RallyNorth.net

Lancers struggle against Colonials

Saturday, November, 01 By Jeff Hamrick

LAWRENCE — When the week began Lawrence was disappointed it was relegated to the field of non playoff teams in the Division 1 North ranks despite coming on the heels of two dominating victories.

By yesterday afternoon's end, however, the biggest disappointment were the Lancers themselves.

Instead of demonstrating it belonged among the region's top eight teams, Lawrence proved unable to overcome neither the weather nor Acton-Boxborough as the visiting Colonials walked away with an easy 43-8 victory.

"We just got out played," Lawrence coach Mike Yameen succinctly said.

A Dual County Conference member, A-B certainly didn't resemble the squad that lost three of its final four, dooming the Colonials into the non playoff bracket. A-B (4-4) barely needed 11 minutes before opening a 21-point lead.

Lawrence (4-4) struggled the opening period, losing a total of 43 yards on its six rushing attempts. — a mark a passing attack that netted only 21 yards of its own couldn't overcome.

"They didn't do anything different than what we saw on tape," said quarterback Nelson Valerio, who would be sacked six times on the afternoon. "We just didn't get the job done."

The Lancers did put up two points after A-B's third touchdown when Darryl Munoz blocked the conversion kick attempt, scooped up the ball and raced almost 80 yards. It was the second time this season the Colonials have given up points on a blocked conversion kick.

The Lancers followed up that good fortune, putting together they're best possession. With Valerio connecting on four of his seven attempts and Kenny Richards handling the ground game, Lawrence capped a 10-play drive on a 5-yard Richards run that cut the deficit to 21-8 with 5:09 left before intermission.

But all hope died when A-B took the second-half kick and went off on a drive that lasted 6:47 and consisted of one successful fourth-down conversion and a pair of third-downs as well.

Lawrence picked up only two first downs the final two quarters, and compiled a negative 5 yards on 22 rushing attempts in the game. One week after becoming the region's most prolific career passer, Valerio was harried into a 12-for-24 day that was good for only 103 yards.

The Lancers were hurt in the punting game as one bad snap resulted in a 32-yard loss and another led to a blocked punt. On the receiving end, a muffed return set up A-B with another short field. Three of A-B's seven scoring drives required 12 yards or fewer — in fact, one possession lost 11 yards but still provided a 32-yard Brendan Duhamel field goal.

Despite surrendering 43 points, the Lancers defense had its moments as Manual Vlaun and David Morales both had sacks. Those two also led a front seven that recorded seven tackles for loss.

Lawrence, looking for its first winning season since finishing 6-4 in 1995, will attempt to regroup this weekend at Methuen. It will be a rematch of a Week 2 thriller the Lancers won 43-42 when Jacob Toledo hauled in a 23-yard scoring pass from Valerio and Eddie Cabrera kicked the conversion with 10 seconds remaining.