RallyNorth.net

Walsh boots Central Catholic to victory

Thursday, September, 17 By Jeff Hamrick

LAWRENCE — Central Catholic coach Chuck Adamopoulos gave Cam Walsh more than enough time to think about the situation and the junior kicker didn't disappoint, connecting on a 35-yard field goal with four minutes remaining last night to give the Raiders a 15-14 victory over St. John's Prep.

Walsh also set up the Eagles' second touchdown with a 56-yard fumble return in the second quarter.

"Coach told me it was going to come down to a game-winning field goal," said Walsh, who missed a conversion attempt on Central's first touchdown in the second quarter. "I'd shanked a PAT earlier, but it wasn't playing on my mind. I just knew I had to buckle down and make it. It all worked out good."

In what had been a scoreless second half the first 18 minutes, it didn't appear Walsh or his teammates would have an opportunity to win their first game of the season. Central Catholic (1-1) gained zero yards from scrimmage after intermission until the game-winning possession. Punter Chris Berganti provided the Raiders a boost when his punt was downed at the St. John's 1 by Tommy Lacroix with 7:40 remaining.

Three plays and two illegal substitution penalties left the Eagles (1-1) with a fourth down at its 2. A 16-yard punt by Peter Musumeci set Central Catholic up at the 18. A holding penalty almost spoiled Walsh's chances but a 10-yard pass on third down from Andrew Ouellette to Nick Imprescia allowed Adamopoulos to play the psychic.

"I told (Walsh) in the third quarter he was going to win the game with a field goal," Adamopoulos said. "And he did it for us. We got that holding penalty that took us out of range, but we managed to get back into field-goal range, and Cam has ice water in his veins."

The Prep grabbed an early 14-0 lead on touchdown runs of 60 yards by Chris Coady and 59 yards by Tyler Coppola of North Reading. Those two plays, both of which came on option runs, accounted for most of the Eagles' 220 total yards. In fact, in the second half St. John's had more yards in penalties (33) than yards from scrimmage (22).

"We jumped out early, but we told them before the game that turnovers and penalties are the things that kill you," St. John's coach Jim O'Leary said. "Certainly that was the difference in the game. If you don't perform offensively and let people hang around that's what happens. You can't put yourselves in bad situations."

Central Catholic, however, was even less effective on offense, with a mere 16 yards total offense in the second half and 139 for the game. The Raiders made the score 14-6 midway through the second period when Ouellette's 15-yard run capped a four-play drive that was aided by a 15-yard face-mask penalty by St. John's

Ouellette cut the margin to 14-12 two minutes later on a 1-yard run on Central's first play following Walsh's long fumble return.

"I'm really proud of the kids for different things," Adamopolous said. "We had a real tough game last week and didn't look good against Marlborough. To bounce back against St. John's is a real good win for us."

Of the 68 combined rushing plays in the game, 38 of them accumulated one yard or fewer, and the two teams totaled only three first downs in the second half.