Exciting Times Coming Up

The lull is just about over and we are about to head into one of the most exciting times in Lynnfield High football in many years. They boys are looking forward to at least two more games - the traditional rivalry game against North Reading on Thursday and the Division 3A playoff game on Tuesday, December 1.

I'll have a full week of postings that will include a look at some recent Pioneer Thanksgiving Day wins over the Hornets (to be posted Monday night), a prelook at Thursday's 52nd annual Battle of Chestnut street (Tuesday night), a review of the Pioneer/Hornet contest (Friday night) and a more in depth preview of the playoff game once the Pioneers' opponent has been decided on Thanksgiving Day (Sunday night).

Also, all you LHS Alums who want to relive the glory days are welcome to share any interesting, enlightening or entertaining stories from past Lynnfield-North Reading games in which you have participated. Just email them to me at tcondardo@gmail.com. I'll put a separate post together for those if I get any of them.

Of course you should also check out this week's Villager which will publish on Tuesday. Included in this week's special edition will be my preview of Thursday's game, my overview of the the Pioneers' possible playoff opponents, year to date Pioneer team and individual stats and a look at how Lynnfield and North Reading fared against common opponents.

Also a reminder that Jack Schnelle and I will continue to bang out lots of great photos of this championship season. All the action shots we've taken through the clinching Hamilton-Wenham game have been posted so you might want to check those out on Sunrise Photos. Just click on the "Lynnfield Football" link at the site.

Okay enough housekeeping. Let's get to a few topics.

It'll be AC or AP
The Pioneers playoff opponent won't be decided until Thanksgiving Day, but it is narrowed down to either Austin Prep or Arlington Catholic. In a previous post, I had noted that the Catholic Central Large could end up in a three way tie at 4-1 with Cardinal Spellman being the third team, however, the Cardinals appear to be out of the running.

Austin Prep holds the upper hand right now. If they can defeat Bishop Fenwick (4-5) in Peabody Thursday morning they will take the CCL title and take on the Pioneers' Tuesday. Even if Cardinal Spellman beats Archbishop Williams, AP would prevail. All three teams would be 4-1 in the league but the head to head tiebreaker would be negated since AP beat AC, AC beat CS and CS beat AP.

According to Dan Ventura of the Boston Herald, the next tiebreaker for the CCL is the old Super Bowl Formula which awards points basically for strength of schedule. Teams get points for the teams they beat (more points for teams in higher divisions) and they also receive points for the number of victories by the team they have beaten. AP would win that because they defeated Malden and Medford, two Division One teams that have won a combined nine games. AC did defeat Division One Cambridge, but the Falcons are winless so far this year meaning AC would get no opponent points there. Bottom line, based on that formula, AP tops both AC and CS.

If AP stumbles against Fenwick, that would give AC the title. Althought AC and CS would be tied at 4-1, AC would win the head to head tiebreaker thanks to a 32-15 win over the Cardinals in early November.

Got that? Great, let's move on.

The MIAA will announce the location and time of Tuesday's game on Friday.

SubVarsity Ties Hornets
The Pioneer subvarsity kicked off the holiday festivities with a 6-6 tie with the junior Hornets at Pioneer Field at the Middle School last Friday.

According to coach Gino Fodera it was a hard fought game. The Pioneers had their chances but some costly turnovers prevented them from taking the win.

The Hornets scored on the Pioneers first possession when they recovered a fumble and returned it for a score. The Pioneers came right back on their next possession when Mike Karavetsos hit Alex Pascucci with a 14 yard TD pass to tie the game.

The rest of the game was scoreless although the Pioneers did get into the red zone several times but could not convert. Mike Soden and Alex Roper both picked off interceptions in the contest. According to Fodera, Tyler Palumbo, D.J. DeGeorge and Connor Lordan all played well for Lynnfield.

Fodera and Mike Geary coached the team that finished the season 7-3-1. They defeated, Cathedral, Matignon, Wilmington, Danvers, Hamilton Wenham, Georgetown, and Ipswich. Their three losses came against Triton, Newburyport and Amesbury. Their most impressive win came against Ipswich when the young Pioneers came back from two touchdowns to beat the Tigers.

Other players on the squad are Josh Fodera, Max Kaan, Dan Ashwell, Daniel Marrama, Tyler Shaffer, Derek Maddaleni, Michael Bonafine, Cameron Weeks, John Gaff, Frank Coburn, Steven Yobaccio and Zach Staffier.

Congrats to the future Pioneer varsity on a great season.

Pioneers Rate
With the Pioneers posting a 9-1 record and clinching the CAL Small title, they are starting to earn some recognition in various rankings.

The Pioneers jumped up into the Ventura's Division 3A Super Seven this week, coming in sixth. Austin Prep is at number seven and Arlington Catholic is on the bubble.

The Massey Ratings, which rate all high school teams in the country, has the Pioneers at number 9 in Division 3A with Austin Preo at eight and Arlington Catholic at seven. Massey has Lynnfield ranked 116th in the state (out of 315).

Check back Monday night for a look at some recent Thanksgiving Day pasts