RallyNorth.net

Fri, Mar 19, 2021 05:00 PM @ Lawrence

Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Final
Methuen	13	8	8	12	41
Lawrence	0	8	0	0	8

Romano, Rangers wallop Lawrence

Friday, March, 19 By Dave Dyer

LAWRENCE — To be effective running the ball, a team either needs dominant line play or a tackle-shedding ball-carrier.

Methuen had both Friday night and the result was a 41-8 Merrimack Valley Conference smackdown of an extremely young Lawrence team playing its first game of the season.

For the second game in a row, Anthony Romano did most of the damage running the ball for the Rangers, scoring three touchdowns while rushing for 145 yards on 27 carries. But, in the first half, when he had 80 of his yards on a whopping 20 carries, he benefited from some big holes courtesy of his offensive line.

“It wasn’t just one guy, it was everyone (blocking),” said Romano. “I had some nice holes.”

Among those making the blocks were junior captain and center Sam Kalivas, big (6-foot-4, 320 pounds) Mike Rickard, Henry Fernandez, Shane Henrick and Josiah Concepcion.

“Our offensive line is coming along,” said Methuen coach Tom Ryan. “They’ve become pretty consistent and they’re getting better.”

The Rangers’ focus on running the ball was obvious on their first drive of the day when they ran the ball largely up the middle on their first seven plays.

But on the next play, quarterback Joe Gangi faked a sweep left and then threw back on a screen to the right to Jason Silverio, who split the defense from 26 yards out for the touchdown.

It was more of the same on Methuen’s next two drives. The Rangers ran the ball 19 times (16 by Romano), interrupted only by two completions from Gangi to Joey Pinto, culminating in two Romano TD runs and a 21-0 lead.

Lawrence, meanwhile, could get nothing going on offense other than an early 62-yard run by impressive sophomore Andy Medina. Only a diving tackle by JP Muniz saved the play from going for a touchdown.

It looked like the Lancers would be held scoreless at halftime, but quarterback Jayden Abreu took advantage of a breakdown in the Methuen secondary with 36 seconds left in the second quarter and heaved a bomb to a wide open Medina for a 74-yard score. That made it 21-8.

But that was as close as it would get as Methuen scored three of four times in the second half, first on Romano’s third TD run, then on a nifty 29-yard pass from Gangi to Anesti Touma and finally on  a nice 9-yard run by backup running back Tarell McDowell.

The Lawrence offense, meanwhile, showed the effects of its youth and limited practice time. It had seven errant or fumbled snaps during the game and was also hurt by penalties and a Gangi interception.

But there were some encouraging signs on defense and Medina was impressive indeed, finishing with 82 yards rushing and two receptions for 88 yards.

“We’re really high on him (Medina) and that’s why we gave him (jersey) No. 1,” said Lawrence coach Rhandy Audate. “You see that explosiveness, we think he can be really special.”

As far as the game in general, Audate said: “We expected some of the mistakes being so young but we were hoping to overcome them a little better.

“We had some young guys play well and I thought we did okay at first, but I didn’t think we kept up the fight. That’s something we talked to them about after the game.”

Next Week

Methuen will have a much tougher test at home next Friday against Central Catholic.Lawrence will host Lowell (0-2).

 

Methuen 41, Lawrence 8

Methuen (2-0):     13 8 8 12 — 41

Lawrence (0-1):      0 8 0  0 —  8

First Quarter

Meth — Jason Silverio 26 pass from Joe Gangi (Omar Aboutoui kick), 5:35

Meth — Anthony Romano 1 run (kick blocked), 9:31

Second Quarter

Meth — Romano 11 run (JP Muniz run), 2:47

Lawr — Andy Medina 74 pass from Jayden Abreu (Sergio Mendez run), :36

Third Quarter

Meth — Romano 2 run (Romano run), 8:08

Fourth Quarter

Meth — Anesti Touma 29 pass from Gangi (kick blocked), 11:38

Meth — Tarell McDowell 9 run (kick failed), 6:10

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING: METHUEN (49-209)— Anthony Romano 27-145, Joe Gangi 4-16, Alex Borelli 1-6, Jason Silverio 1-2, JP Muniz 4-(-6), Tarell McDowell 3-35, Xander Silva 2-9, Drew Eason 1-3, Andrew Wannaphong 1-(-1); LAWRENCE (21-70) — Jadiel Gomez 4-28, Janiel Herrera 4-5, Jayzius Perez 1-1, Andy Medina 4-82, Sergio Mendez 2-3, Jayden Abreu 6-(-48)

PASSING: METHUEN — Gangi 6-8-0, 98; LAWRENCE — Abreu 3-12-1, 102

RECEIVING: METHUEN — Silverio 3-37, Joey Pinto 2-32, Anesta Touma 1-29; LAWRENCE — Medina 2-88, Frendy Soler 1-14