Bulldogs take bite out of Lawrence

Hewlett’s defense got the best of Lawrence’s offense last Saturday and propelled the Bulldogs to a 35-7 Conference III football victory over the defending county champions before an estimated crowd of 1,000.

Junior Sam Martorella rushed for a pair of scores and threw an 82-yard touchdown pass to junior Michael Gray on a halfback option to lead Hewlett, which upped its record to 3-0. The Bulldogs forced four turnovers—junior Dylan Sasson had an interception and a fumble recovery—and allowed just a touchdown run to Golden Tornadoes senior quarterback Samson Bialostock. 

“Defensive coordinator John Palladino did a tremendous job preparing the kids for this game,” Hewlett head coach Jay Iaquinta said. “We didn’t allow any big plays.”

The biggest play Lawrence (2-1) produced was called back on a questionable holding penalty late in the third quarter. The flag nullified what would’ve been a 71-yard touchdown run by sophomore Tyler Fredericks and allowed the Bulldogs to maintain a 21-7 lead.

“You can’t turn the ball over as much as we did and expect to win,” Golden Tornadoes coach Joe Martillotti said. “They capitalized on our mistakes.

“We can’t hang our heads and harp on one loss,” he added. “We have to regroup and get prepared for Bethpage.”

Hewlett set the tone from the opening kick, driving 62 yards on the ground to take a 7-0 lead 2:06 into the game. Martorella ripped off a 15-yard run on the first snap, junior Mark Rizzo followed with an 11-yard scamper and senior Jake Geiger gained 14 on back-to-back rushes. A keeper by senior quarterback Alex Kahn got the ball into the red zone, and Martorella capped the drive with a 20-yard score. Senior kicker Ross Kleinrock added the extra point, his first of five without a miss on the day.   

Down 14-0 after Martorella’s 18-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter, the Golden Tornadoes marched 92 yards on eight plays to cut the margin in half. Bialostock hooked up with seniors Ryan Fredericks and Seidrik Ervin for double-digit gains through the air and finished the drive himself with a 7-yard touchdown run.

But Lawrence would get into Hewlett territory just once in the second half. On the same series that saw Fredericks’ touchdown called back, Bialostock was sacked by senior Jeffrey Cooper and the Golden Tornadoes were forced to punt from their own end zone. The Bulldogs took over with great field position and struck quickly with Kahn connecting with senior Lenny Canales on a 24-yard passing score.

“We knew we could keep up with them,” Martorella said. “We knew we had the offense and defense to do it.”

Geiger iced the game with an 8-yard touchdown run with four minutes left. Defensively for Hewlett, senior Jonathan Alfieri had nine tackles, senior Jefferson Agudelo and junior Gabe Rodriguez had eight, senior Jordan Browdy recovered a fumble and junior Matt Miller picked off a pass. Lawrence senior Shawn Tarrant had eight tackles and a fumble recovery.

Next up for the Bulldogs is a trip to Division on Friday. Kickoff is 7 p.m. The Golden Tornadoes travel to Bethpage on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.