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Lowell outlasts Lancers

LAWRENCE — In a barnburner of a Merrimack Valley Conference game, Lawrence overcame deficit after deficit against Lowell Friday night.

The Lancers (4-2) battled back from early 14-0 and 21-7 deficits and trailed 28-27 when Lowell scored with 3:01 to play only to regain the lead, 33-28, one play later on a 64-yard run by Andy Medina following a swing pass from Jayden Abreu.

But Lowell — thanks greatly to a 47-yard reception by Travis Van Dinter, who stripped the ball from the defender in what appeared to be an interception — rallied to score one last time with 1:33 remaining on a six-yard Blake Ramos run to grab a wild 36-33 win — its first victory of the season.

While happy that his club kept responding on the field, Lawrence coach Rhandy Audate was not at all pleased with how his club responded to the excesive fighting and other events at the high school during the week.

"I don't want to use this as an excuse but this was the week from hell in Lawrence and our kids didn't handle it well." said Audate. "Instead of focusing on what we needed to do, I hear a lot of 'Did you see the news, did you see the news?' 

"Kids are getting pulled from the hallways for interviews and it's just a bad situation, far worse than last year. We'd overcome it before this week but we didn't this week. We have to do better and get hold of the situation."

On the field, Lawrence struggled early to contain star Lowell back Aaron Morris (19-118 yards, two TDs)who helped the Raiders move out to a 14-0 lead as Lawrence gave up the ball on a fumble and interception on their first two possessions.

But the Lancers settled down and an 11-yard scoring run by Jayzius Perez five plays after Lowell lost a fumble, followed by a 74-yardTD run by Perez in which he used his speed and a nice deke with 20 yards to the endzone and a 17-yard sweep by Medina had the game tied at halftime, 21-21.

Lawrence struck first in the second half when Janiel Herrara capped a long drive with a two-yard run, giving the Lancers their first lead, 27-21.

But Lowell (1-5) scored two of the final touchdowns of the game and — what proved to be the difference — converted all of its extra points on the night. The Lancers had two extra point tries blocked and hits just one of two 2-point conversions.

"That was just a heck of a football game and we were able to come up with big plays when we needed them," said Lowell coach Rob Pike, the former Salem coach from Haverhill. "They had some big plays, too... that's a good team we beat.

"We've lost some close games but I feel we're improving."

Lowell will host Andover next Friday while Lawrence will be at home against Methuen. Both games figure to be close, just like the one the Raiders and Lancers just battled through.