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Turnovers doom Greater Lawrence in rough opener

Saturday, September, 09 By David Willis
Staff writer

LAWRENCE — In a flash, Greater Lawrence found itself in a hole it could not recover from.

On the final play of the first quarter, Swampscott connected on a 20-yard touchdown pass. Then, after a kickoff opened the second, the Reggies fumbled the first play of the following drive, and that was run back for a touchdown.

It was all Big Blue from there, as Swampscott rolled to a 43-0 victory over Greater Lawrence in the opener for both teams.

“We made too many mistakes,” said Reggies head coach Tony Sarkis. “We turned the ball over four times. You can’t do that against a good team, or any team really. Our offense didn’t help out our defense, and our defense made some mistakes too. You just can’t have that.”

The game was played at Lawrence’s Veterans Memorial Stadium because Greater Lawrence’s newly-renovated stadium is not yet complete. The Reggies said they will play one more game at Lawrence High, then hope to open their new field in Week 3 by hosting Hamilton-Wenham.
The Reggies hurt themselves badly with turnovers. Greater Lawrence fumbled the ball on three of their first four possessions, and Swampscott turned each into a touchdown.
When the ball was in the hands of the Big Blue, senior three-year starter Colin Frary kept making plays. The senior three-year starter threw five touchdowns, finishing the day 15 of 26-0 for 207 yards.
“Too many turnovers,” said Sarkis. “That’s not Reggie football. We have to look at this team and figure out who wants to go out, work and play football. We have to get a lot of young kids to catch up to the pace of the game.”
Greater Lawrence’s best chance to score came right before halftime. Down 22-0, the Reggies advanced to the Swampscott 9-yard line, before turning the ball over on downs.
Utilizing a read-option attack, Reggies QB Jose Caceres rushed 22 times for 82 yards. Greater Lawrence was limited to 92 yards of offense.
“We have to get an inexperienced team ready to play,” said Sarkis. “But we were physical. Now we have to work on that and get ready for Austin Prep and its wing-T next week.”