Londonderry football beats Pinkerton for first time since 2001 (video)

DERRY - Jimmy Lauzon knew what kind of game the Londonderry High School football team had to play Friday night in order to beat Pinkerton Academy.

In the first half, the Lancers coach got that and more. In the second half, Londonderry did just enough, and for the first time in the last 23 meetings, the Lancers came out on top.

Jake McEachern led the offense, throwing for two touchdowns and running for another, and the Londonderry defense forced a couple of key turnovers as the Lancers beat Pinkerton 42-24 in a Division I South Conference game.

The win is the first for Londonderry against its Mack Plaque rival since 2001, which included 22 games, five of which came in the postseason.

"Taking them down is going to be a tall task," Lauzon said of Pinkerton. "I think the turnovers were the biggest difference. We played them twice last year and were unable to get a turnover. We had a few in the first half and that changed everything."

The Lancers (4-0) were able to turn both takeaways into touchdowns, as they led 35-7 at the break before Pinkerton closed the gap to two scores on the first play of the fourth quarter. Londonderry answered with a nine-play, 75-yard drive that ended with McEachern's 10-yard touchdown run with 7:40 to play that closed it out.

"That put an end to the game," Pinkerton coach Brian O'Reilly said. "The game got away from us in the first half. Turnovers hurt us and basically led to two of their scores. They had their way with us. We weren’t able to move the ball on the ground. They found every open receiver who made nice moves. It was troubling."

McEachern led the way for Londonderry, going 8 of 11 for 216 yards with two touchdowns and an interception, while also running for 58 yards and the fourth-quarter touchdown on 14 carries.

Jeffrey Wiedenfeld added 77 yards on the ground and two scores, while Tyler Kayo added a touchdown run and Cole Keegan (six catches, 170 yards) and Alex Tsetsilas (two catches, 46 yards) each had a touchdown catch.

Tsetsilas also had two interceptions on defense, the first of which came in the opening quarter after the teams had traded punts on their first possession. Pinkerton quarterback Jeff Potvin (4 of 9, 111 yards, touchdown) overthrow his receiver in the middle of the field and Tsetsilas returned the pick deep into Astros' territory.

Three plays later, Wiedenfield barreled in from 2 yards out to give Londonderry a 7-0 lead with 3:59 left in the first. After the Lancers' defense held again, Londonderry went on a six-play, 68-yard drive, with Wiedenfeld finishing it off with a 1-yard touchdown run.

Pinkerton (2-2) answered with a 35-yard touchdown run by Jake MacInnis to make it 14-7 with 8:49 remaining in the half. Londonderry came back with two more scores, getting a 28-yard touchdown pass from McEachern to Tsetsilas and a 57-yard catch-and-run by Keegan to put the Lancers up 28-7 with 3:54 left before halftime.

The Astros came back had a first-and-goal at the Londonderry 10, but after catching a short pass from Potvin, Brady Day fumbled the reception and Matt Pemberton scooped it up and returned it to the Pinkerton 14. Four plays later, Kayo scored from 2 yards out to put the Lancers up 35-7 with 17.1 seconds left in the half.

"At halftime, we talked about who we are, where we are, and where we’re going with this," O'Reilly said. "The second half was going to have to be us, otherwise our season was coming to an end.

"We were going to have to get back to basics and control the line of scrimmage, or time to rebuild. I thought the way we answered in the second half, the third quarter in particular, I thought it was encouraging."

After forcing Londonderry to punt to start the second half, Brando Roy kicked a 38-yard field goal, and the Astros picked up momentum when McEachern was picked off by Rocco Mulrennan to give Pinkerton the ball at midfield.

Two plays later, Potvin found Day wide open in the middle of the field, and the senior went 46 yards for the touchdown, making it 35-17 with 3:09 to go in the third.

The Pinkerton defense forced another three-and-out and a big punt return by Day gave the Astros the ball at the Londonderry 27-yard line. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Will Brown carried for a 5-yard touchdown run, cutting the Lancers' lead to 35-24 with almost a full quarter to play.

"I was nervous," Lauzon said. "We had a couple of penalties after a couple of good gains for us. We just kept digging ourselves a hole and then we stopped executing the way we were in the first half. I knew if we got back on track, and we had a nice long drive (after the touchdown), I knew we’d be fine."

The long drive, capped by McEachern's rushing touchdown, and an interception by Tsetsilas to end Pinkerton's final possession, gave Londonderry just its seventh win all-time against the Astros.

"They deserve to celebrate," Lauzon said. "It’s been a long time. They’ve put a lot of hard work in. Every year, guys come in and they think it’s going to be the year, and they were finally able to do it. I’m happy."