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Reggies survive slugfest, defeat Whittier

Sunday, September, 23 By Chuck Frye
Staff writer

ANDOVER | The torch was passed in Commonwealth Conference football yesterday, but it was far from an easy transfer. In a battle royal before around 300 sun-soaked fans at Gleason Field, a near school-record rushing effort from Nate Adames and an athletic late TD run from quarterback Jonathan Delossantos lifted Greater Lawrence to a satisfying 29-20 victory over defending champ Whittier.

"That's the biggest league win for us in school history," said Greater Lawrence head coach Tony Sarkis. "Our guys showed their true colors. They came at them on a hot day and did an incredible job."

Adames was beyond productive even as the Wildcat defense turned No. 10 into a target. He busted off killer touchdown runs of 34, 25 and 64 yards. He sustained drives through shifty moves that turned 2-yard carries into 6-yard gains and first downs. The senior did it all in rushing 31 times for 337 yards, only four yards shy of Rod Cruz's 18-year old school mark.

In just three contests, Adames has turned 78 carries into 748 yards and eight TDs.

"We're like family," explained center Arian Alicea of the six-cylinder blocking machine helping Adames get his gaudy numbers. "Everybody is helping everybody else out, working as hard in practice as we do in games."

Whittier's cause was damaged twice when Reggie safety Delossantos leapt for an interception late in the second quarter to crush a Wildcat scoring drive 10 yards away from paydirt and then cornerback Brian Rivera dove on a fumble at the Whittier 33 on the second play of the third quarter. This turned into Greater Lawrence's second TD of the day via Adames' 25-yard romp two plays later.

But despite Adames and the turnovers, a Whittier team ravaged by graduation stayed close behind relentless running and solid decoy work by wingback Bryan Trickett (171 total yards, two touchdowns). The 'Cats converted three fourth-down plays on its initial 15-play scoring drive and then ground out a 50-yard march wrapped up by fullback Tyler Page's 1-yard fourth quarter scoring run, with Matt Miles' 2-point conversion romp tying the score at 14.

"We're young and we went toe-to-toe with a senior team," Whittier head coach Kevin Bradley said. "For this team to come out and have a great game like this. ... We grew as a team (yesterday)."

Page's production started a flurry of four touchdowns over the next 6<1/2> minutes with Delossantos' being the biggest. After linebacker Adames (seven tackles) stopped a 2-point conversion inches from the goal line to keep the Reggies on top, Delossantos called his own number seven plays later from the Whittier 30.

"It was 'Rat Fake Iso Right, Sweep Left," Delossantos said of the play that faked a handoff to Adames to the right and sent the senior QB to the left. However, cornerback Miles contained the sweep and threatened to shut down the run for a loss.

"(End) Yerison Cruz made an amazing block" on Miles "and I ran inside of him," Delossantos detailed. "I thought the safety was going to catch me but I outran him," covering the distance with 2:21 left for the crucial score.

After an untimely Whittier penalty, Adames rushed in the 2-point try to give the hosts an insurmountable lead.