Christian Guzman has been on football sidelines for a long, long time – first as a player and later as an assistant coach.
The Lawrence High alum admitted in Friday night’s opener – his first as the Lancers’ head coach – he was trying to find his way through.
Fortunately, his players had his back, rallying from a 14-12 fourth-quarter deficit to knock off Ayer-Shirley, 26-14.
With only three seniors who play, Guzman wasn’t sure what to expect in the debut.
“We don’t have much varsity experience. We’re very young,” Guzman said. “It was good to have a lot of our newer kids see what a varsity game is really like.”
The best part of the win?
“I really liked the way we stayed together when things got tough,” Guzman said. “We’ve talked an awful lot this year about sticking together through the good and the bad. It was great to see them do just that.”
Senior Denzel Morales was the hero with three touchdowns. Manny Perez threw a pair of touchdown passes. It was great to see.
Whittier will be ready
When the Lancers get back to work on Thursday night in their home opener, it will be against a work-in-progress Whittier Tech squad.
Coach Kevin Bradley liked what he saw in the opening night battle with Watertown, in which Whittier fell, 14-8.
“Our kids battled all night,” said Bradley. “We had our opportunities, and we left some plays on the field, but I couldn’t be more proud of the way our kids competed. We have a lot of young players who were going up against a very veteran football team, and they never stopped fighting.
“This is the kind of game that helps young players grow. They went up against a very good, very experienced team and battled them right to the end. We had chances to win the football game, and that’s what you want to see from your team.”
Astros rebound nicely
In case you missed it, Pinkerton Academy responded brilliantly after its opening-night clunker, thumping Bedford, 40-7, in a rematch of the 2025 Division I state title game.
“I wasn’t shocked by (the result). I did things in the first game, coaching wise, that led to the first week problems against Salem,” said Astros coach Brian O’Reilly. “The kids were not happy that they lost. I expected to play well.”
There were some tweaks, including moving Noah Rao from quarterback to halfback and handing the offense over to Spencer Colburn.
“It was the first game (Rao) ever was the halfback, and he did a really nice job,” said O’Reilly.
A dangerous receiver last year, O’Reilly moved Rao to the QB spot to get him more involved in the run-oriented attack.
The move to running back makes him a major threat on most every play.
“And he’s playing defense as well as he did last year,” said O’Reilly.
As for coaching against his former assistant coach and the architect of a Pelham High dynasty, Tom Babaian – now in his first year as the Bulldogs head coach – O’Reilly was a little bit conflicted.
“It’s kind of fun when you’re playing against your friends. It was easy and comfortable coaching against him, but we knew that Bedford had graduated everybody from last year,” said O’Reilly, likening the experience to coaching against friends like former Salem coach Jack Gati and current Blue Devils’ boss Steve Abraham.
Game of the year countdown is on
The countdown to the biggest regular season game in the region, and maybe the entire state of Massachusetts has begun.
Both Central Catholic and Saint John’s Prep rolled to opening-night wins on Friday. The two top five teams in the Bay State collide at Lawrence’s Veterans Memorial Stadium this Friday (7 p.m.) in the game everyone has had marked on their calendars for months.
Ohio State commit Chris Vargas of Salem, N.H., leads the Prep into battle.
The junior was 16 of 26 for 183 yards and a TD pass in the opening win over Springfield Central.
In an off year, Central and St. John’s is a giant game on the slate. The programs don’t like each other, or let’s just say they really enjoying beating the other.
Last November, with Vargas injured on the sidelines, the Prep rolled to a 48-0 halftime leaded and sent the Raiders home in the Division 1 playoffs. If you don’t think the Central players will be reminded of that fact 100 or so times this week, you are mistaken.
Odds and ends
Two of the teams involved in a couple of the more surprising results of opening weekend meet this Friday night when North Andover travels to Masconomet.
The Knights, behind a monster night from Austin Allen, stunned Methuen, while Masco was blanked by Billerica.
The teams meet on Bunker Field in Boxford on Friday night, reviving what was once one of the great old Cape Ann League rivalries. …
I know it’s early, but watching Catholic Memorial against Andover on Thursday night, it was clear to me that CM might just be the best team in the state.
I was thoroughly impressed.
The Warriors will be explosive this year with the offensive weapons they have. CM was just in a whole different neighborhood.