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Central Catholic shocks powerhouse Dracut

Saturday, September, 26 By David Willis
Staff writer

LAWRENCE — With 4:03 left on the clock and Central Catholic trailing by three to powerhouse Dracut, a message circulated through the Raiders’ offense.

“We said, ‘Lets shock the world’,” remembered co-captain Zack Lattrell.

Last night, Central certainly shocked the Merrimack Valley Conference.

Lattrell powered in for this third touchdown of the second half with 2:10 left, and the defense made it count as the Raiders stunned the defending Division 1A Super Bowl champion Middies 25-21.

Dracut entered the game ranked No. 5 in Eastern Mass., and just a week ago pounded powerhouse Everett, then the No. 4 team in Eastern Mass., 48-14. Central had upset then No. 10-ranked St. John’s Prep last week.

“It is just unbelievable,” said Lattrell. “They were the powerhouse, and maybe we are the powerhouse now.”

Already delivering a career day with his legs, Central Catholic quarterback Andrew Ouellette sparked the final drive with a 37-yard gain to the Dracut 10-yard line.

“I was supposed to go inside,” said Ouellette. “I saw some space outside and just took off. I was thinking end zone.”

He didn’t reach the end zone, but the following play Lattrell did for the game’s winning score, barreling over three defenders and stretching over the line.

“I just saw daylight and ran towards it,” said Lattrell. “I couldn’t believe I made it in.”

The Middies did answer with a drive to the Central Catholic 30-yard line with 28 seconds left. But on third down Ouellette tackled Dracut star Rakeem Shepard on a screen pass, and on fourth Cam Walsh knocked down a Hail Mary in the final seconds.

“On the last play we were man-to-man and he threw it down the middle,” said Ouellette. “My man got by me and Cam came up with the big play to bail us out.”

It was a memorable performance for Ouellette. Entering the game with just 53 career rushing yards, the senior first-year starting quarterback rushed for a stunning 144 yards on just 16 carries. That was more than the Raiders had combined in the first two weeks of the season, totaling just 127 as a team.

Ouellette also made five tackles and turned in the hit of the game to separate a receiver from the ball.

“I give Ouellette a lot of credit,” said Central Catholic head coach Chuck Adamopoulos. “He threw a couple of interceptions that were really big at the time, and he hung in there. He bounced back, and that last big run with huge. He was really big.”

Lattrell carried the ball just four times in the second half. But three of those went for touchdown of 8, 19 and 10 yards, all bruising rushes. He also made a team-high 10 tackles and had two passes knocked down.

Co-captain Zach Borrelli added six tackles and a key interception Trea Musumarra had a sack on the game’ final drive.

The Raiders held the Middies to just 128 yards on the ground on 31 carries, although Dracut was without Shepard, who scored four touchdowns against Everett, for most of the first half after a big hit from Ouellette. When he did return in the second half, he appeared to be limping heavy and was limited to receiver duties.

“Lattrell ran great,” said Adamopoulos. “And he and Borrelli are the keys to our defense. They are great players that work together so well.

“When we were trailing 21-11 in the fourth quarter, we stressed that there was a lot of game left. Ouellette’s last big run saved us a lot of time. After we scored, we just had to hold on.”