Let's pick up some pieces from Sunday's exciting title-clinching win.
- The win was the Pioneers seventh straight overall and seventh in a row at Pioneer Field. Lynnfield has now won 11 of their last 13 games. Their nine wins this year surpasses the eight wins of the past five season.
- The Pioneers have now scored 224 points which is seventh best all time. The 103 points allowed is ranked 16th
- The victory over Hamilton Wenham evens the Pioneers all time record against the Generals at 18-18-1. The win edges the Pioneers over the .500 mark all time with a 251-250-11 record.
Gino Cohee, Chris Grassi and Steve Ullian continue to climb up the single season and career lists in several categories.
Cohee's 90 points this year puts him in 7th place for single season scoring..Joe DiBella holds the number six and five spots on the list scoring 94 points both in 1960 and 1961. Dan Veinot sits at number four with 95 points which he tallied in 2000. Assistant coach Mike Geary was a fellow captain on that club and opened a lot of holes for the blazing tailback. Scott Milne is number three with 97 points. Eric Hansen tops the list with 128 points in 1978 and Frank Berardino's 120 points from 1960 is number two.
Cohee's 128 career points puts him in 6th place all time. His TD Sunday vaulted him past Andy Nekoroski's 126 points scored from 1979-81. Coincidently, Nekoroski's son Zach is a junior at H-W and was on the sideline as Cohee passed his dad on the Pioneer all time scoring list. Venoit is in 5th place all time with 151 points scored in 1999-2000.
Gino's 14 touchdowns puts him in 3rd place for single season rushing TD's. Next up is Berardino who notched 16 in 1960. Hansen's 17 in 1978 tops the list.
Grassi's TD pass to Ty Surette was his 16th of his career and puts him in 3rd place all time for TD passes. He passed Steve Mucica who tossed 15 from 1960-62. Steve Olsen (1971-73) tops that list with 23.
Steve Ullian now has 24 PAT's on the season, only one back of Scott Milne (1985) who is the single season record holder with 25. Ullian's 35 career PAT's puts him in second place on the career list as well, one behind the 36 Dave Frontero booted in 1986-87.
Confidence
Speaking of Ullians, there was an interesting moment early in the game involving Steve's older brother senior center Doug Ullian. It was brief and largely unnoticed (except by me since I was standing right next to him) and I believe it illustrates the confidence that this 2009 team exudes.
Late in the first period the Pioneers led 7-0. The Generals had just been stopped at the 31 yard line and faced a fourth and 16 after a Dante Padovani sack. H-W elected to kick and Tucker White dropped a beautiful punt pinning the Pioneers on their own four yard line.
As the offense prepared to take the field, Ullian began to strap his helmet over his red, Troy Polamalu hairdo. As he trotted onto the field he shrugged and said quietly to no on in particular, "Doesn't matter."
Ullian looked like a prophet on the very first play when he snapped to Cohee who fired a pass down field. A General defender got a hand on it but Ty Surette, who had gotten behind the General defense, reached back, juggled the ball for an instant, pulled it in and then exploded down the sideline for what appeared to be a 96 yard touchdown. Unfortunately the brilliant play was nullified on a Pioneer motion penalty.
But the point remains. To paraphrase Ullian, nothing much matters to this team. They just go out and get the job done.
Newest Pioneer
All the excitement and celebration following Lynnfield's clinching victory didn't disturb the newest member of the Pioneer family. One week old Neal Hudson Weidman III slept soundly in mom's baby holder as chaos rained around him. Baby Neal joins brothers Hudson and Cal in the Weidman household. According to mom Jen, the future quarterback will be called Tripp, as in Neal the third. I didn't confirm that, however, so it could also be a reference to one of his Dad's exotic passing formations.
Congrats to Neal and Jen.
Check back tomorrow for a special posting that will take a look at the past Pioneer football champions.
No comments:
Post a Comment