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Adames wins the battle of the running backs

Saturday, December, 01 By Hector Longo and David Willis
Staff writer

FOXBORO | The question was asked all week.

Who was better, Greater Lawrence speedster Nate Adames and his nearly 2,500 yards or bruising East Boston back Tyrone Figueroa and his more than 1,500 yards?

“I heard the comparisons,” said Adames. “They said he was bigger and stronger than me and that he ran harder.” Yesterday, that was not the case.

“Adames all season has been the best back in Eastern Massachusetts and he proved it today,” said Greater Lawrence coach Tony Sarkis after his squad’s 19-6 Super Bowl victory. “He ran the ball when he had to run the ball and it’s a credit to the kind of player he is.”

Like every other game this season, Adames could not be stopped on his way to 158 yards on 27 carries and all three touchdowns. That all while dealing with a gimpy left ankle that he twisted while being tackled early in the contest.

The 5-foot-9, 195-pound Figueroa, on the other hand, managed only 48 yards on 15 rushes, and only had 4 yards on four carries in the second half.

“I compete with other backs a little,” admitted the 175-pound Adames. “He’s bigger, but I’m slick and smooth. Our defense struggled a little early, but we dominated in the second half and just shut him down. We did all we could.”

Adames closed out the final season of his storied high school career with a stunning 2,573 yards rushing, the most for an area back since the Eagle-Tribune began keeping records in 1989. With the three scores yesterday, he finished the year with 37 touchdowns.

Orsini answers the call

Talk about a challenge, East Boston, facing a fourth-and-six, ran off-tackle with Tyrone Figueroa, right at Jason Orsini.

Wrong idea.

The 5-10, 220-pound Orsini simply decimated his block and engulfed Figueroa for no gain.

“We had the fire, we had it,” said Orsini. “And and we came here and grabbed a championship.”

Orsini and the defense allowed 50 yards on the opening driving and smothered Eastie the rest of the way. “That drive didn’t bother us at all,” said Orsini. “It was just a touchdown. It wasn’t the game. But we knew, from there, that was all we could give up.”

Mat season upon us

“Now we have to find a way to get ready for wrestling,” said Reggies assistant Dib Sarkis, noting the Tech is way behind on mat preparation.

You get the feeling with all those takedowns, Juan Olivo will be ready for action at heavyweight, just as soon as he switches off the football jersey and grabs a singlet.

“We’ve got some work to do with Victor, though,” he said of the captain. “He’s going to have to take off 20 or 25 pounds to get down to 189.”

The Reggie opener with Tewksbury and Medford is less than a week away.

Challenge lies ahead

The Reggies’ coaches will have their work cut out for them. Only four starters return next year.

The good news is the line play should be OK. Juan Olivo, and offensive line starters Luis Veras and Kevin Fritschy return, as does outside linebacker Angel Rivera.

After that, there are some serious holes to fill.

Of course, this is a program that Tony Sarkis took from 1-10 two years ago to 5-6 last year to 12-1 this time around. Sarkis refused the compliments, though.

“These kids deserve every thing they get,” said Sarkis. “To come from where they were, right here to Gillette Stadium and this championship is incredible.”

A’s all around

The Kraft Family pulled out all the stops yesterday, to make the Super Bowl Saturday special.

Make that spectacular.

The operation of six championship games in a day on one field went nice and smooth, thanks to some high-powered work by the stadium crew and the MIAA.

Instant replays, TV coverage, the Krafts have put a tremendous sports date back on the map, by taking over this endeavor.

They are to be congratulated for the effort.

Odds and ends

No problem, at least with the smaller pro goal posts, for Reggies kicker Saul Orellana.

Orellana made his first PAT, never got a shot on a bad snap for the second and had the third blocked. ...

The two teams played the game on the pro inside hash-marks. The following games were played with the officials guessing on the regular outside hash marks that weren’t on the field.

“We thought the inside hashes would help them, because they run outside so much,” said Tony Sarkis. “But our defense shut them down on the outside, and we kept it inside, mostly off tackle.” …

Additional stories:

• Greater Lawrence wins Super Bowl
• Another title for the city,and the school