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Reggies drop battle of CAC powers

Saturday, October, 20 By David Willis
Staff writer

WEST ANDOVER — The clash of Commonwealth Conference powers could not have started any better for Greater Lawrence.

The Reggies held Shawsheen to a 3-and-out on its first possession, then three plays later running back Cristian Rivera threw a 50-yard halfback pass for a touchdown that gave Greater Lawrence a quick lead.

However, before the first quarter was over, the Rams had struck for three unanswered scores and the Reggies could not recover on the way to a 35-20 loss yesterday afternoon.

“They scored quick and that was a lot of points to come back from,” said Greater Lawrence coach Tony Sarkis. “We just weren’t consistent enough, and that’s what killed us.”

The loss was a difficult one for Greater Lawrence. Both teams entered the game at 5-1 and 1-0 in the CAC Large, with the winner matching Friday night winner Whittier at 6-1 (2-0) for first place in the league race.

“We have to keep our heads up,” said Sarkis. “We’re going to test their character right now. We have to see what they are made of for them to bounce back from this (loss)”

The Reggies caught Shawsheen off-balance on their first drive when Rivera took a toss going right, pulled up and lofted a perfect pass to a wide-open Jake Barchard for a 50-yard score. Rivera then plunged in for the 2-point conversion and an 8-0 lead

“They struck quick and put us in a hole,” said Shawsheen coach Al Costabile. “But then our offense got going and we settled in.”

The Rams scored three times in the next eight plays they ran, all 20-plus yard scores. Meanwhile, the Reggies struggled to answer the opponent’s fast-paced attack.

“Offensively we couldn’t find a rhythm,” said Sarkis. “We weren’t consistent enough, and we shot ourselves in the foot a few times with penalties.”

Shawsheen made no mystery of their plan, stacking players in the box to slow Rivera, who entered the weekend as the area’s No 2 rusher. The Rams ended up becoming the first team this season to slow the senior, limiting Rivera to a season-low 83 yards on 16 carries.

“Rivera is such a great running back,” said Costabile. “They have an excellent running game, and our No. 1 challenge was to stop that because Greater Lawrence is in its comfort zone when they can hand Rivera the ball over and over and he can run for a couple hundred yards.”

Reggies QB Marcos Ortiz ended up leading the team with 126 yards rushing, including a 69-yard score, and threw for 107 yards.

“We can’t hand our heads,” said Sarkis. “We have a big game at Northeast next week, so it will show what this team is made of.”