RallyNorth.net

Londonderry reigns in rain

Monday, September, 29 By Chuck Frye
Staff writer

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Another night, another hero.

With Mother Nature turning Manchester West’s artificial turf into a green sponge, the advantage went to the player who could best handle the rapidly-deteriorating conditions.

Enter Londonderry’s Anthony Terenzi. His dominant second half shook off a tepid team start and kept the Lancers on top, 18-6, and undefeated at 4-0 going into a huge matchup with rival Pinkerton Saturday night at Londonderry.

After a first half tormented by two lost fumbles and a surprising 6-6 tie with winless West (now 0-4), the 194-pound senior became the ball-carrier of choice for head coach Jon Rich. Terenzi finished with 178 yards on 25 carries and two touchdowns, becoming the fourth different Lancer to lead the team in rushing in their first four games.

“We felt Terenzi was a very efficient runner,” Rich explained. “He’s the type of straight-ahead kid that puts his head down and gets yards, and obviously in this rain he was the kind of kid we were looking for. The offensive line and the backs came through in the second half.”

“Pretty much the coach told me that I was going to be the working dog in the last half of the game,” Terenzi said. “It felt good. I haven’t had that weight put on my shoulders before but I guess I carried it pretty well.”

After blending with four other ballcarriers and ripping off a 52-yard first quarter scamper that set up quarterback Conor McKinney’s 3-yard touchdown run, Terenzi took on the grunt work. Getting the ball on 17 of Londonderry’s 25 plays, the senior bulled behind blocking back Gary Glines and an effective offensive line for consistent production.

A 41-yard third quarter march set up by Brandon Edgerly’s sack and forced fumble ended on Terenzi’s 1-yard slugfest into the end zone. And after the Lancer defense stopped West on downs on its next possession, Terenzi’s 10 totes and three late-down conversions backboned a seven-minute march ending in another 1-yard scoring carry.

Throughout, the Lancer defense excelled behind defensive end Edgerly (seven tackles including two sacks and two others for lost yardage), Glines (fumble recovery), junior Brandon Foley (12-yard sack), and lineman Josh Nitso (four tackles, two for negative yardage). West was held to just 125 yards and was 3 of 12 on third- and fourth-down conversions.

“We’ve played one good half and one poor half the last three weeks,” Rich concluded.