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Lowell, 13-10

Melvin Mleh booted a 33-yard field goal -- his second of the night -- with eight minutes remaining and it proved to be the difference as Lowell stunned No. 11 Central Catholic, 13-10, Saturday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Coming out of halftime with a 10-3 advantage, Lowell added to its advantage after Jon Rosado recovered a Central Catholic fumble at the hosts' 18 yard line. The offense couldn't get any momentum off the turnover, but lineman Joshua Clark might have saved the day when he pounced on a Matt Welch fumble on a third-down scramble.

Mleh, who hit a 32-yard field goal into a monsoon in the first half, came on and split the uprights for a 13-3 lead.

A mere four plays later, Central's Mike Leavitt -- frustrated much of the night by the Lowell defense -- broke free on a 66-yard touchdown run to cut the deficit to 13-10 with 6:09 remaining.

Unfazed, Lowell pieced together a 10-play drive that may not have produced points, but it ate over five minutes off the clock. The visitors turned the ball over on downs at the Central 40 with 1:58 remaining.

Central used a couple of swing passes and short runs to move to the Lowell 30, but Colin Burkardt's 47-yard attempt barely got over the line and fell well short of the end zone with under 10 seconds to play sealing the win for Lowell.

The win creates a logjam at the top of the Merrimack Valley Conference standings, but both Lowell and Central Catholic still have the inside track on Dracut (all three teams have one league loss). Lowell travels to Dracut next week, assuring one team will fall from the top, and if Lowell prevails they would own the head-to-head tie-breaker with Central.

If Dracut wins, however, Central Catholic has the inside track having defeated the Middies, 28-21, earlier this season.

Check back with Boston.com later this evening for all the highlights from tonight's game.