RallyNorth.net

Newburyport whips Lawrence

Saturday, October, 13 By Hector Longo
Staff writer

Trailing 7-0 to Newburyport, Lawrence faced one of those points that determine a season.

The Lancers had nearly turned Newburyport away | which would have been a giant moral victory | but faced one more down, fourth-and-goal from the 12.

Linebacker Donea Robinson timed a blitz up the gut perfectly and came in untouched. But junior Joe Clancy somehow eluded Robinson, rolled right, then lobbed a strike between two Lawrence defenders into the arms of Derek Freeman at the back of the end zone.

Lawrence never recovered, suffering its fourth straight loss, 35-8, at the hands of the depleted (27 players in uniform) Clippers before about 200 fans at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

"Those third and longs, and fourth and longs continue to keep killing us," said Lancer coach Mike Yameen, whose club was outgained 300-96 and only managed 32 plays to the Port's 57 before the reserves entered the game midway through the final quarter.

"It's frustrating. Like I said before, we're just not maturing as a team like I thought we would."

Newburyport, now 4-2, controlled from the start, rolling up a 21-0 lead with four minutes to play in the first half. The Port possessed the football for over 12 of the 16 minutes elapsed, rolling up 191 yards to 15 for Lawrence, which stumbled to three straight three-and-outs.

"We had some guys out this week, and that didn't help," said Yameen, whose club had four turnovers. "We just couldn't get it in gear."

Justin Burl buoyed the Port offense with his power running, scoring on rushes of 1 and 5 yards. The senior, who also ran back an interception 21 yards for a score, finished with 119 yards on 23 carries. Burl also hit all five of his PAT kicks. Joe Clancy (7 of 13 passes for 90 yards) tossed a 36-yard TD to Chris Barry and a 12-yard score to Derek Freeman.

It was more of the same in the second half with the Port running 28 of the first 33 plays before the reserves took over.

For the Lancers, Donea Robinson (14 tackles, 1 sack) and Harvey Blanco stood tall defensively.

Devin Montanez continues to chew up more than 5 yards a carry, adding 22 yards on four dashes last night with two catches (19 yards), while Pedro Rodriguez scored the Lancer TD on a 10-yard burst with 1:56 remaining.