LAWRENCE - A 13-0 deficit to visiting Brockton High before he even stepped on the field for his first-ever varsity start was hardly the dream scenario for Lawrence High sophomore quarterback Denzel Morales.
Still, following the nightmarish first quarter, Morales and the youthful Lancers showed the heart and grit first-year coach Emilio Colon is looking for, fighting to the end in a 27-12 defeat at the hands of the Boxers.
The Lancers were without starting QB Osmaldy Martinez, who injured his knee late last Friday night in the loss to Tewksbury then missed the whole week of practice with the flu.
"He hurt his knee against Tewksbury. He was rehabbing that, and he wound up getting the flu. He's been out all week," said Colon. "Denzel stepped up bigtime. He played his (backside) off tonight in his first varsity game."
Brockton, now 1-3, marched 64 yards on its opening possession with quarterback Marcio Semedo plowing in from the three to cap a seven-minute possession.
The ensuing kickoff was a line drive that caromed off a Lancer up man, right back to Brockton, giving the Boxers the football at the Lawrence 44.
Nine plays later, it was 13-0 on Luke Turco's eight-yard dash.
"We had the ball for one minute in the quarter. They had the ball for 11 minutes. That was unbelievable," said Colon, whose club fell to 0-4.
Lawrence finally took its first snap inside the final minute of the quarter but went three-and-out, allowing Brockton to push the lead to 20-0, this time on Casey Rhodes' 19-yard run.
It stayed that way through the half when Lawrence finally found its stride.
The Lancers rode Eli Santell (7 carries, 41 yards) and Thomas Rodriguez (10-132) down the field with Morales clicking to Rodriguez on the only throw of the possession, a screen for 16.
Rodriguez then hit paydirt with his first touchdown of the year, a 12-yarder that made it 20-6.
That was as close as things would get, though, as the teams traded TDs with Turco piercing the Lancer defense from 15 out and Morales (8 of 15, 121 yards) hooking up with Angel Diplan on a pretty 56-yard TD bomb.
"We had the right game plan once we got it going. We moved the ball," said Colon. "But they were big. They were manhandling us up front. Our kids really played hard. They never gave up, not once in this whole game.
"We're a young team, some self-inflicted wounds. But they don't give up. That's the best part about it. We have another big game this week with Dracut (on Thursday night), a very winnable game as far as I'm concerned."