ANDOVER — St. Mary’s football coach Sean Driscoll simply said “I’m tired” after finally being able to exhale following his team’s 30-24 Division 7 North semifinal win over Greater Lawrence Friday.
“I think I need some nitro pills after this,” he said.
The game at the home field of the No. 1-seeded Reggies was everything high school tournament athletic events promise to be. It was back-and-forth, and filled with one stellar athletic play after another. It was eyeball-to-eyeball. And when it was all over, the No. 4 Spartans won the right to move on to the sectional final next weekend against No. 2 Nashoba Valley (TBA).
“I’m proud of our kids,” said Driscoll. “Greater Lawrence is a great team. I watched them a few times this year, and they got better every week. And they have a real athlete in (quarterback Jose Caceres). He gave us fits tonight.”
And Jalen Echevarria gave the Reggies fits. It was his two acrobatic touchdown passes — the second one wit 20-seconds to go in the game — that helped the Spartans win the game. He also had a 70-yard touchdown run. In all the speedy senior had 218 yards of total offense — 113 on the ground (on 16 carries) and 105 in the air on four catches.
“Jalen had a tough drop, and then he fumbled right after it,” said Driscoll. “But if he had his head down, he picked it back up again.”
The first half yielded nothing on either side, and Driscoll thinks it’s because both teams were tense. But with 3:21 left in the half, Brendan Laundry picked off Caceres at about midfield and returned it to the house. Echevarria’s rush made the score 8-0.
That lead lasted until the Reggies’ first series of the third quarter. They got the ball on their own 39, and five plays later Caceres found Donnie Croteau on a short slant from midfield, and Croteau took care of the rest on foot, blasting it up the middle for the score. Caceres’ run tied the score.
At the very end of the third quarter, quarterback Derek O’Leary found Echevarria from the Reggies’ 12, and George Freeman added the conversion and the Spartans led 16-8. However, Caceres and Croteau hooked up again, this time from 25 yards out, and Caceres ran it in for the game-tying conversion with 6:06 left in the game.
Echevarria took a handoff on the first play after the touchdown and zipped down the sideline 70 yards to put St. Mary’s back in front with 5:53 to go (Freeman rushed). But the teams were just getting warmed up.
Shamil Diaz ran one in from 15 yards out with 2:45 to go, and Caceres’ rush tied the game back up at 24.
With Greater Lawrence on the move and 41 seconds to go, Laundry caught up with a Caceres pass and picked it off. It wasn’t the greatest field position, but O’Leary went to work. After an 8-yard run by Freeman, O’Leary hit Echevarria up the middle for a 35 yard gainer, and then came right back to him with 20 seconds to go for the game-winner.
