Rough Night in Wilmington

After easy wins over Georgetown and Matignon, the surging Pioneers got to test out their growing muscle against a CAL Large team in Wilmington Friday night. The result was mostly bad news, with some good signs sprinkled in.

You can read a detailed account of the 28-7 loss in my game story in the Lynnfield Villager on Wednesday but suffice to say that the early 14-0 hole the Pioneers dug themselves made this tough game even tougher from the start. They did regroup and cut the lead to a TD by the half, but the bigger Wildcats just wore them down in the final two periods.

This was a good test for the Pioneers, and although they struggled, I wouldn't give them a failing grade, despite the final score. They proved that they could stay with a CAL large team for a long stretch of time, even after some demoralizing early game turn of events. They also proved they won't back down when smacked in the mouth and showed a little bite of their own in their game. Those are things head coach Neal Weidman can build on as the Pioneers continue to prep for the rest of their CAL Small schedule.

More on the game in later posts.