 124 yards on their 42 plays. St. Mary’s (4-4) was held to 2 yards or fewer on 19 of their 37 rushing attempts.

“That’s Reggie football right there,” coach Tony Sarkis said. “Our defensive coordinator Chris Fusco did a great job putting a plan in place for us and they executed it well.

“It was just an overall effort defensively. We made them do what they didn’t want to do. We took away what they like to do and that’s run the football. I could go down the list of guys who came up big.”

While the Reggies (5-3) did not convert that opening fumble recovery a Sammy Benitez interception set up Greater Lawrence for a short 37-yard drive for its first score. The Reggies received sacks from Nate Quirindongo (9 yards), Andrew Santos (1), Benitez (11) and Franklyn Espinal (10) which forced the Spartans off the field. The defensive front of Jeremy Rizzo, Jackson Viel, Quirindongo, Juan Taveras and Max Cezard set the tone.

“We were just focusing on our effort and attitude,” Sarkis said. “We just focused on those (two) things. We can’t change the past. We can only worry about the moment, and they knew they had a big moment ahead of them.”

Espinal provided the opening lead with a 25-yard run late in the first quarter. Shamil Diaz capped a 69-yard drive with a 3-yard run midway through the second and Maleek Dejesus finished off a 50-yard possession with a 6-yarder to take a 20-0 lead into intermission.

“That was huge,” Sarkis said. “It just gave us more momentum. Even with that fumble (on the second half’s kickoff), it didn’t really trip us up. We came back and played well after that fumble.”

Diaz, who attempted only two passes, led a powerful rushing attack that gained 300 yards on 37 carries as the Reggie offensive line wore down the Spartans, who carried only 23 players on the roster.

“We just needed to stick together,” said Diaz, who had a game-high 153 yards on 14 attempts. “Yesterday, we talked about effort, aggressiveness and working the mindset. If you make a mistake just pick it up, move on and make it up on the next play. I saw them wearing down. That gave us motivation to keep going and doing what we needed to do.”

Greater Lawrence had two third-quarter touchdowns on a pair of possessions that combined for seven first downs on the 10 plays. Dejesus first scored from 10 yards out before Diaz made the score 33-0 with a 14-yarder.

St. Mary’s averted the shutout with a late touchdown run from Derek O’Leary, who completed just one of his five passes a year after burning Greater Lawrence with the last-minute 31-yard touchdown pass.

The Reggies will play host in the semifinals to third-seeded Lowell Catholic, which dropped a 40-15 decision to Greater Lawrence in last year’s quarterfinals, on a day to be determined. The Crusaders (7-1) defeated O’Bryant 20-19 on Friday.

Game Statistics:

First Quarter

Greater Lawrence — Franklyn Espinal 25 run (run failed) 1:10

Second Quarter

Greater Lawrence — Shamil Diaz 3 run (run failed) 6:43

Greater Lawrence — Maleek Dejesus 6 run (Diaz run) 2:48

Third Quarter

Greater Lawrence — Dejesus 10 run (pass failed) 8:51

Greater Lawrence — Diaz 14 run (Kevin Matul kick) 2:54

Fourth Quarter

St. Mary's — Derek O'Leary 3 run (Sal Afflitto run) 9:07

 


INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING: St. Mary's (37-89) — George Percy 16-58; Greater Lawrence (27-300) — Diaz 14-153, Dejesus 15-88, Espinal 4-49, Amouris Gomez 2-9, Luis Gil 1-1, Devin Rodriguez 1-0

PASSING: St. Mary's — O'Leary 1-5-1, 35 yards; Greater Lawrence — Diaz 1-2-0, 3

RECEIVING: St. Mary's — Percy 1-35; Greater Lawrence — Espinal 1-3

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