New coach Jim Lauzon had his Londonderry High football squad drive its 2014 record to a perfect 2-0 with a 35-14 trouncing of the visiting Timberlane Regional High Owls of Plaistow at LHS on Friday night, Sept. 12.
Versatile seniors Eric Fairweather and Mike Ryan stood tall at the center of the evening’s success for the locals, with Fairweather rushing for four touchdowns from his quarterback position and also connecting on a 55-yard scoring pass with Ryan. All together, Fairweather and Ryan hooked up on four big-gaining passes for a total of 178 yards, and Ryan notched his third pass interception of the season during the contest as well.
The 0-2 Owls had been blanked by the Nashua North Titans in a 24-0 contest the previous week, and the Lancers made it apparent early on that they weren’t going to make things any easier for Timberlane in game number two of the season for both sides.
“We sustained some drives and moved the ball consistently, other than in our first drive,” said Lauzon. “I thought we played well in all phases of the game: offense, defense, special teams. We do have some things we need to fix though, and we’ll continue to try and get better.”
Both offenses had three-and-out possessions the first time they had the ball, but Londonderry snagged a lightning-quick 7-0 lead with a two-play second possession that concluded with a 28-yard touchdown sprint by Fairweather with 7:53 showing on the game clock.
The Lancers made it a 14-0 game with 3:34 left in the first period when Fairweather and Ryan connected on their 55-yard scoring strike.
The Owls trimmed their deficit back down to a touchdown with their first score of the new season as time ran out in the quarter, but the Lancers answered with a 10-play drive that finished on a 5-yard scoring run by Fairweather to make it a 21-7 contest with 7:17 to go in the half.
And 21-7 was where the score stood as the teams adjourned for halftime, with the hosts having already amassed 227 offensive yards to Timberlane’s 135.
Londonderry added to its advantage early in the third quarter after Kyle Byrd blocked a Timberlane punt which placed the football at the Owls’ 4-yard line. And one play later quarterback Fairweather covered those four yards in an easy jaunt into the end zone.
The LHS signal-caller added another 4-yard scoring sprint at the tail end of a four-play Londonderry drive with 4:31 left in the third period, with kicker John Derhak’s fifth successful extra-point boot of the night making it a 35-7 game.
The Lancers got the chance to put some of their second-line players into the game after that, but the only other scoring that took place was Timberlane’s second touchdown midway through quarter number four.
The victorious hosts finished the productive evening with just under 400 yards worth of offense (388), including 213 through their passing game.
LHS quarterback Fairweather finished the evening with 56 rushing yards on 14 carries, including those four big touchdown sprints.
The Lancers will try to keep the momentum going at their first away game on Friday night against the 1-1 Nashua North Titans, who just suffered a 27-0 loss to Alvirine High.