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Hachicha Leads Lawrence Jr. Cardinals Over Riverside
Quarterback, Nabil Hachicha, lead the Lawrence Jr. Cardinals over Riverside 12-6. His 60 yard TD was one of the highlights of the game.
The Lawrence Jr. Cardinals 115 pound team won their 3rd game of the season defeating the Green Bulldogs of Riverside 12-6 on a blustery Sunday evening. Quarterback, Nabil Hachicha, started the scoring with a 1st quarter keeper that he took for 60 yards on an unbelievable run up the middle. With a key block from center Connor Verga, Hachicha sprung the middle, veered right and shook off two defenders on his way to pay dirt. The Cardinals took the slim lead into halftime.
By the second half both teams were feeling the effects of the weather, which was very windy and in the upper 40’s. As the small band of Cardinal Cheerleaders who made the trip to Riverside cheered on, punter Deon Mclean took a fake punt 70 yards in an incredible run for a 3rd quarter touchdown. The imposing Mclean had a brilliant game, punishing the Riverside defenders all night coming out of the backfield from the tailback position.
The Bulldogs finally found a break in the Cardinals solid defense with 4 minutes to go in the game. The Riverside quarterback took the ball on a broken play and ran 40 yards for their first score of the evening. The ensuing kickoff was onside, and Riverside recovered. The Bulldogs were only 40 yards from tying, and possibly taking the lead. The Cardinals defense stood tough. Middle linebacker, Matt Kildea, blitzed on first down and sacked the Riverside quarterback. On a crushing 2nd down stuff, by Mclean at tackle, and an incomplete pass on 3rd down, Riverside was forced to try a 4th down conversion. On a sweep right, nose tackle Verga and Mclean converged to make the stop and gain Lawrence possession with one minute remaining.
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Lawrence 115lb head coach, Bryan Carter, lamented the fact that the Jr. Cardinals just missed the playoffs. “We needed Florence to lose, so we didn’t control our own destiny. We did better this year than last, and we’ll build on this to do even better next season. Our program is on the rise. Our numbers are growing and I hope we get even more boys to come out next year.”
