FALMOUTH — On a special night for Nate Regalado, special teams proved particularly problematic for the Falmouth/Greely football team.
Regalado, a senior halfback from Lawrence High in Fairfield, returned the opening kickoff 89 yards for the first of his five touchdowns as the visiting Bulldogs rolled past Falmouth 43-14 in a Class B North football game Friday night.
Regalado scored on runs of 4, 7 and 10 yards, and caught a 16-yard touchdown pass from Dylan Coombs with eight seconds left in the first half, and Lawrence (2-0) never trailed.
“We like to have balance in our running game,” said Lawrence Coach John Hersom. “We feel both Nathan and Paul Morneau, the other halfback we have, are pretty equal. But Nathan has really caught fire.”
Last week, Regalado ran for 130 yards and two touchdowns as Lawrence beat Hampden Academy, 55-7. Against Falmouth, Regalado carried 14 times for 59 yards to go with Kristian Larouche’s 64 yards.
Falmouth (1-1) also had a relatively easy time in its opener, a 52-6 victory over Messalonskee. Injuries to three starters, coupled with several breakdowns on special teams, made a rougher go of it Friday night.
The game was 7-0 early in the second quarter when a punt snap sailed over Falmouth kicker Sam Pausman, whose frenzied attempt was blocked by Lawrence linebacker Mike Roy. Regalado scored from 7 yards on the next play.
A 45-yard kickoff return from Brady Douglas set up Falmouth’s first scoring drive. Nick Mancini connected with Douglas for 38 yards to the 1 before Mancini took it in himself. Pausman’s PAT kick made it 14-7 with just over two minutes left before intermission.
Another long kickoff return, this time by Andrew Trombley of Lawrence, allowed the Bulldogs enough time for a seven-play drive covering 52 yards. Coombs found Regalado in the left corner of the end zone just after connecting for 15 yards with Zach Nickerson, who was 5 of 6 on PAT kicks. Lawrence took a 21-7 lead into intermission.
When Falmouth couldn’t move the chains on its first possession of the third quarter, Lawrence capitalized. Nickerson got behind the secondary and Coombs found him for a 74-yard touchdown catch-and-run to make it 28-7.
Douglas carried four times on Falmouth’s next drive, including a 9-yard scoring run on a jet sweep to cut the lead to 28-14 midway through the third quarter, but couldn’t manage another first down the rest of the game. Its next three possessions ended with a shanked punt, a strip sack and another over-the-head snap from shotgun formation that ended in a safety when Naveen Caron of Falmouth recovered in his own end zone, averting a Lawrence TD.
Coombs completed 8 of 10 passes for 174 yards and two touchdowns. For Falmouth, Mancini hit 8 of 15 for 88 yards with four sacks.
“It was a pretty challenging night on special (teams),” Falmouth Coach John Fitzsimmons said. “But the most important thing was, Lawrence came here to play and they played really hard. They were well-coached and fundamentally sound. There was no question it was their victory.”
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