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Central shuts down Lancers in city clash

Friday, October, 23 By Hector Longo

LAWRENCE - You get the feeling that when Mike Yameen rekindled this dormant intra city rivalry with Central Catholic five years ago, this kind of night was what he had in mind.

Great crowd of about 2,000, spirited student sections from both sides, vicious, clean hitting between the teams, just the football dream at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Now if the Lawrence High football coach could do something about that pesky first quarter.

Central Catholic converted off back-to-back Lancer fumbles with touchdowns in the opening 11 minutes then repelled every charge a game Lawrence squad could muster, holding on for the 21-7 win to claim ownershop of the first "Mill City Bowl" trophy.

"The atmosphere for this game tonight was just unbelievable out there," said Central junior Trae Musumarra. "It started with the pep rally after school and it just carried over here tonight. This is always a big game two teams in the city. I think both teams wanted it really bad."

The victory pushed the Raider mark to 6-1, keeping them perfect in the Merrimack Valley Conference at 5-0.

"It was just a horrible first quarter for us," said Yameen, whose Lancers fall to 2-5 but still remain a big factor in the MVC small race. "I said it all week that to beat a team like Central we had to be almost perfect. We didn't do that. We lost the turnover battle and the field position battle and it cost us."

Bruising Zack Lattrell (8 carries, 69 yards), Musumarra (9-40) and Tommy Lacroix (10-67) all ran for TDs, with Lacroix's 55-yarder seriously denting Lawrence's chances at 21-0 with just 1:35 into the second quarter.

Central's ball-hawking linebacker corps - Musumarra, Lattrell, Zac Borrelli, Jaycob Morales and Mike Amaral - imposed its will, holding Lawrence to only 28 yards on 22 carries, but the Lancers made things interesting just before the break.

With 4:03 left until halftime, Nick Elwell (15 of 27, 150 yards) marched the Lancers 80 yards. The senior hit Devin Montanez, who somehow held on to the ball despite a violent shot from a charging Latrell - good for 14 yards. A 22-yarder to Michael Calzetta on the right sideline set up the TD to Harvey Blanco.

The 5-foot-6 senior somehow leaked behind the Raider secondary and made an amazing grab, slicing the margin to 21-7.

From there, it was all about defense, and Central had plenty.

"They're as tough to prepare for as anyone in our league," added Central coach Chuck Adamopoulos. "Their backs are very good and the quarterback can play, too. I was very happy with our defense holding that team to just seven points."

The Ivy League-bound Lattrell paced the Raiders with 13 tackles. Andrew Ouellette might have been a bit quite offensively, with only 35 yards rushing and 64 passing, but the senior impacted on the other side with a pair of interceptions. Morales, Pat Rooney and Cal Beneze all added sacks.

Yameen, never one to settle for moral victories, had to like the stingy nature of his team in the second half.
Blanco, Jean Zorrilla and Eric Molina backboned a gallant goal-line stand in the fourth.

Calzetta's return was a boost for the Lancers, who played without injured leading rusher Francis Nova.
"The playoffs start next week for us," said Yameen, whose club closes out the MVC campaign with a run of Haverhill, Dracut and Methuen. "We're still right in it, one point behind. We have to put this one behind us and get after it."

Additional stories:

• Central shuts down Lancers in city clash