Central runs over Lawrence
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LAWRENCE — One team rode its rising sophomore quarterback, the other let the big-play guys surrounding him make life easy for the young gun.
And while we should hear plenty in the future from Lawrence's dynamic Nelson Valerio and Central Catholic's smooth Mike Milano down the road, it was the latter with a vastly superior supporting case who had their way in Central's dominating 35-6 defeat of the Lancers before about 300 rain-soaked fans at Veterans Memorial Stadium last night.
Junior D'andre Drummond-Mayire and sophomore Michael Balsamo each ran for a pair of touchdowns in a night where the Raiders grabbed a 21-0 halftime lead and never looked back.
"We have good size on the line, and we took advantage of it. (On the TD runs) I saw nothing but green, wide open holes, I just hit them hard," said Drummond-Mayire. "We had to come out hard and make a statement. We have stuff to work on, we improved from last week. We only have 11 games, and they all count."
Drummond-Mayire carried just six times for 81 yards, while Balsamo's three touches went for 8, 37 and 44 yards.
Central now moves to 3-1 and heads to Methuen Friday night, while 0-4 Lawrence will host Lowell here Friday.
'Fast Times' remake?: For a minute, it sounded an awful lot like the football scene back in the 1980s classic "Fast Times at Ridgemont High."
The silky voice of the Lancers, Rich Gorham was all over it: "Tackle by Central's Matt Halaby ... Crushed by Halaby ... Ripped by Halaby ... Halaby ... Halaby ... Halaby."
Said Gorham, "He was ridiculous, the dominant Central Catholic player on the field tonight. The back of my says eight solo tackles and four sacks, at least."
Central coach Chuck Adamopoulos said the performance came to him as no surprise.
"He's been doing that all year," said Adamopoulos of the 6-foot-1 senior. "He and the other defensive tackle, Joe Brown, have been tearing it up inside."
Pair of blocks: Lawrence continued to struggle in the punting game, and the Raiders made them pay with a pair of blocks, one apiece by captain Ryan Doherty and scrappy special teams maven Zach Canto.
Each set up a Central TD inside the Lancer 10.
Lancer positives: Lawrence's QB Valerio didn't put up the big numbers, but the nifty sophomore continues to show some explosive ability in the pocket. Valerio hit on 12 of 21 passes for 127 yards with a 25-yard TD hookup to George Urena (5 catches, 91 yards).
Senior Jaddiel Polanco continues to play well on the corner for the Lancers and added another field goal block to his docket in the fourth quarter.
"We're just making too many mistakes right now," said Lancer coach Mike Yameen. "And you can't do that against a team like Central Catholic."
Game Statistics:
First Quarter
CC — Michael Balsamo 37 run (Thomas Jenoski kick) 1:10
Second Quarter
CC — D'Andre Drummond-Mayrie 6 run (Jenoski kick) 8:52
CC — Drummond-Mayire 64 run (Jenoski kick) 4:21
Third Quarter
CC — Balsamo 8 run (Jenoski kick) 4:23
Fourth Quarter
L — George Urena 25 pass from Nelson Valerio (rush failed) 8:00
CC — Nicholas Boes 3 run (Jenoski kick) 1:21
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: CC — Drummond-Mayrie 6-81, Balsamo 3-89, Santino Brancato 7-34, Mike Milano 6-1, Boes 2-5; L — G. Urena 2-2, Justin Flores 4-1, Valerio 16-(-5), Chris Pena 1-2, Rainer Almonte 1-0, Jeremiah Damiron 5-31, Louis Rosa 1-(-4)
PASSING: CC — Milano 3-3, 23; L — Luis Crispin 0-1-0, Valerio 12-21-0, 127
RECEIVING: CC - Cody Demers 2-22, Paul Karamourtopoulos 1-1; L — Damiron 1-4, Pena 2-4, G. Urena 5-91, Almonte 1-7, Franger Baez 3-21
