Hewlett's big plays beat Lawrence

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Zion Blackman ignited a second-half explosion last Saturday to Hewlett’s offense following a scoreless first half against Lawrence.
The versatile senior receiver took the first third quarter play from scrimmage 77 yards for a touchdown and then ran for another 50-yard score on Hewlett’s next possession. Blackman’s fireworks sparked a 24 point second half in a 24-7 win in the Bulldogs’ homecoming game against their Five Towns rival to move to 2-0 on the young season.
“He set the tone for us,” Hewlett head coach John Palladino said of Blackman, who finished with 168 yards rushing on just four carries. “He is pretty much our go-to guy and we wanted to hand him the ball and let him do his thing.”
Blackman’s second long touchdown gave Hewlett a 14-0 lead midway through the third quarter. Lawrence responded with 5-yard touchdown from Eric Hwang that cut the score to 14-7 early in the fourth quarter before Hewlett answered with a more than six-minute drive that was capped by an Ethan Shavartsshteyn 20 yard- field goal.
Hewlett put the game away with a 13-yard touchdown run by John Zenny with 2:09 left to cap off a 51-yard rushing day. Senior quarterback Louis Esposito also shined in his final homecoming game with 41 yards on the ground.

The Hewlett defense also stepped up on homecoming day by shutting out Lawrence for more than three quarters. Sophomore defensive back Mark Winkler recorded an interception on the opening Lawrence drive and then forced a fumble that Oren Schmuel recovered. Senior linebacker Avi Fayer was also a beast defensively with nine tackles and a sack.
The Lawrence defense also made its presence felt led by Josiah Reed with eight tackles including three behind the line of scrimmage. Mikey Giordonello and Hugo Retana recorded seven tackles apiece. Giordonello also recovered a fumble at the Hewlett 19 with 48 seconds left that set the Tornadoes up with a scoring opportunity before the Bulldogs held on downs.
“In the second half we gave up a couple big plays defensively, but they kept us in the game,” Lawrence head coach Jason Supple said. “They played their [butts] off the whole game.”
Lawrence made some strides offensively after a 35-7 opening week loss at South Side and moved the ball multiple times into Hewlett territory. Hwang finished with 104 yards rushing and Reed had 67 yards on 10 carries.
The Golden Tornadoes will look to get on the winning track this Saturday against Lynbrook for a 2 p.m. kickoff in their home opener. The following week they host defending Conference III champion Plainedge. Lawrence’s homecoming is slated for Oct. 19 versus Division.
Hewlett, which entered the season seeded No. 10 in the 14-team Conference III, opened with a 49-21 win against Glen Cove. The Bulldogs will next face a stiff test at second-seeded South Side this Friday night at 6 p.m.
“We want to go 1 and 0 each week and more importantly than the score just keep getting a little bit better,” Palladino said.