RallyNorth.net

LAWRENCE — If you handicapped Saturday night’s Central Catholic-Everett Division 1 North football final, it came down to flukes.
Which was the fluke, Central’s dominating 24-0 whitewash of Everett back in the first week of October or the Tide’s playoff-opening stunner over top-seeded St. John’s Prep?
The No. 2 Raiders took that a little bit personally and spent the better part of the 44 minutes here at Veterans Memorial Stadium vindicating their victory.
In the process, Central claimed its second Division 1 North championship in the last three years rather easily, 33-14, and confirmed its reservation in the state finals at Gillette Stadium on December 5.
The 9-1 Raiders will tangled with unbeaten (10-0) South champ Xaverian, the consensus No. 1 team in Massachusetts, in the marquee game of the day for the D1 State Championship.
“You know this one is special, because this team was not supposed to get here,” beamed Raider coach Chuck Adamopoulos. “We don’t have too many of them, but this is a really special group of seniors. I really like this group, because of how they came together. And they deserve to be here, and to play for a state title.”
Central pulled off the Gillette upset two years ago, victimizing this same Xaverian team back in 2013 with Cody Demers, D’andre Drummond-Mayrie and Mike Milano leading the way.
It’s probably going to take a similar effort if the Raiders are to pull off the unthinkable again. Of course, there’s plenty of time to kill in between. Adamopoulos and his crew will tangle with Lawrence High here on Thanksgiving morning.
“No doubt, our starters will be playing,” said the coach. “I mean, it’s Thanksgiving and they want to play.”
The Raiders certainly wanted to play last night, too, and showed it from the opening kick, which Steven Jackson took back to the Everett 36. Senior classmate Omar Deschamps took back-to-back handoffs and scored, making it 7-0, just 24 seconds in.
Following a Tide 3-and-out, Central took charge, at 14-0, when Bret Edwards found Jackson for a 23-yard TD.
It really would never be close. The lead bumped to 27-0 at halftime, and it probably wasn’t that close as the Raiders outgained Everett, 257-45.
Edwards, who hobbled all day on an ankle he sprained last week, would finish early with three TD passes, all to the uncoverable Jackson (8 catches, 144 yards), as he hit on 12 of 16 for 174 yards on the day.
Deschamps, who took some “wildcat” snaps to ease Edwards’ load, led the ground game with 11 carries for 85 yards and Central’s two rushing touchdowns.
Central’s defense carried its shutover over the Tide into the fourth quarter (80 minutes, 3 seconds total) when Everett’s Division 1 recruit Jordan McAfee tossed the first of his two garbage-time touchdowns.