Lawrence Football Defeats Glen Cove, 49-7

Second seeded and heavily favored Lawrence had too much offensive power for No. 7 Glen Cove to stop as Big Red fell, 49-7, in a Nassau Conference III football quarterfinal on Saturday at Lawrence.

Lawrence (7-2) led 22-0 at the half thanks to the hard running of sophomore Tyler Fredericks, who finished with three touchdowns. With 4 minutes remaining in the first quarter, Fredericks ran for a 16-yard touchdown. Fredericks scored his second on a 12-yard run with 6 minutes left in the half.

All-Nassau quarterback Samson Bialostok ran the hurry-up offense and hit Marcos Pinto for a pass that moved Lawrence down by the goal line with 2.6 seconds left. Fredericks scored his third touchdown on a 1-yard run making it 22-0 at the half.

Glen Cove (5-4) moved the ball all game, yet had a hard time putting it into the end zone. Big Red totaled almost 300 yards of offense, 234 yards came on the ground and only 64 yards in the air.

It was the Ed Robinson show in the third quarter. The Lawrence playmaker returned the opening kickoff of the third for a 60-yard touchdown. Then at 11:39 in the third, Robinson made a key interception that immediately led to a 20-yard touchdown pass by Bialostok to Seidrik Ervin. With 4:14 to go in the quarter, and on the first play at quarterback, Robinson ran for a 63-yard score.

With 10:44 in the game, All-Conference running back Pietro Lafortezza ran 5 yards for the only Glen Cove touchdown, followed by an Owen Valance extra point.

Heros: The Lawrence brother duo of Ryan Fredericks and younger brother Tyler, who had three first half touchdowns, combined for 233 yards on 31 carries. On two big plays, Lawrence's Ed Robinson scored two touchdowns. He accounted for 123 yards on those two plays alone. All-Nassau linebacker Chris Hercules had 12 tackles, three sacks and a forced fumble for Lawrence. For Glen Cove, Pietro Lafortezza finished with 62 yards and one touchdown on 10 carries.

Turning Points: There were a few key turning points, yet none greater than the third touchdown by Fredericks, with just 2.6 seconds remaining in the half. It gave Lawrence a commanding 22-0 edge heading into halftime. Then, on the first play of the third quarter, Lawrence's Ed Robinson returned the kickoff 60 yards to put the game out of reach. A real turning point for Glen Cove happened at Friday's practice when junior running back Chris Saperstein pulled his groin and could not play. It was a real loss for the Covers.

Bottom Line: Even with almost 300 total yards of offense, Glen Cove was held to just seven points by the Golden Tornadoes defense. The Lawrence offense was just too explosive and accounted for seven touchdowns in three quarters and 49 unanswered points. Glen Cove never quit, and at 5-4, ended with a winning record  and much to look forward to as coach Pete Kopecky and his staff prepare for 2011.