Lowell dominates Haverhill on Thanksgiving

LOWELL Lowell left no doubt as to who was the better group this Thanksgiving Playing in front of a spirited crowd in the frosty air at Cawley Memorial Stadium Lowell annihilated Haverhill - to win its second consecutive Thanksgiving battle against the Hillies This is a group of seniors that are great football players and great kids announced Lowell coach Scott Boyle I m happy they were able to see their prospective and end their season year like this The scoring took place early and often Lowell - capitalized off Haverhill turnovers beginning with senior defensive lineman Seth Ly picking off Hillies junior quarterback Michael Bayko Starting the possession with the ball only Haverhill s -yard line the Red Raiders handed the ball to junior running back Joshua Amankwaah four straight times That concluded with a three-yard sprint from Amankwaah into the end zone at the mark of the first effectively opening the offensive flood gates for Lowell After Benjamin Durkin kicked the extra point for a - lead Lowell senior linebacker Steeven Various Mwanish recovered a Haverhill fumble Mwanish was rewarded with three straight rushes developing past the goal line for a -yard amount to extend the lead to - with two-and-a-half minutes to play in the opening quarter Lowell s defense then forced a quick three-and-out which was the prelude to the offense s the bulk impressive drive of the tournament Starting on their own two the Red Raiders marched yards over plays with Amankwaah rushing for yards on the drive and scoring on a nine-yard run with to play in the half to make the result - We did this for our seniors explained Amankwaah I ve been working with them since my freshman year and it means a lot that they could go out with a win It wouldn t take long for Lowell to return to the end zone Two plays into the ensuing possession junior defensive lineman Vincent Nuon stripped the ball loose Mamadee Kamara recovered the loose ball then rumbled yards into the end zone for his first-ever high school touchdown Vinny made a play and it was right there for me to take announced Kamara whose TD gave Lowell a - lead with remaining in the half But it s not about me This is a organization sport We did it together Haverhill - pieced together an eight-play drive but only could not beat the Lowell defense A turnover on downs gave Lowell the ball on Haverhill s Six rushes then led the Red Raiders to the end zone as Mwanish added to his stellar performance with a four-yard touchdown run increasing the lead to - with seconds left in the half We worked four years for this so it s a special way to end it commented Mwanish We ve been on the other side of this too and there have been several tough times but we knew this was our year This group of seniors we knew we were the leaders and knew we had to set the tone The pendulum then swung from bad to worse for Haverhill A turnover on the ensuing kickoff allowed Lowell to regain possession and Ly needed only one play to connect with classmate Ryan Conley for a -yard throw as time expired in the half building the lead to - The lone number of the second half happened in the third quarter when Ricky Phom made a spectacular one-handed catch in the end zone for a -yard TD pass from Ly As Boyle watched his seniors celebrate on the field for one final time as high school football players he reflected on the significance of his squad s holiday triumph Ever since I was a kid Thanksgiving has been my favorite holiday noted Boyle When you lose it doesn t feel good I m happy this will be such a good Thanksgiving for our players and coaches they earned it