LAWRENCE – Going up against Springfield Central and St. John’s Prep, two Division powers who faced off in the State Championship last year, in your first two weeks is never easy. Especially when your quarterback, Clemson commit Blake Hebert, is injured.
With Billerica coming into town, a team that had an undefeated 8-0 regular season in their 2022 campaign, the tall task of finding Central’s first victory continued.
The Indians took down Central Catholic, 32-27. The 0-3 start to the Central season is historical for many reasons – Our E-T records date back to 2007, and not only have the Raiders never began a year 0-3 during that time, they had never even gone winless through their first two games.
The win was Billerica’s first over the Raiders since the 34-6 win in 2009.
“We did not do enough in the first half, and we started to score too late,” said Central coach John Sexton, who is in his first year at the helm. “We haven’t put a full game together yet, we need to play well through all four quarters of the game.”
Billerica had JT Green at quarterback during the run last season, but after Green graduated, Indians coach Duane Sigsbury had a dilemma at the position.
After a long battle throughout camp, the battle came down to senior Mike Murnane and junior Steven Gentile, and Gentile was able to pull away and win the starting spot.
Gentile finished the afternoon with 131 passing yards and 177 rushing yards, along with four total touchdowns, in what was only his third career start.
After a Billerica touchdown put the Indians up 32-7 with 10:31 left in the game, all hope was lost for a Raiders comeback.
That was until Jaxon Pereira found Drew Alsup for a 29 yard touchdown, bringing the Raiders within 17 after a successful two point try.
After a Gentile interception by Mason Bachry, Pereira quickly found Alsup again for his second touchdown of the day, this time from 25 yards out, and the deficit was only 11.
The Raiders got the ball back with time running out, and Pereira sprinted 40 yards for a touchdown to make the score 32-27 with two minutes to go, but the Indians recovered the onside kick, and time ran out on the Central comeback.
The schedule does not get any easier for the Raiders, as Henry Hasselbeck and Xaverian head back here to Veterans Memorial Stadium on Friday night.
“We have to continue to play hard, that’s the only way we can make it out of this stretch,” said Sexton. “We need to be able to make big plays.”
Follow Evan Applebaum on Twitter at EvanApplebaum2.
Billerica 32, Central Catholic 27
First Quarter
B – Steven Gentile 3 rush, (Gus O’Gara kick), 9:23
CC – Jaxon Pereira 1 rush, (Drew O’Keefe kick), 3:24
Second Quarter
B – Dhaethmy Dorival 4 rush (O’Gara kick), 11:04
B – Gentile 5 rush (kick blocked), 4:46
Third Quarter
B – Gentile 1 rush (kick blocked), 8:18
Fourth Quarter
B – Cole Dillon 26 pass from Gentile (two point no good), 10:31
CC – Drew Alsup 29 pass from Pereira (Pereira rush), 9:35
CC – Alsup 25 pass from Pereira (two point no good), 4:22
CC – Pereira 40 run (two point no good), 2:22
Individual Leaders:
RUSHING – Pereira 7-117, O’Keefe 3-22, Mason Bachry 4-15 Armari Mills 2-13
PASSING – Pereira 12-20, 166 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INTs
RECEIVING – Max Frediani 4-57, Drew Alsup 2-54, Connor Grella 3-37, Mason Bachry 2-16, Drew O’Keefe 1-2