Swampscott’s Cassidy’s TD bomb helps Lawrence Academy to win

Swampscott?s Jake Cassidy and his Lawrence Academy football team looked like they were on their way to an easy victory in the NEPSAC Hugh Caldera Bowl on Saturday as they led Williston-Northampton 27-0 at halftime.Problem for the Spartans was that someone forgot to tell Williston that as it rallied for four third-quarter touchdowns to take a 28-27 lead into the fourth.That?s when Cassidy got to live every quarterback?s dream.His 64-yard touchdown pass to Tim Preston early in the final quarter put Lawrence ahead 35-27 and it stood up as the winning score thanks to three interceptions from Boston College-bound Chris Garrison, including one on the final play of the game, to seal a 35-34 victory.?It was insane how it was going back and forth,” Cassidy said.?I kind of couldn?t handle it at the end.?We stayed in it and stuck to our game plan. That fourth quarter kind of explains our whole season.”Cassidy quarterbacked St. Mary?s a spot in the Division 5 Super Bowl against Abington as a sophomore before leaving for Lawrence last season. This year, his Spartan team shared the ISL championship with Governor?s Academy after a 7-1 regular season.Many of those wins would be like the Spartans? win Saturday as the Spartans had to come from behind to get the job done.?Our coach (Paul Zukauskas) always tells us that no matter what happens, we have to keep playing until there is no time left on the clock,” Cassidy said.A lot of Lawrence?s success of late can be directly correlated with the arrival of Zukauskas on campus after the program was rocked by a scandal that saw them banned from postseason play for three years after various recruiting violations. But the former BC star and offensive lineman for the Cleveland Browns brought a new vigor to the program.?He is a great motivator,” Cassidy said of Zukauskas. “And he teaches us the love of the game. To put in the work we did all season and win is great.”The Spartans came out on fire Saturday as they took the lead early on A.J. Dillon?s four yard run. After a Williston turnover, Cassidy scored on a three-yard keeper to make it a two score game.The runaway looked like it was on when the Spartans broke the game open late in the first half. Cassidy hit Tim Preston for the first of their three touchdown hookups on a 20 yard strike.Moments later, it was a 37 yard aerial from Cassidy to Preston to send Lawrence to the half up 27-0.?We were really prepared and got rolling in the first half,” Cassidy said.Williston?s response in the third quarter was succinct … hand the ball to Max Chipouras. He powered through the Spartans defense for four touchdown runs to suddenly give Williston the lead after three periods.But Lawrence responded on the first drive of the fourth as Cassidy?s quick out to Preston turned into a 64-yard touchdown that made it 35-27. Chipouras? fifth touchdown of the game cut the lead to one but a 2-point conversion was stopped by the Spartans.Garrison would then pick off three passes in the final quarter to seal the win for the Spartans.uIt wasn?t as successful a day for Govenor?s, who features Nahant?s Seth Harrell and Swampscott?s Robert Driscoll.The Govs ran into a buzzsaw in powerful Brunswick (ME) as they fell, 46-20, in the Wayne Sanborn Bowl.Former Beverly standout Isiah White had a spectacular five touchdown game for New Hampton in the Kevin Flaherty Bowl but it wasn?t nearly enough as St. Sebastian?s put up an astounding 82 points en route to an 82-50 win.