Bishop Guertin's Matt Santosuosso is tackled by Londonderry's Nathan Pedrick during Friday night's game at Londonderry. The Lancers won 35-16. (Photo by Joe Marchilena)

By JOE MARCHILENA

LONDONDERRY – There were opportunities galore Friday night for both the Bishop Guertin and Londonderry high school football teams.

The Lancers took advantage of theirs. The Cardinals did not.

Londonderry scored 14 points off turnovers and stopped Bishop Guertin twice inside its own 10-yard line in the first half before pulling away in the second for a 35-16 win.

Drew Heenan threw three touchdown passes to lead the Lancers (5-0 in Division I, 5-1 overall) and the Londonderry defense forced three turnovers, including one on each of Bishop Guertin’s first two possessions of the second half.

“That’s football in general and then it’s magnified more when you are playing a really good team,” Bishop Guertin coach John Trisciani said. “Win the turnover battle. It will keep you in games or it will end them fast.”

Matt Santosuosso ran for 116 yards and two touchdowns for the Cardinals and was 5 of 12 passing for 63 yards, but the senior was strip sacked and threw an interception in the second half. Ethan Labbe added 76 rushing yards filling in for Charlie Bellavance, who tried to come back from an injury, and Ethan Chmielecki, who was hurt in the second quarter and didn’t return.

Heenan was 8 of 12 for 196 yards and an interception to go with his three touchdown tosses, and he added 47 yards on the ground. Andrew Kullman caught three passes for 96 yards and a touchdown, while Anthony Amaro had 72 total yards with a touchdown rushing and receiving.

But it was Jake Schena’s catch-and-run touchdown on the first possession of the third quarter that swung momentum the Lancers’ way.

A couple of penalties left Londonderry facing a third-and-23 from its own 25-yard line, but Heenan found Schena coming out of the backfield for a completion that the running back turned into a 75-yard score.

Santosuosso fumbled five plays later, giving the Lancers the ball at the Cardinals’ 46, and six plays after that, Heenan found Amaro for an 8-yard score and a 28-8 lead with 4:16 left in the third quarter.

“That was probably a backbreaker for them,” Londonderry coach Jimmy Lauzon said. “You’ve got to respect the two receivers over there. They’re both really good. Someone has to pick Schena up out of the backfield.”

After stopping Londonderry on its first two drives of the game, it looked like Bishop Guertin would get on the board first, when Santosuosso broke free for a 71-yard run. But he was caught from behind by the Lancers’ Seth Doyon at the 9-yard line.

Londonderry’s defense held, forcing the ball over on downs to set up an 81-yard touchdown completion from Heenan to Kullman to give the Lancers a 7-0 lead with 10:17 left in the half.

Chmielecki lost a fumble on the kickoff, giving Londonderry the ball at the Bishop Guertin 17, and Amaro scored on the first play to give the Lancers two scores in 19 seconds and a 14-0 lead.

The Cardinals answered with a 19-yard touchdown run by Santosuosso, and on Londonderry’s next drive, they recovered a fumble by Schena near midfield. The Cardinals got down to the 9-yard line again, but the half ran out before Bishop Guertin could find the end zone.

“There were definitely some missed opportunities there in the first half, when you get down close to the end zone, which I think is massive from a momentum standpoint, not punching in a couple of scores,” Trisciani said. “I think we’re real close to potentially having a lead at the half instead of being down a score.

“On a positive, I think the kids really battled. We’re having a really hard time with some injuries and we had some more guys get banged up in that game. I’m really happy with the guys’ effort. The score doesn’t reflect it.”