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Greater Lawrence rebounds with shutout

Saturday, October, 16 By Jeff Hamrick

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.

“We knew what we had to do,” said defensive lineman Pedro Camilo, who was in on two sacks. “Coach (Tony Sarkis) talked about how we knew what we needed to do. We just came out strong, hit them hard and knocked them down.”

In posting its third shutout of the season, Greater Lawrence (4-2) held the Eagles (2-4) to five first downs and 79 total yards, including 62 on 39 rushes (an average of 1.6 yards per attempt). Mystic Valley ran four plays or fewer on six of its eight possessions.

“ Defensively we shut them down, so I’m very impressed with the defense,” Sarkis said. “But all it was was they came out to play, and I’m very happy with that.”

The Reggies, who were without starting quarterback Jean Carlos Gomez, who was serving a one-game suspension for violating team rules, also had their problems moving the ball.  Although Joe Pizzuto ran for a pair of first half touchdowns, Greater Lawrence managed a mere 60 yards of offense the opening two quarters.

“They were blitzing on us, and our guys made the adjustments,” Sarkis said. “Once we did that, we started moving the ball on them At halftime it was 15-0, but we said it was 0-0. We had to play with some intensity.

“We have a young team. We have to make sure that these guys get some confidence. Our confidence was shattered against North Shore.”

The halftime corrections proved successful as Pizzuto ran for 126 of his 168 total yards after intermission. He also added two more touchdowns as the Reggies ran away from the Eagles. Marcos Ortiz chipped in with a 44-yard scoring run.

“Our offensive line started to step it up,” said Pizzuto, who now has 861 yards rushing for the season. “They started executing their assignments and got things together.”

Pizzuto’s final score was a 1-yarder as time expired, capping a six-play, 37-yard drive over the final 2:39.

“That last drive, we wanted to finish them off,” Pizzuto said. “We weren’t trying to run the clock out, we wanted to finish strong.”