WEST ANDOVER — At the close of one of the wildest high school football games in Massachusetts history, Greater Lawrence star Gustavo Varela didn’t know quite what do say.
For a moment, he could only smile and take in the immense moment.
“Never in my life could I have imagined that,” he said. “But going out for the second half, I felt like something special was coming. But I never in my life imagined we would score 79 points! Unbelievable!”
Varela’s six touchdowns led a historic offensive performance for Greater Lawrence, as the Reggies beat Groton-Dunstable by a stunning score of 79-57 on Friday night.
That is believed to be one point off the Massachusetts record for points scored by one team in a regulation high school game, according to Greater Lawrence coach Tony Sarkis.
“No, I never expected this in a million years!” said Reggies running back Jizziah Herring, who scored four touchdowns. “We had amazing energy on offense. Never a day in my life did I think this would happen. Wild!”
The star of the day, once again, was Varela, the Eagle-Tribune’s all-time leading rusher.
The superstar senior broke touchdowns of 42, 50, 35, 63, 45 and 42 yards. Ironically, he also had a 78-yard touchdown run to start the game and a 61-yard touchdown reception on the final play of the first half that was called back due to penalties … the only two drives the Reggies didn’t score on.
“Gustavo is an absolute beast,” said Sarkis. “What more can I say? He’s unbelievable.”
Varela finished the night with 23 carries for 382 yards, rushing the ball just seven times in the second half as the Reggie went into clock-killing mode.
“My speed was really the biggest thing,” said Varela. “I kept bouncing it to the outside when I had defenders in my face. And my guys were blocking for me. Everyone played great.”
And Varela wasn’t the only star.
Herring, a junior, also had a career day, breaking touchdown runs of 39, 19, 34 and 85 yards, amazingly finishing the night with 188 rushing yards on just seven carries. And all but one carry in the second half.
“Like Gustavo it was mostly my speed,” he said. “Also my vision. And the guys were blocking like crazy. I really congratulate my teammates. I’ve never seen a game this high scoring in my life.”
And while the Greater Lawrence defense struggled for much of the night, the Reggies came through when it mattered in the second half. Jayden Moreau and Matthias Young grabbed interceptions and Cosme De La Fuente Gonzalez recovered a fumble.
Then, on the final play of the game, defensive lineman Jordon Colon intercepted a pass and ran it back 90 yards for a touchdown.
“Jordan’s my guy and he’s been talking about this for four years,” said Varela with a laugh. “He used to be a running back, back in the day, and he’s always wanted to score a touchdown. We were all blocking for him because no one was getting to my guy.”
TWITTER: DWillisET
Greater Lawrence 79, Groton-Dunstable 57
FIRST QUARTER
GD — Liam Richard 6 run (Colin Taylor kick), 7:50
GLaw — Jizziah Herring 39 run (kick failed), 1:32
GD — Damian Araz 2 run (Taylor kick), 0:02
SECOND QUARTER
GD — Korbin Larsen 45 pass from Richard (Taylor kick), 11:21
GLaw — Gustavo Varela 42 run (Varela rush), 8:14
GD — Larsen 66 pass from Taylor, (Taylor kick), 7:14
GLaw — Varela 66 rush (Herring rush), 5:41
GD — Taylor 65 pass from Richard (Taylor kick), 4:43
GLaw — Varela 35 rush (Adrian Arias), 2:54
THIRD QUARTER
GLaw — Gustavo Varela 63 run (Varela rush), 11:38
GD — Taylor 49 pass from Richard (Taylor pass from Richard), 11:15
GLaw — Herring 19 run (Varela rush), 8:01
GLaw — Varela 45 run (rush failed), 4:15
FOURTH QUARTER
GLaw — Herring 34 run (Zion Padilla rush), 11:48
GLaw — Herring 85 run (rush failed), 3:21
GD — Larsen 5 pass from Richard (Larsen pass from Richard), 1:43
GLaw — Varela 42 run (Jayden Moreau kick), 1:16
GLaw — Jordan Colon 90 interception return (no conversion attempted), 0:00
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING: Greater Lawrence — Gustavo Varela 23-382, Jizziah Herring 7-188, Zion Padilla 2-24, Adrian Arias 4-27; Groton-Dunstable — Damian Agraz 5-22, Carter Maple 4-11, Liam Richard 2-6, Colin Taylor 3-1
PASSING: Greater Lawrence — Padilla 5-8-0, 71; Groton-Dunstable — Richard 25-38-3, 472, Taylor 1-2-0, 66
RECEIVING: Greater Lawrence — Arias 3-49, Anderson Ortiz 1-20, Herring 1-2; Groton-Dunstable — Korbin Larsen 15-272, Taylor 6-193, Agraz 1-26, Finn Gallagher 2-26, Patrick Twomey 2-21