On paper, it looked as though the undefeated Londonderry High football squad would have a relatively easy time with a winless Timberlane Regional troop in Plaistow when those two contingents met up last Friday night, Sept. 14. And as everything worked out, what was on paper played out in real life.
Paced by senior quarterback Evan Cormier for a second straight week, the LHS gridders simply pummeled their hosts by a 44-14 margin to advance to 3-0 on the season with a much-anticipated Mack Plaque meeting with 3-0 Pinkerton coming at LHS this Friday night.
The Lancer signal-caller passed for two touchdowns and ran for one other in leading his contingent, which also received some 104 rushing yards from senior back Mason Marquis on 14 carries – an exceptional average of 10 yards per run – and scoring sprints from Jeff Wiedenfeld, Jake Holland, and Jake McEachern. All in all the winning side produced some 259 yards via its ground game and another 99 through the air.
Defensively, Londonderry held the struggling Timberlane offense to just 180 total yards. And the locals picked off two passes attempted by Owls’ quarterback Dan Hayes. Matt Pemberton and Ethan May had those picks.
The now 0-3 hosts tallied the first points of the evening but then the LHS side collect the next 21 points in that opening period.
The Lancers led 37-6 at halftime and held the Owls scoreless in the second and third quarters, after which Londonderry led by an overwhelming 44-6 margin.
Coach Jimmy Lauzon was pleased with some of his team’s work in that win, but felt that his charges certainly have some work to do to get as good as they can be.
“I think we have some things to work on,” he said. “There were more positives than negatives, but we aren’t where I think we can be yet. We’ll keep plugging away to get better every week and focus on the next opponent.”
Rolling into the forthcoming Mack Plaque match-up with a 3-0 Pinkerton squad which downed Exeter by a 17-7 margin while the Lancers were busy taking care of business in Plaistow, Londonderry looks to keep its 2018 winning streak rolling in a big game which the academy squad usually wins. However, on paper…..