LYNN — St. Mary’s came as close as anyone has in the last two seasons to beating Shawsheen during its 23-game win streak. On Friday night at Manning Field, the Spartans set up a return encounter with the top seed in Division 5.

Quarterback Yaniel Belliard ran for two scores and threw for a third while Tyren Hoeun and Rowan Merryman each added a pair of touchdowns as the Spartans steamed past No. 9 Greater Lawrence, 48-13.

“We had that down stretch in the middle of the year where we lost three games and things weren’t going well,” St. Mary’s coach Sean Driscoll said. “We needed a good game like this. We’ve been getting healthier and are rolling.”

The Spartans (6-3) set the tone off the opening kickoff when Michael Sherman returned it 92 yards for a 7-0 lead after the first of Ryan Esquivel’s six extra points.

The lead doubled the first time St. Mary’s got the ball offensively as Belliard capped an efficient eight play march with a 16 yard keeper.

“Getting that 14 point lead early was huge,” Driscoll said.

In danger of being run out of the stadium, Greater Lawrence steadied itself and punched back early in the second quarter as Zion Padilla capped an 11-play drive via a one yard keeper that cut the gap to 14-7.

It stayed that way for all of 24 seconds. On the next offensive play, Belliard (12-128) faked a jet sweep and raced 63 yards untouched through the middle to make it 21-7.

The Spartans completed a near-flawless half with 58 ticks left in the half via a one-yard Merryman run.

The gap grew to four scores early in the third when Belliard and Merryman hooked up on a perfectly timed screen pass that covered 32 yards on fourth and 11.

That ignited a crazy stretch that saw three touchdowns on five plays. Gustavo Varela (21-197) raced 93 yards down the right sideline on the next play before Hoeun scored two plays following a missed onside kick attempt.

After a turnover on downs, Hoeun capped the evening’s scoring with a 40-yard dash on the second to last play of the third period.

“We had a good week of practice and getting a home game was huge for us,” Driscoll said.