Thanksgivings Past: 2003 & 2000

The Pioneers and Hornets will clash for the 52nd time on Thursday and overall Lynnfield enjoys a 30-21 edge. However, over the past decade, North Reading has had the upper hand, winning seven of the past ten games. The only wins for the Pioneers since 1999 were last year, 2003 and 2000.

We'll review last year's victory in the game preview I'll be posting tomorrow night. Today I want to take a look at those two other Turkey Day games.


2003: The Defense Never Rested
The 2003 edition of the Pioneers under head coach Bill Adams went 6-4, the only winning season since 1996 before this year. They were also the last Lynnfield team to play a full CAL schedule as the league split into Large and Small the following season. Ironically, the success of the '03 team almost threw a monkey wrench into the Large/Small split.

Going into the 2003 season, North Reading staged a mini revolt and refused to play any CAL Large teams. They threatened to withdraw from the league if the CAL did not split into two. They argued that the small teams like them, the Pioneers and Ipswich could not compete against the Large teams. They got agreement for the split beginning in 2004.

However, the 2003 Pioneers proceeded to go out and have a season that appeared to prove the opposite. The Pioneers ended up beating North Andover and Triton, lost a last second 26-21 heartbreaker to Masco and fell to Pentucket 28-19. The only mismatch was a 32-12 loss to Wilmington. The league argued that the small schools could indeed compete, but they ultimately stayed with the decision to split.


Captained by Will Chiccarelli, Andy Poor and Derek Cataldo, the calling card for the 2003 team was defense. Under defensive coordinator Joe Papagni, Lynnfield posted the best points per game against average in the past 20 years. They allowed an average of only 11 points per game, a mark being challenged by this year's edition who heads into Thursday's game allowing only 10.3 per game. But prior to this season, the 03'ers were the tightest defense since 1991. If you factor out the Wilmington blowout, the Pioneers only allowed an average of 8.6 points per game. What's scary is that the could have been even better but Cataldo, a ferocious linebacker, was hurt early in the year and missed most of the season.

The offense relied primarily on the running of Jamie Solomon, who entered the game against North Reading with over 800 yards rushing and 8 TD's and led the Pioneers with 58 points. Quarterback Lou Navarro threw for over 750 yards and four TD's on the year. Rick Parziale (17 catches, 260 yards, 1 TD), Poor (14 catches, 204 yards, two TD's) and Jesse Conklin (8 catches, 216 yards) were the Navarro's key targets.


Seniors Poor, Chiccarelli, Cataldo, Conklin, Navarro, Solomon, Nick Poti, Ryan Sheehan, Justin Motta, Nick Fringuelli, Jeff Adelson, Sean Reed, Chris Stivers and Michael Griffin had not beaten North Reading since they were freshmen and wanted to end their careers on a positive note.

The Thanksgiving Day game shaped up to be one of the better ones, as the Pioneers and Hornets both went into the game with winning records, the first time that had happened since 1980. The Hornets were 6-3 while the Pioneers were 5-4 going in. But this is where the numbers didn't quite add up. While Lynnfield was competing against the CAL iron, the Hornets were padding the scoreboard against the likes of Easthampton, Mashpee and Weston.

That strength of schedule was decisive as the Pioneers rolled onto Arthur Kenney Field in North Reading and dismantled the Hornets 28-0.

The Pioneers dominated North Reading in all three phases of the game.Solomon ended his career with a bang, rushing for 101 yards and three touchdowns and nailing four PAT's for good measure. Chiccarelli led a devastating defense that held the Hornets to five first downs and 114 total yards including a remarkable five yards on 12 plays in the second half.

"Will Chiccarelli may be the best defensive player in our league," Adams said of his captain.

Solomon gave the Pioneers a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter. Navarro, playing defense for the first time all year picked off a Hornet pass to end a NR threat late in the second quarter to preserve a 7-0 halftime lead. The Pioneers dominated the second half. Solomon burrowed in from the one midway in the third to make it 14-0. Navarro hit Poor with a seven yard strike later in the third to make it 21-0. Solomon capped the scoring late in the fourth with a nifty 20 yard scamper.

"Jamie Solomon played like a man again today," Adams told me after the game. "He played tremendous football on both sides of the ball and special teams."


Solomon's 22 points lifted him to 86 on the season and gave him a total of 158 career points, fourth best on the Lynnfield all time list.

"That was total domination," Adams said summing up the win.

2000: Had 'em All The Way
Y2K marked the turn of the century and the return of Bill Adams as Lynnfield head football coach. Adams had turned over the reins to former assistant Scott Brennan from 1995 to 1999, but took up his whistle again in 2000. Among Adams' assistant coaches that year were current Pioneer head coach Neal Weidman.

Captained by (current Lynnfield coach) Mike Geary, Dan Veinot, Kevin Condardo, Jimmy-Scott Motzkin and Drew Barraford, the 2000 Pioneers lost four of their first five games and came in to the Thanksgiving Day game with a 3-7 record. But they had just spanked Triton 28-7 so feelings were running high that they could halt a two game North Reading winning streak.

Veinot was the engine that drove the '00 team. The flashy tailback could be a speed or power back and showed that all year, amassing 1086 and 5.4 points per carry coming in. He scored 68 of Lynnfield's 116 points heading into the game.Opening the holes for him was a strong line led by Geary, Condardo, Barraford, Mike Lombardi, Matt Talis, J.R. Russell, Joe Pelletier.

Motzkin was solid at QB throwing for 673 yards and four TD's coming into the game. His main targets were Brian McBride ( 19 catches, 208 yards, 3 TD's and Sal Gesamondo (11 catches, 130 yards, 1 TD).

Geary, Talis, Veinot and Barraford led the defense.

In addition to the captains, other seniors playing in their final game were Russell, Chris Feeley, Brendan Reed, Ja Ja Leviner, Neil DiBicari, Vin Pintone, Chas Ryan, Mike Fringuelli and Matt Stanton.

The Hornets limped onto Pioneer Field at the Middle School having only one win, a 9-0 victory over Amesbury, so the game figured to be close. But it didn't start out that way.

The Pioneers roared out of the starting gate and looked like they were going to turn this one into a rout. Veinot carried five out of seven times on Lynnfield's opening drive and cruised in from the five to make it 7-0 less than three minutes into the game. The Hornets answered on their first possession tying the game on a 43 yard pass play from Tom Tone to A. J. Richardson.

The Pioneers quickly retook the lead on their next possession when Veinot broke loose for a 62 yard scoring jaunt to make it 14-7. Lynnfield kept up the pressure when Chris Lampropoulos recovered a fumble on the Hornet's first play following the score.

On the first play following the turnover, Motzkin was dropped for a seven yard loss and twisted his ankle. Sophomore Mike Parziale replaced him, but his main duty consisted of handing the ball to Veinot, who took over the game. Two plays after Motzkin was hurt, Veinot got loose again, this time sprinting for a 37 yard TD. Parziale hit McBride for the two and the Pioneers led 22-7.

The Hornets cut the lead to 22-13 midway in the second period when Tone hit Richard O'Neil for a 21 yard scoring strike. Leading by 9, the Pioneers still appeared to be in control

But things got dicey in the second half. The Hornets took the second half kick and marched 65 yards for a score to make it 22-20. Drew Canan did the honors from three yards out.

The Pioneers answered with a long drive of their own, covering 79 yards. Veinot exploded for his fourth touchdown of the day from 19 yards out and added his third extra point to give the Pioneers a 29-20 lead with just over nine minutes to go in the game.

But the Hornets would not go away. They drove to the17 yard line and stalled so Mark Tringali booted a 33 yard field goal to make it 29-23 with just over four minutes to play.

All the momentum was on North Reading's side and the question was whether the Pioneers could hold on. It didn't look good when they went three and out and gave the Hornets the ball back at midfield with 1:57 to play. A Tone to O'Neil pass gave the Hornets a first down at the Lynnfield 28. Canan got them another first down at the 16 with 52 seconds left. Fans on both sides of the field were up and roaring.

An illegal procedure penalty and two incompletions gave the Hornets a third and 15 from the 21 with 28 seconds to play. Tone went back to pass and Geary broke through and was just about to sack him when Tone released the ball. In story book fashion, Veinot, the offensive player of the game, turned in the defensive play of the game when he stepped in front of the Hornet receiver and picked off the interception in the right side of the endzone. The Pioneers survived for their 29-23 victory.

Veinot etched his name in the Pioneer record book with his performance. He ended with an amazing 277 yards non 28 carries. His four TD's and 27 points scored are a Thanksgiving Day record.  His holiday explosion lifted him to 95 points for the season and 151 points for his career. That was good enough for fourth place at the time, but he was nudged back to fifth place by Solomon three seasons later.

Current Pioneer quarterback Gino Cohee is breathing down the necks of both Veinot and Solomon. The junior currently sits in sixth place with 128 points with two more games this season and all of next season to go.

"He is an outstanding player and a great athlete," Adams summed up about Veinot after the game.

On that particular Thanksgiving Day, he had to be.

Check back tomorrow and we'll take a peek at this year's contest. You can also read my pregame story in the Villager which will be out on Tuesday.