After one quarter of football had been played at Stellos Stadium last Friday night, Sept. 19, the undefeated Londonderry High Lancer squad found itself locked up in a 6-6 tie with the host Nashua High North Titans.
But coach Jimmy Lauzon’s now 3-0 LHS charges put distance between themselves and their now 1-2 opponent during the second quarter en route to a 49-13 hammering of that contingent.
Londonderry scored two quick touchdowns at the start of the second quarter and three in a row total to take the game tally from 6-6 to 27-6 in short order. And Lauzon’s legion later put up 22 unanswered points in the second half to leave the frustrated Titans choking on its dust.
Lancers’ quarterback Eric Fairweather produced another excellent performance for the victors, rushing for 183 yards and two scores and passing for 114 yards and a score as well.
All in all, the 3-0 locals tallied more than 500 yards worth of offense on the productive night, including 438 rushing yards.
“I thought we played a decent first half, but in the second half we executed in all three phases,” said Lauzon.
The Lancers never trailed in this contest, beginning the evening’s scoring with a 2-yard scoring sprint by Fairweather with just 3:13 having been played. The extra-point kick failed.
But the host Titans knotted the score at 6-6 five minutes later on a short run of their own, and the first period ended with the tally right there.
The score wouldn’t sit at 6-6 for too long as the Lancers regained the upper hand at 14-7 just 10 seconds into the second period on a 24-yard Fairweather scoring jaunt (followed by the John Derhak extra-point), which was in turn followed a mere 21 seconds later by running back Dennis Bishop’s 25-yard touchdown sprint (and Derhak kick) to make it a 20-6 game.
The Londonderry lead then bulged to 27-6 with a little more than three minutes showing on the clock when signal-caller Fairweather connected with receiver Dave Wiedenfeld on a 35-yard touchdown pass.
The Nashua squad gained a bit of the momentum back during the final minute of the half when it managed a touchdown pass of its own, but Londonderry had lots of reasons to feel good about the 27-13 lead that it grasped at the break.
And all the locals did in the second half was build upon their lead while keeping the Titans frustrated on both sides of the football.
The Lancers added seven more points in the third quarter, thanks to Mike Ryan’s 11-yard run to pay-dirt, Bishop jaunted for his second score of the night on a 30-yard sprint midway through period four, and reserve Jimmy Nee was able to score from a couple yards out as the game clock wound down.
Bishop finished the night a mere six yards short of the 100 plateau and also caught two passes for 45 yards, and Wiedenfeld ran for 73 on just a handful of carries.
“We still have a lot of work to do, but I’ll give the kids credit. They come ready to practice every day, and they’re striving to get better every week, every day, every rep,” said Lauzon.
The team’s next game – this Friday night at home – will be a real test with those arch-rival Pinkerton Academy Astros being the opponent.