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Central wraps up perfect regular season

Thursday, April, 15 By Jeff Hamrick

LAWRENCE – Central Catholic closed out the Fall 2 regular season the same way it had finished each of the previous six weeks – with a comfortable victory.

Playing host to crosstown rival Lawrence Thursday evening, the Raiders raced to a 23-point halftime lead en route to a 36-6 win over the Lancers. In the six-game season, the first-team defense did not surrender a point while Central outscored opponents by a combined 216-32.

It was more of the same, Saturday as the defensive front anchored by junior nose tackle Michael Brown, who is flanked by seniors Anthony Mears and Lucas Viana, held the Lancers to six total first-half yards.

“The defense in general has played well,” said Central coach Chuck Adamopoulos, whose squad held Lawrence to negative yards on 13 of its 21 rushes. “The guys up front have done a really good job. The front seven have played well against the run. They’re athletic and they move well. We’ve played pretty solid defense all season, and they did a good job of that again tonight.”

On the game’s first play, Central’s junior quarterback Ayden Pereira was aided by solid downfield blocking on a 54-yard run before hooking up with sophomore receiver Preston Zinter on the ensuing play for the final 11 yards and the lead.

Central scored on its next three possessions while needing only 15 plays from scrimmage. Matthias Latham scored on an 11-yard run, Nick Mazzie equaled his career high with a 42-yard field goal and Nathel Achuo took a pass from Pereira and broke tackles at the 30 before completing a 45-yard score.

Achuo and Matthew Blanchard each had 7-yard scoring runs in the second half to wrap up Central’s scoring. Those two juniors were among the eight Raiders who combined for 198 yards on 17 rushes.

“Nathel was out last week with an injury, and he came back strong for us today,” Adamopoulos said. “He’s a good running back. We have a good stable of backs, and each game it’s a different game. But I was happy for Nathel. He works very hard.”

Lawrence (0-5) was without starting freshman center JC Brito, who was reportedly recovering well from a seizure suffered earlier in the day. The Lancers averted the shutout on the last play of the game when sophomore Andy Medina drug a defender into the end zone on a 31-yard completion from sophomore Julian Rosario to cap a 70-yard drive.

“Overall, we’ve seen a lot of growth,” Lawrence coach Rhandy Audate said of the season. “We’re a young offensive line as it is, so not having (Brito) was a big loss. We had to shuffle things up front and change some things in the game plan. I thought the kids fought hard. They didn’t back down … To see them come out and finally start to make some tackles … and get the score at the end of the game was really good.”

Central next plays at 6 p.m. April 23 for the Merrimack Valley Conference Championship Cup against Tewksbury at Lowell’s Cawley Stadium.

“We’re going to be facing a really good football team,” Adamopoulos said. “Tewksbury has won a lot of games comfortably and it’s a great program. I have a lot of respect for them, so it will be a really good challenge.”

Lawrence wraps up its Fall 2 campaign at Dracut at 5 p.m. Thursday.