Showdown!

There's a classic clip from NFL films where Bill Parcells is exhorting a group of his players: "Hey fellas, this is what you work all off season for. This is why you lift all them weights. This is why you do all that."

For the Lynnfield Pioneers, the showdown game this Saturday against Newburyport is the reason they "worked  all off season" and "lifted all them weights."

As far as big games go, they don't get any bigger than this one.

The Clippers (3-0) and the Pioneers (2-0) are the only undefeated teams left in the CAL Small. While anything can happen in high school football, the winner of this game has a clear path to the title with a mulligan to boot, while the losing team still has a slim shot at the championship, but needs lots of outside help.

As you read in my Villager pregame story this week, if the Pioneers win, they will be 3-0 in the league and will need to win two of three games against Hamilton-Wenham (1-5), Ipswich (0-7) and North Reading (1-6) to clinch. If Newburyport wins, they will be 4-0 in the league and only have to defeat either Georgetown (1-5) or Amesbury (1-5) to win it. In simpler terms, the winning team Saturday will still be undefeated and would have to lose two games not to win it all. If the two teams finish 5-1 in league play, the first tiebreaker is head to head play, and the winner of Saturday's game would have that tiebreaker advantage.

Big enough for you?

Well it's certainly the biggest game in Lynnfield High history in over a decade and one that the Pioneers need to win if they have any realistic hopes of capturing their first title in 23 years and moving on to post season play.

So let's take a look at the Clippers.

They lost 10 seniors from a team that went 5-1 in the league last year and tied Amesbury and Georgetown at the top of the league. But Amesbury won the three way tie on a points tiebreaker and moved on. The Clippers' biggest loss was quarterback Joe Clancy who was a key cog in the offense but they returned several skill players. At the top of that list is Kyle Leblanc, an all everything back that runs, catches passes, kicks field goals, punts and plays defense.

He is clearly the key to their offense and as Pioneer coach Neal Weidman says "They hand it to him, they throw it to him" they'll do anything to get the ball in his hands. He has scored 59 points via three rushing touchdowns, three receiving touchdowns, four field goals and 11 extra points.

He is the poster boy for the Clippers, a speedy, athletic team that.can hurt you quickly offensively, defensively and on special teams.

Newburyport started the year trying to replace Clancy with a battle between juniors Matt Mottola and Ryan O'Connor. Mottola started the season but they have shifted to O'Connor who has developed into a solid signalcaller. He's thrown three TD passes in his last two games and appears to be coming into his own.

Running backs Mottola (now shifted from QB) and Josh Freeman are also threats. Freeman hit an 80 yarder against Wilmington.

The Clippers come into the game 4-3 over all compared to the Pioneers' 6-1 record, but don't let that fool you. The Clippers have played a killer schedule, and will play all five CAL Large schools, which count as league games for them but not for Newburyport. They were crushed by Masco 33-0 (Masco playing any CAL Small team is a disgrace) but held their own against Pentucket (3-2 loss) and Wilmington (24-22 last second loss) and beat North Andover last week 17-14 on a last second field goal from Leblanc.They seem to be getting stronger by the week.

They are clearly a speed team who likes to use the outside of the field. This was illustrated in the North Andover game. Trailing 14-7 in the second half, they blocked a punt and recovered on the Knight one yard line. Instead of punching it up the middle, they opted for a Leblanc sweep for the score. So don't expect them to try and pount the ball inside against Evan Panzero, Eric Inglese, Jon Leydon and Andrew Kibarian. They will test the edges, so the pressure will be on the ends and outside backers to contain and on the defensive backs to stay with the speedy Clipper receivers.

A point of concern is that while the Pioneers have done a good job containing backs in the running game, they have been vulnerable to backs coming out for passes. Danvers' Eric Burghos was held to 51 yards on 20 carries but caught 4 passes for 39 yards. Amesbury's Jesse Burrell was held to 53 yards on 11 carries, but caught four passes for 86 yards. The Pioneer defense is going to have to stay close to Leblanc as coming out and catching passes is his type of game.

There are lessons to be learned from some of the Clipper games. Teams with speed (obviously Masco and also Wilmington) gave them a hard time. Pentucket, a pound the ball team, was able to neutralize their speed, mostly because it was a rainy day and the game was played on the quagmire in West Newbury. The Middle School field should provide a fast track Saturday as early forecasts call for sunny with temps in the sixties. However, the Pioneers may just have enough speed to keep up with the Clipper track team.

An interesting note from the Wilmington game. After the Clippers took a 22-21 lead with 2:59 to go, Wilmington went almost exclusively to the air and Wildcat QB Sean Hanley completed 8 of 12 passes on a 54 yard drive that got them close enough to boot the winning field goal.

Does this mean that Gino Cohee and Chris Grassi could find some openings in the Clipper pass defense?

Also, Newburyport will be facing the spread offense for only the second time this year, with only North Reading running it exclusively against them. Hornet QB John Brooks was 8 of 18 for 101 yards and running back Bobby Rosano ran for 112 yards. North Reading moved the ball against them but four second half turnovers allowed the Clippers to escape with a 17-13 win.

Does this mean Cohee, Grassi, George Hennessey and Jeff Gannon could find some running room?

Bottom line is that the game is too close to call. The Massey Ratings, which predicts scores of every game, pegs this one as a 14-14 tie.

I don't do predictions, but one amazing stat stands out for me. The Pioneers and the Clippers have played a total of 14 games. Of those, four or almost 30% have been decided by a field goal (three for the Clippers, one for the Pioneers) and three of those were in the final seconds to decide the game. Leblanc has kicked four field goals this year, two of them over 30 yards, and Pioneer kicker Steve Ullian has a pair of three pointers. That said, it would not surprise me if this one came down to the last second and one of those two kickers will be asked to win it.

In any event, it promises to be quite a game.

Game time is 11 am at the Middle School Field.