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Lawrence comeback falls a conversion play short

Friday, September, 24 By Bill Burt
Sports editor

LAWRENCE — From the mid-1950s to the mid-1980s, a Lawrence High and Lowell High meeting on the football field was a Super Bowl. At least it always felt like it, particularly on Thanksgiving Day when league championships were often at stake and names like Ed Buckley, Ralph Wolfendale, Ray Riddick, Larry Klimas and Larry Reusch were stealing the show and/or headlines.
After a two-decade span of mismatches in favor of Lowell, and even a brief end to the rivalry, last night conjured up some of those memories.
Lowell turned away a two-point conversion with about four minutes remaining in the game and later was able to run out the clock in preserving a 21-19 win over Lawrence.
“I know what this game means to people from Lawrence,” said Lawrence High coach Mike Yameen. “I was on the last Lawrence team in 1985 to beat Lowell. It was in that snowstorm ... For a while there I thought we were going to pull it off.”
A lot has happened to Lawrence High football since that glorious win over Lowell, and not a lot of it is good. But last night Lawrence was every bit as tough as Buckley’s Boys were 50-plus years earlier.
Lawrence trailed 21-7 after a dominating drive to open the third quarter and appeared to be laying the groundwork for a 42-7 win. But Lawrence answered that score with a nice drive later in the third quarter, with Daniel Ramos leading the way. Ramos had runs of 13 and 11 yards before he got behind the Lowell safety and hauled in a perfect Nate Baez pass for a 34-yard TD.
The three or four hundred Lawrence students, who were milling around the entrance to the stadium, immediately rushed back to the bleachers and a Lawrence-Lowell classic began brewing.
There was one problem on that Ramos score. The extra point went wide left, giving Lowell a 21-13 advantage, which later proved costly.
Lawrence’ s defense forced Lowell’s no-huddle offense, which they used the entire game, to punt after three plays.
With the Lawrence fans louder than ever, the Lancers methodically drove from their own 48 with Miguel Rodriguez and Baez sharing most of the carries to get the ball to the Lowell 25. The key play of the drive was a pass interference penalty, which probably saved at Lawrence touchdown and put the ball on the Lowell 14. Ramos finished off the drive going untouched around the left end for a 5-yard score.
With only four minutes remaining, Lawrence needed a two-point conversion to tie the score. But Baez’s pass went just outside of the reach of his running back.
Lawrence’s defense came through again, forcing Lowell to turn the ball over on downs on their 34-yard line, but Baez threw four straight incomplete passes.
Lawrence still had an outside shot of getting the ball back with one timeout, but Lowell quarterback R.J. Noel, who switches off every series at quarterback with Kyle Edwards, pounded out three first downs to close out the game.
“It goes to show you the importance of special teams,” said Yameen. “If we make that point after on the second touchdown, we probably tie the game there at the end. But they were able to pound the ball on us at the end with Noel. And we have to do a better job in our passing game. But I really like Nate (Baez). He’s a first year quarterback. He’s learning every day.”
Baez was a key cog early in the game, as he and Rodriguez combined for all but nine yards (one Ramos run) in the 63 yards Lawrence chewed up on the game’s first drive, putting the Lancers ahead 7-0 on Rodriguez’s 3-yard run. After that drive, though, Lawrence got only one more first down in the first half.
“We had problems on both sides of the ball (after that drive),” said Yameen. “But I was really proud of the adjustments we made. We did a better job with their no-huddle, which is not easy to prepare for. And we seemed to block better in the second half.”
While Yameen wasn’t smiling after the loss, he put it in perspective.
“Two or three years ago, if Lowell went up 21-7 on us like they did, it probably would have ended up 42-7 or something,” said Yameen. “But this team has some fight in them. They stay together. I’m proud of them. It’s not easy in this league. We have to do better. And we will.”
Lawrence, now 1-2, plays at Chelmsford next Friday night.
Lowell coach Jeff Moore has warning for Chelmsford & Co. Don’t dare take Lawrence lightly.
“They might be the fastest team in our league, which is saying something,” said Moore. “We couldn’t put them away. They kept fighting back. You add team speed to that toughness ... watch out. They will definitely win some games in this league.”