SALEM — In football terminology, RPO stands for run-pass option.
Friday night at Bertram Field, however, it might as well have meant Reggies Plow Onward.
Host Salem High had difficulty stopping the visiting Reggies of Greater Lawrence, which broke tackles running the football and found soft spots in the Salem defense to turn short passes into big gains in a 28-6 triumph over the Witches.
“We need to find a way to be more physical, because right now that’s hurting us,” said head coach Brett Segala after his Witches fell to 0-2 on the young season. They were outgained on Friday night, 381 yards to 160, and gave up nearly nine yards per play.
“Schematically they came out and were physical. Their backs were tough to bring down, especially that No. 4 (Angel Gonzalez). It took us 3-4 guys to bring him down,” Segala continued. “Our linebackers were getting stuck on counter, attacking at the wrong angles. The way those guys coached counter, I need to go in and watch that. They did a great job.”
Salem averted being shut out in the third quarter when senior quarterback George Reyes, following a 34-yard bootleg up the right sideline, found Jeremiah Barahona in 1-on-1 coverage in the end zone and hit him from 26 yards out.
But the 2-point conversion rush was stuffed, and Greater Lawrence recovered the attempted onsides kick. Salem never rain another play inside Reggies territory the rest of the way.
For the visitors, Gonzalez rumbled for 161 yards on 18 carries, with the junior scoring on a 20-yard run in the second quarter and capping off a 12-play drive that ate up seven minutes and 40 seconds of the third quarter, punching it home from three yards out. His ensuing 2-point rush made it 21-0 Reggies.
Fellow back Thomas Gbukpa, a sophomore, added 63 yards on eight carries and two scores of his own: a 4-yard in the first quarter, a 13-yard scamper up the gut that all but sealed the deal with five minutes to play.
Greater Lawrence quarterback Josaiah Santiago threw more often that normal, gladly taking what the Salem defense was giving him. Locating his receivers on hitches and wheel routes in space, he completed 10-of-12 passes for 118 yards to continually move the chains and allowed the Reggies to hold onto the football for 31:59 of the game’s 48 minutes.
“Dante (Correa), our offensive coordinator, put in a really good game plan for us,” said Reggies head coach Tony Sarkis. “Then they changed their defensive coverage a bit, so we went to a lot of RPOs. We did a great job of managing that.”
“Their quarterback really slung it, too. They’re pretty stacked across the board,” Segala said of Greater Lawrence. “Plus, their line was really solid.”
The first-year head coach felt he needs more from his team leaders moving forward.
“I wasn’t pleased with our core guys,” Segala said. “We weren’t physical enough, not getting our double teams to the right spot … and you can’t do that against a defense like theirs that is so downhill, bringing a lot of pressures and twists up front and trying to play games with us. It’s a recipe for disaster.”
Using two quarterbacks (as they had in their opener the week prior), the Witches lost junior Tyler Ouellette to an injury midway through the contest. He was one of several players for the hosts who got banged up on the evening, and was scheduled to have an X-ray Saturday.
Salem will look to break into the win column when they hit the road for the first time next Friday at Whittier Tech (1-1) at 6 p.m .in Haverhill. They begin Northeastern Conference play the following week back at Bertram.
“The NEC is going to be even tougher and more physical than what we’ve faced already,” reasoned Segala. “The Big Blue of Swampscott are coming here in two weeks … we really need to figure things out.”
Greater Lawrence 28, Salem 6
at Bertram Field, Salem
Greater Lawrence (1-1);7;6;8;7;28
Salem (0-2);0;0;6;0;6
Scoring summary
GL — Thomas Gbukpa 4 run (Steph Lambert kick)
GL — Angel Gonzalez 20 run (kick failed)
GL — Gonzalez 3 run (Gonzalez rush)
S — Jeremiah Barahona 26 pass from George Reyes (rush failed)
GL — Gbukpa 13 run (Lambert kick)
Individual Statistics
RUSHING: Greater Lawrence — Angel Gonzalez 18-161, Thomas Gbukpa 8-63, Josaiah Santiago 5-39; Salem — George Reyes 3-37, Kendal Murga 6-30, Tyler Ouellette 9-30, Kelvin Jean Louis 6-8, Victor Dias 1-(-6).
PASSING: Greater Lawrence — Santiago 10-12-118-0-0; Salem — Reyes 3-11-43-1-1; Ouellette 3-4-18-0-1.
RECEIVING: Greater Lawrence — Gonzalez 3-58, Jayvin Mejia 3-42, Adrian Arias 2-18, Anderson Ortiz 1-2, Matthias Young 1-(-2); Salem — Jeremiah Barahona 2-34, Murga 3-25, Jayden Peterson 1-2.