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HAVERHILL — All the talk going into the game was that the winner of the Greater Lawrence-Whittier game would be playing in the State Vocational Large School bowl game. Greater Lawrence rolled, 22-8, but a stunned Reggie coach Tony Sarkis could hardly believe his ears when he found out his team would be staying home. Southeastern (8-3) as expected made it. But instead of the 8-3 Reggies, the Mayflower Large runner-up will be facing 5-6 Greater New Bedford. “It’s a huge shock,” said Sarkis. “For some reason, they went with two teams from the same side (of the state). It’s very confusing. I don’t understand how they determine it. There is no clarity. “I found out a couple hours after the game. I don’t know how to handle it.” Sarkis was still figuring out how he’d explain it to his team. “Obviously, they’ll be upset,” he said.  “I’m still in shock.” After their EMass. playoff hopes were ended with the late season 35-0 loss to Shawsheen,  the Reggies (8-3 overall, 4-1 conference) finished strong with a 21-0 win over Lynn Tech then yesterday’s victory. “As a coach that’s what you want to see,” said Sarkis, who celebrated his birthday yesterday. “Seeing them progress as young men and athletes is great. After Shawsheen, we put it in the books. They beat us, but we came back strong and they showed a lot of character.” Trailing 8-7, Greater Lawrence fumbled the second-half kickoff , setting up Whittier at the Reggies’ 39. But the Wildcats managed only 5 yards on the ensuing four plays. The Reggies answered with a 10-play, 66-yard drive, which included two successful fourth-down attempts. The first came at their own 41 when sophomore punter Jake Barchard went 7 yards on a fake. “I think it was the play of the game,” Sarkis said. “We’ve been working on that the past two weeks in practice. We saw something that we could take advantage of and it worked for us.” Two plays after running for 8 yards on a fourth-and-six play, Marcos Ortiz sprinted 40 yards for the go-ahead score, shaking off a would-be tackler at the 15. Quarterback Jean Carlos Gomez bootlegged for the 2-point conversion that gave Greater Lawrence a 15-8 advantage. “I was nervous because we needed a first down,” Ortiz said. “But I took the ball and did what I had to do and we got the score.” A 2-yard touchdown by Christian Rivera midway through the fourth quarter accounted for the final score. The Cats had little success against a Reggie defense which for the sixth time all year limited an opponent to single-digit scoring. Whittier, which lost three fumbles on the day, took an 8-0 lead when Jack Creesy went 3 yards to cap the Wildcats’ first possession and Shane Surette added the conversion run. “We had our opportunities to stop them on both sides of the ball,” said Whittier coach Kevin Bradley, whose rebuilding club finished at 5-6 after last year’s historic 12-0 campaign. “We just didn’t capitalize, and that’s how you lose football games.” Greater Lawrence 22, Whittier 8 Greater Lawrence (8-3, 4-1 CAC Large):    7 0 8 7 — 22 Whittier (5-6, 2-3 CAC Large):    8 0 0 0 —  8 First Quarter  W — Jack  Creesy 3 run (Shane Surette run), 5:28  GL — Pedro Camilo 13 pass from Jean Carlos Gomez (Marlon Orellana kick), 1:23 Third Quarter  GL — Marcos Ortiz 40 run (Gomez run), 3:08 Fourth Quarter  GL — Christian Rivera 2 run (Orellana kick), 6:31 INDIVIDUAL LEADERS RUSHING: Greater Lawrence — Joey Pizzuto 20-101, Christian Rivera 13-62, Marcos Ortiz 4-47, Jean Carlos Gomez 2-19, Jake Barchard 1-7; Whittier — Jay Desjardins 10-84, Creesy 16-51, Shane Surette 11-26, Ryan Shanahan 1-10, Paul Buccos 5-10, Andrew McGrath 1-8 PASSING: Greater Lawrence — Gomez 1-3-0-13; Whittier — Surette 2-4-0-10 RECEIVING: Greater Lawrence — Camilo 1-13; Whittier — Cam Dubiel 2-10

ANDOVER — Pulling into the Greater Lawrence parking lot yesterday morning, you would have thought the Reggies were drawing an overwhelming crowd for their home finale. The hundreds of cars, however, apparently were for a Girl Scouts function and not a football game.

ANDOVER — A quick glance at the Greater Lawrence roster should have fans optimistic about the future. But the young Reggies might just be heading into that future quicker than expected.

Yesterday, they broke open a tight non-conference game with a strong second half to run away from West Roxbury for a convincing 33-12 victory.

WAKEFIELD — Tony Sarkis never questioned the trust in his Greater Lawrence defense.

“We said, ‘We’re either going to win the game or lose the game right here,’” said Sarkis. “ We got stopped. It was close. But then the defense came through. When it counted, we came back and stopped (Northeast).”

MALDEN — One week after blowing a 13-point halftime lead in a shocking loss at North Shore Tech, Greater Lawrence once again had a dominating first-half lead on the road.

This time, however, the Reggies not only held their advantage but built on it as Greater Lawrence routed Mystic Valley 35-0 yesterday afternoon at Malden Catholic High School.

MIDDLETON — Despite an inconsistent offense, Greater Lawrence ran off a three-game winning streak with a trio of shut-down defensive performances. Yesterday, the Reggies once again stumbled offensively.

WEST ANDOVER — Pedro Camilo and his Greater Lawrence squad had one primary goal heading into yesterday’s contest.

“We wanted to come out flying,” said Camilo. “We wanted to come out hard, then just keep going from there.”

ANDOVER — Despite the presence of one of the state’s most prolific running backs, the Greater Lawrence defense is what has the Reggies excited.

One week after shutting out South Boston, Greater Lawrence stifled another opponent yesterday afternoon with a convincing 18-6 victory over visiting Manchester Essex in the Commonwealth Conference Large opener for both schools.

ANDOVER — The numbers say it all.

The Greater Lawrence defense allowed just 43 yards, picked off three passes and recovered three fumbles — the Reggies forced three others — en route to blanking South Boston 23-0.