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Raiders come on strong

Friday, September, 10 By Dave Dyer
Staff writer

LAWRENCE —  It was far from perfect, as few opening games are, but there were plenty of promising signs for Central Catholic’s football team last night.

The Raiders pulled away late for a solid 28-14 victory over a strong Marloboro club and showed potential on both sides of the ball.

Just consider the following:

— Senior running back Trae Musumarra ran with authority and finished the game with two touchdowns and 84 yards rushing.

— Alternating quarterbacks Matt McDermott (two TD passes) and recent transfer Ben Onet (47 yards rushing, 4 for 7 passing) were both effective moving the team. Onet, a junior transfer from DeMatha High School in Maryland was only cleared to play earlier in the afternoon when his waiver was accepted by the MIAA.

 — The defense, which looked a little shaky early, was superb in the second half, giving up no first downs. It did allow a 58-yard TD run but, other than that, -11 yards rushing and no passing yards.
—  Special teams play was excellent. Onet punted three times for a 49-yard average,

Cam Walsh kicked four extra points and kicked off deep and coverage was excellent.

In fact, it was a special teams play that iced the game for the Raiders. After Central took the lead, 21-14, with 2:41 to play on a beautiful play-action 31-yard pass from McDermott to Henry Rodriguez, junior Devon Lattrell pounced on the ball at the 5-yard line, setting up Musumarra’s second TD of the game on the next play.

Defensively, while the Raiders were not quite as stout in the first half, they had two huge interceptions, the first by Jaycob Morales and the second by Walsh, which may have turned the game around.

After Marlboro took the lead 7-0 in the second quarter on a nicely designed 11-yard reverse, Central responded nicely with an 80-yard drive directed by Onet and capped by a one-yard Musumarra dive play with just 1:47 left.

Walsh’s interception three plays later set up passes of 20 yards to Ryan Sullivan and 17 to Zach Bardwell to give Central the 14-7 halftime lead.

Austin Garvey’s 58-yard run three plays later tied the score but it was all Central after that.

“I thought we handled adversity really well tonight,” said Central coach Chuck Adamopoulos. “We could have gotten down after their first touchdown, after that long run or after we had that touchdown (a 52-yard pass from Onet to Xavier Peralta) called back, but the kids came right back every time.

“There are some things I wasn’t too happy about but we did do a lot of good things.”

Added Walsh: “They’re a tough team, but I thought we had better intensity for the whole game, something we didn’t have all the time last year.”

All in all, a fine opener.