Lions Trample Raiders 43-8

By Kevin McCaskill Jr.

So, for a third straight day, FP SPORTS made history! 📚📖

On Thursday, I was in Sabis for the 1st time. On Friday, I covered “The Battle of Longmeadows” for the first time.

Saturday was FP SPORTS first trip to a Ludlow Lions home 🏈 game 👏🏾.

A note for anyone attending a future Lions home game: Get there early. Its a couple minute walk from the ticket booth to the field 🐾.

This game kicked off a little after 10 AM making this the earliest start of a game FP SPORTS has been to this season☀️.

Some parts of the field still had snow on it. The grass was soggy. It was cloudy and about 40 degrees to start the game.

(Mike Gilrein and Chris Fogg)

Just being honest...Commerce got ran over by Ludlow on Saturday. The kids on both sides competed. Both teams played hard.

Chris Fogg outplayed Trayvon Jordan. 3 total TDs to one 2-point conversion.

(Fogg family)

(Trayvon Jordan)

Jamonte Beckett, Mike Gilrein and Fogg produced more in the running game than Desmond Ortiz and Jordan’s combined 1 run TD.

(Desmond Ortiz; Ludlow players celebrate safety)

Commerce’s defense couldn’t stop the Ludlow offense.

First time football player, Ludlow’s Ethan Lapa had a great all around game. He scored on a pass TD from Fogg. He picked off Jordan for an INT. He recovered a fumble and he kicked 5 extra points. Great performance by that young man 🥳.

The offense for Commerce was slightly effective running the ball. They made no dent with their passing game.

The Raiders from the south [Hampshire Regional in Westhampton, MA are also the Raiders] got trounced in Ludlow 43-8.

After the game, their was an emotional ceremony for the Class of 2021 Seniors. The Seniors were honored and they also honored Nathan Carreira, one of their teammates who passed away in 2018, this class’ freshman year. He was 15 years old.

(Seniors hold picture of Nathan Carreira)

Nathan’s mother and father made an emotional speech. They gave a special gift to all the Seniors. Some of the players were visibly emotional.

After the celebration, I spoke with Ludlow HC Ray Saloio.

🔴Ludlow HC Ray Saloio⚪️

There was just an emotional ceremony to honor the Seniors and Nathan Carreira. Can you give us some background?

“He was a Freshman with our program, Nate Carriera, he lost his life - [Coach Saloio needs a few seconds to gather himself] - but, um, Jesus - [another pause] - its been tough for this class, they have had to deal with a lot of adversity. They lost a few classmates along the way. So for this group, they are a tight knit group. Losing one of them was tough. Glad we had that moment today to get some closure, some kind of finality to things and hopefully help them all moving forward”.

How was your week of practice?

“We had a good week. We were able to clean up some things from an execution stand point that we were dropping the ball on the last couple of weeks...we felt good coming in but you gotta execute. We felt good last week too but it didn’t work out...”

Can you tell us what Chris Fogg has given you his time in the program?

“Chris has been a three year starter for us. He’s a tough, tough kid. He has an arm...his ability and toughness in the run game...he is a big kid”.

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Value your life while you still have it.

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🦁

Fall 2 🍁