Lawrence Academy running back Glenn Smith ran 10 times for 81 yards in the first half, and then he really got rolling.
Smith rushed for 227 yards and three touchdowns in the second half on his way to 308 total rushing yards as the Spartans ran away with the game late in a 33-16 win against Belmont Hill on Friday afternoon.
It wasn’t always trending towards an easy win for Lawrence Academy. They led just 13-9 at halftime and could only periodically move the football against a Hillies defense that played with energy in the first two quarters.
At halftime, Spartans coach Paul Zukauskas took the pulse of his team and decided to pound the football with Smith in the second half. Lawrence used a wildcat offense run by Smith almost exclusively in the third and fourth quarters, and Belmont Hill could not summon an answer against the power running attack.
“We wanted to wear them out for four quarters. At halftime, we were all fired up, the offensive line wanted to run the ball, Glenn wanted to run the ball, so I let them run the ball,” Zukauskas said after the game.
Smith had three of the five Spartans rushing touchdowns on the day, and quarterback Thomas Greaney supplied the other two. Greaney scampered for 31 yards to open the scoring just a minute into the game and later had a 28 yard touchdown run on a fourth down just before halftime.
Greaney’s first half effort might have been enough to put the game away early if not for the efforts of Hillies wide receiver/defensive back Jackson Bobo. The junior caught a 25 yard touchdown pass from Zachary Geddes to tie the game in the second quarter, his first of four catches in the game. Bobo later intercepted a botched extra point try after Greaney’s second touchdown and returned it 95 yards to steal two points for Belmont Hill going into halftime.
But that was all the Hillies could manage until the waning moments of the game.
“They’re built to pass the ball,” Zukauskas said. “Jackson Bobo is an amazing player. So we knew we had to limit big plays. That was our whole plan going in, I think we did a nice job.”
Lawrence came out in the second half and ran the ball with a purpose. Their first drive ended with a turnover on downs in Belmont territory, but the next three all resulted in Smith touchdowns. The Spartans final 14 plays were all Smith runs out of their heavy wildcat formation and he had 21 attempts in total in the second half.
“I was just really excited with the way we came off the ball. I’m a former offensive lineman, so any time you can have a power run game and run behind those guys, it makes winning football games pretty easy,” said Zukauskas, a former All-American tackle at Boston College who was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in 2001 and spent parts of four seasons in the NFL.
“They’re really tough up front. Their skill guys are good. In that second half, they started running the football and it was tough for us to stop,” Belmont Hill coach Chris Butler remarked. “They’re very talented up front on the offensive and defensive lines, and they deserved it today.”
Lawrence Academy’s go-ahead touchdown late in the first half was set up by a series of aggressive playcalls by Zukauskas and his coaching staff. The Spartans converted two fourth down attempts, including one on their own territory, to set up the Greaney touchdown that gave them the lead for good.
“When you’re in close games, championship games, you have to go win the game. You need to be aggressive,” Zukauskas said of the decision making.
Geddes had a heavy workload as the Hillies signal caller, but was held in check by a rigid Lawrence defense. Geddes was 14-29 passing for 185 yards and ran 13 times for 53. Many of the runs were scrambles after protection broke down, a frequent theme on the day as a ferocious Spartans pass rush spent most of the afternoon chasing Geddes around.
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