HAVERHILL — Minutes after pulling off the year’s best comeback — scoring three touchdowns and recovering two onside kicks in the final 1:44 — the Greater Lawrence Tech football team gathered together in the north end of the Whittier Tech football field.
Reggies head coach Tony Sarkis and the team celebrated the Thanksgiving Eve victory, 45-40, before it was assistant coach Dante Correa’s turn to address the team.
After he commented about the team’s resiliency, Correa shouted, “Oh yeah, ‘Mr. 2K’ just broke the state’s all-time rushing record.”
Reggies players went crazy in celebration, surrounding “Mr. 2K,” Gustavo Varela, who could only put his hands up to his face amid tears.
“I love this for the school and love this for the town – this is for them,” Varela said. “I have just been working my butt off for four years. Unfortunately I couldn’t win any playoff games or Voc titles or Super Bowls, so this is the legacy that I’m going to leave behind at the school. It’s nice to leave something behind, to leave my name on the walls.”
Varela entered Wednesday’s game needing 87 yards to break former Holyoke High and Boston College star Cedric Washington’s career rushing mark of 6,688 yards, which has stood for 30 years. Midway through the third quarter, Varela took his 13th carry of the game, darted right for six yards, giving him 87 yards at the time.
He finished the game with 144 yards, ending his illustrious career with 6,746 yards. He finished this season with 2,180 yards on 228 carries with 33 total rushing/receiving touchdowns.
Varela also holds the Eagle-Tribune’s all-time area mark, breaking the previous record held by Salem legend Jerickson Fedrick of 4,568 back in 2012.
In his career Varela took the ball 804 times, averaged 8.4 yards per carry. He totaled an eye-boggling 86 touchdowns in his four seasons. He averaged a touchdown every 9.3 rushing attempts.
“(The state rushing record is) an incredible accomplishment,” said Sarkis. “Think about all of the great running backs in the state’s history, and he has the most yards out of any of them. He’s such a great kid and so deserving of this. It’s great for the city, too.”
After his junior season, Varela had 4,566 rushing yards, missing out on 2K as a sophomore (1,912 yards) and junior year (1,948).
“When I was 2,000 yards off after my junior year I realized that I had a shot at getting it. Senior year is always the peak year for athletes so I just knew that if I worked my butt off, I trusted my (offensive) line and my coaches that I would get it,” he said.
After the conclusion of last year’s season, Varela said every single day he opened up his Chromebook and looked up Cedric Washington. He focused in on the four numbers over and over again: 6,688.
“I have never met him and would love to. I looked at the record every day in to remind myself (that I could do it),” said Varela.
Through the first three-plus quarters of Wednesday’s game with the Reggies trailing 40-24, Varela said the record was the last thing on his mind.
“I had no idea (how many yards I had or needed),” he said. “Obviously the coaches weren’t too happy with the score and neither was I. The focus was always on the game.”
“Honestly, the record didn’t matter to me. All that mattered was winning this game,” he added. “We lost a hard game against Diman (in the State Vocational semifinals) so I just wanted to win tonight. I wasn’t thinking about my yards, I wasn’t thinking about how close I was (to the record). I just wanted to win and finish strong with my boys. And we did that.”
The night couldn’t have been scripted any better.
“You cannot end a career better than this, well besides winning a Super Bowl,” he said. “For what we’ve got, this is the best you can end the season with. To score 20 points in the fourth quarter, you don’t see that. I feel like I left everything out here on this field and that’s what I’m most proud of.”
Standing in disbelief of everything that had happened in the second half of that wild game was Sarkis, who unfortunately will never call on No. 4 to run the ball again.
“I’m going to miss that kid. He’s a special kid. Besides him running like a maniac, he’s just a good, hard core, loyal, disciplined, hard-working kid. He’s just a great kid and he’s going places in life,” said Sarkis. “He started out with us as a freshman and I have seen him go from a young kid to a man. It’s just incredible to see him break the state record.”
“He didn’t care about the record. He just wanted to win. He just said give me the ball, and that speaks volumes about this young man,” noted the coach.
Varela said that thus far he has only received one offer from a collegiate program, the University of New England. He’s hoping more come in, or said maybe he elects for a Post-Grad year somewhere.
Until that decision comes, he’s going to smile every he opens his Chromebook knowing that he holds the state’s No. 1 All-Time rushing mark.
“I’ll be a little bit salty if someone (breaks my record),” he said with a laugh. “I know no one else is close to it, so hopefully it stands for another 50 years.”