Tech grid puts it all together, tops Greater Lowell

LYNN – With its Commonwealth Conference opener on the horizon, the Lynn Tech football team continued to serve notice on Saturday that it just might be a player for a postseason berth come November.On a sticky Saturday morning at Manning Field, the Tigers shrugged off a slow start against Greater Lowell as Pedro Martinez returned an interception for a score, caught a touchdown pass from Kennedy Gomes and added a touchdown on the ground as Tech moved to 3-0 with a 33-14 win over the Gryphons.”A game like this is really good for us,” Tech coach James Runner said. “Greater Lowell is a skilled team and is a lot like us. We were able to show how fast we really are on defense and offense.”Tech outgained the Gryphons 352-238 in the contest but yet the teams played through a scoreless first quarter thanks to each team coming up with a big stop on defense.The Tigers got the ball at their 33 at the outset of the second quarter and embarked on a 10-play drive that took nearly seven minutes to complete. Martinez and Gomes did most of the work in getting the ball to the Gryphon 13 before a completion to Jason Grant left the ball inches shy of the goal line.Gomes snuck it home on the next play and Tech led 7-0 after the extra point.Greater Lowell moved into Tech territory on the next series but the Tiger defense forced quarterback Derek Bruce into an ill-advised throw that Martinez picked off and returned 44 yards for a touchdown and a 14-0 lead with 3:06 left in the half.”I’m really glad for Pedro,” Runner said. “He has had such a great year defensively for us and it was nice to see him make a couple of big plays.”The Gryphons would steal much of the Tech momentum back late in the half when they put together a 59-yard drive in 11 plays that culminated in Bruce sneaking it in from the three and adding the 2-point conversion to make it 14-8 at halftime.Taking the punch from Greater Lowell, Tech delivered a counterblow when the second half started.Gomes raced 24 yards on the first snap of the third quarter and then hit Grant for a 17-yard gain to the Gryphon seven one play later. A holding penalty momentarily derailed the Tech express before Gomes threw a 10-yard touchdown to E.J. Ward for a 20-8 lead with 7:58 left in the third.Ward intercepted a Bruce pass on the next series at the Tech 29. Gomes went 40 yards on the next play and Martinez added a 24-yard jaunt to the seven. One play later, Martinez scored from a yard for a 26-8 lead.Tech drove again as the third quarter ended and then capped the drive when Martinez scored on a 24-yard screen pass to make it 33-8 on the first play of the final quarter.Bruce’s seven-yard pass to Joe Forster with 6:39 left capped the scoring.”I’m a little more excited than usual with this win,” Runner said. “We talked all week about keeping the momentum going and we were able to do that. We played very good team defense.”