Lawrence holds off English gridders on opening night

LYNN ? Though it didn’t have the offense of last season’s 40-38 shootout, Friday night’s opener between Lawrence and Lynn English had plenty of excitement.Jean Zorrilla caught a 6-yard touchdown pass from Nate Baez with 49.3 seconds left and then Lawrence’s defense held the Bulldogs at the 2-yard line as the Lancers escaped with a 13-9 win at Manning Field.Click here for a photo gallery of last night’s action”It was a win, but it wasn’t easy,” Lawrence coach Mike Yameen said. “We have a young team this year, and for them to battle back against a good opponent like Lynn English is a good sign.”English9Lawrence13English can dwell on a few woulda, coulda, shoulda plays, but the pivotal moment came with the Bulldogs leading, 9-7, with 1:13 left in the game. The Bulldogs had the ball third-and-2 from their own 26, needing a first down to clinch the game. A miscommunication led to a snap from center for which English quarterback Tyllor McDonald wasn’t ready. He collected the ball at his own eight and heaved it out of bounds, but was called for an intentional grounding penalty that also resulted in a loss of down.McDonald’s ensuing punt from his own end zone was fielded on a dead run at the English 40 by Miguel Rodriguez, who made it all the way to the Bulldogs’ 6-yard line before he was pushed out of bounds.Baez found Zorilla on a slant on the next play. Lawrence missed the try for two points.English returned the ensuing squib kick to its own 42, and three straight completions from McDonald to Travonne Berry-Rogers moved the ball to the Lawrence 28. A couple of McDonald scrambles and another completion to Berry-Rogers put the Bulldogs on the two, and McDonald spiked the ball with 0.4 seconds left. The last play was a fade route to Berry-Rogers in the back left corner of the end zone, but the pass fell incomplete.”We had a little trouble getting in that last play, but our kids showed a lot of character coming back tonight,” English coach Peter Holey said. “We were looking for some football players with character tonight, and I think we found some.”As for the critical play that led to the pivotal intentional grounding, Holey said the plan was to not snap the ball and try to draw the Lancers offside.”It’s high school football,” Holey said. “Sometimes that happens.”The teams traded one touchdown each in the first half. Lawrence broke on top with a 68-yard, 11-play drive that included a 32-yard pass from Baez to Rodriguez followed by a 7-yard scoring strike to Derick Molina with 1:03 left in the first quarter.English answered on its next possession with an 80-yard march that was kept alive by a nice shoetop catch by Erik Holey for a 12-yard gain on third down from the English 39. One first down later, Melvin Taveres took what was supposed to be a run to the right, broke back to his left and traveled across the field for a 31-yard touchdown run. Cory Burt’s extra point kick tied the score at 7-7 with 8:04 left in the first half.Neither team made it inside its opponent’s 20-yard line again until English drove for a first-and-goal from the 6 midway though the third quarter. Lawrence’s defense held at the three, but the Lancers’ offense went nowhere and Kelvin Severino lined up to punt from the end zone. The snap went well over his head, though, for a safety that put the Bulldogs ahead for the first time, 9-7, with 38.5 seconds left in the third quarter.English came up with a goal line stand of its own in the fourth quarter, holding Baez just six inches from the end zone on a fourth-and-2 with 3:47 left in the game. That set the stage for the wild ending.