Irish remain unbeaten

FOOTBALL

By Tim Falls, Sports Editor
   The Lawrence High School Football team kept Notre Dame’s Homecoming game close for a quarter.
   Only in the opening quarter did it appear like Lawrence had chance of snapping the Irish’s winning streak.
   Notre Dame remained perfect at 4-0 with a 44-25 victory over Lawrence Friday night.
   Lawrence scored first and was almost in position to take a two touchdown lead in the first quarter, but an interception that was returned to the goal line was overturned because of a penalty and gave the Irish back the ball.
   Instead of lengthening its lead, Lawrence traded touchdowns with Notre Dame and finished the first quarter behind by a point, 14-13.
   Notre Dame extended its lead with two more touchdowns in the second quarter. The fourth Irish touchdown came in the final seconds in the half as Notre Dame moved the ball quickly downfield after Lawrence lost the ball on a fumble while driving toward the end zone to tie the game.
   ”I thought we shot ourselves in the foot going in at half,” said Lawrence coach Rob Radice. “We had chance to tie the game or be down one, but we didn’t make it happen.”
   With the turnover, the Irish shut out the Cardinals in the second quarter and wound up leading, 27-13, going into halftime.
   ”It was a big swing,” said Radice. “When they came down to score and we went down 13, we never really got back into it. We were playing catch up, which I hate to do. It makes us do some things I wouldn’t necessarily want to do.”
   The Irish added to their lead with a field goal and a touchdown in the third quarter and came back to score a final touchdown in the fourth quarter after the Cardinals scored twice.
   Notre Dame denied Lawrence a chance to rally with that final touchdown in the fourth quarter.
   ”When it was 37-25, I thought if we got a score there we’d be chipping away at them at least,” said Radice. “They did a good job and we made some errors. Notre Dame played better than us and they were the better team, no doubt about it.”
   Lawrence’s Sean Pearson score the go-ahead touchdown on a 65-yard run in the first quarter and ran in a five-yard touchdown in the third quarter.
   Jerry McClure scored on a 90-yard kickoff return in the first quarter when the Cardinals remained competitive, while quarterback Anthony Russ scored on a two-yard run in the fourth quarter as Lawrence tried to mount a comeback. The Cardinals only had one successful extra point attempt as a kick, a run and a pass all failed.
   Notre Dame quarterback Joe Leone led the Irish, throwing 348 yards for five touchdowns.
   Leone connected with Mike Camastra on a 12-yard pass and the Irish converted the extra point to lead, 7-6, in the first quarter.
   Camastra caught a second 12-yard pass to give Notre Dame a 14-13 lead, in the first quarter.
   Keight Crawford caught a 35-yard touchdown pass and Ryan Lynady had a 13-yard touchdown reception as Notre Dame scored twice in the second half.
   Camastra kicked a 26-yard touchdown field goal, while Ransford Quarrie carried the ball in on a four-yard run for the Irish’s only rushing touchdown.
   Leone completed an impressive performance with a 29-yard touchdown pass to Alex York in the fourth quarter.
   ”We had beaten Notre Dame the past few years so I’m sure we had a bullseye on our chests,” said Radice. “I’m sure they were licking their chops to come and play us.”
   Notre Dame will face off Saturday against an undefeated West Windsor-Plainsboro South, the team that handed Lawrence it’s first loss in the Colonial Valley Conference opener.
   Lawrence dropped to 2-2 and will host Trenton Saturday in the Cardinals’ Homecoming game.
    “We have to go back and regroup and get read for Trenton,” said Radice. “It’s Homecoming and it’s not going to be an easy game either.”