"Wing" Taking Off Shot Down Pioneers

They say some time has to pass before you can think rationally about a traumatic event. Well it's been two days and I wouldn't say I was quite rational yet, but we do have to go back and take a look at the Pioneers' tough playoff loss to Austin Prep.

In such a hard fought, back and forth contest, it is natural to look at the game with a "micro" perspective. From the opening squib onside kick to the final fumbled winning touchdown, there were any number of individual plays that had they bounced for the Pioneers, we would be previewing the Super Bowl right now.

However, I think we need to look at the game in "macro" context, and if you really analyze the game as a whole, it appears that the Cougars ability to throw the ball effectively is what ultimately did in the Pioneers. Keep in mind that AP quarterback JR Richard is not the Cougars starting signal caller. That job belonged to Ryan Havey. But Havey's was knocked out of the lineup in midseason with broken ribs, so Richard took over the spot. And although Ray Acciavatti was a beast, I believe it was really Richard's passing that was the difference.

"We were aware they were real efficient with their passing game," Pioneer head coach Neal Weidman said after the game. "They don't do it a ton but they bring you in and then make good plays in the passing game. We knew there was a chance of that. The coverage was actually pretty decent most of the time but the kids made nice throws and nice catches."

Richard was 10 for 17 for 126 yards and a score. It was not only the total yardage, but the timing of the plays that hurt the Pioneers. AP's first touchdown came on a Richard to Brendan Burket pass on a fourth and seven from the ten. Richard again stuck the knife in on the final Cougar go ahead drive in the fourth quarter. He was 3 for 3 on the march (which came in the middle of six straight completions for the lefty qb). The second pass of the drive was a 15 yarder to Acciavatti on third and eight from the 33. Then two plays later on a third and four from the 12, he completed a beautiful pop pass to Burke for nine yards and a first down at the three. Matt Mulcahy drove it in from there to give AP a shortlived 20-13 lead.

Then after Gino Cohee connected with Mike Pescione for 20 yards and Ty Surette for 30 yards for the tying score, Richard almost brought the Cougars back to win in regulation. With a minute and a half left, Richard hit Burke for 19 yards to the Pioneer 42, then three plays later he found Nick Dell'Anno for 12 yards and a first down at the 20 with less than a minute to play. Luckily, the potential winning field goal was short and wide to the right, but Richard's passing was key all game.

"We knew they could throw the ball," assistant coach Pat Sheehan told me after the game. "We knew they didn't want to. We made them go to their secondary option. Our defense played well all year long and they played well in this game. They just made one more play."

The Pioneers worked hard to break up the double wing running formation, which has gotten AP this far. Acciavatti was obviously the key for AP, running for 148 yards and a score and catching 6 passes for 76 yards. In total, the Cougars picked up 200 yards on the ground on 42 carries, but 75 of those came on the first two carries by Acciavatti to open the second half. Take those two away (don't we wish) and the Pioneers held AP to 125 yards on 40 carries, a 3.1 per carry average.

That looks healthy, but AP throwing 17 times was a clear indication that they knew they could not do it only on the ground against the solid Lynnfield defense.

"We wanted to take them out of the run, but (Burke) killed us with a couple of great catches," defensive coordinator Greg Haberland told me after the game. "They made that one pop pass down there that really killed us. The double wing does it. It wears you down. It gets you to overplay something and then they pop something."

Haberland agreed that quarterback Richard was not just another running back in a double wing offense. "He was a lot better than I thought he would be," Haberland said. "The kids played hard. We couldn't ask for anything more of them. We asked them before the game to give us 100% and they did."

The mark of a good team is when they can adjust on the fly. The Pioneers made the Cougars change from run only to an agressive passing game, and they did it successfully. Take nothing away from them, Austin Prep is a good team.

For those of you recovered enough emotionally to handle it, the Austin Prep/Holliston Division 3A Super Bowl from Gillette will be televised Saturday morning on Comcast Sports New England (Channell 52/852 in Lynnfield) at 9 am. It will be interesting to see how the Cougars due against the high powered Holliston team.

North Reading's Revenge?
The Pioneers beat up the Hornets pretty good on Thanksgiving Day, but there was a measure of revenge for Lynnfield's archrival in the playoff game. Acciavatti and Richard, who did most of the damage agiainst the Pioneers, are both North Reading residents. So is injured quarterback Havey.

True Warrior
If there were an award for the toughest player on the field Tuesday, it would have gone to Pioneer junior A. J. Roberto. Roberto broke his hand against Amesbury. The break, near the thumb on his right hand was casted and A. J. played a huge role the next week in the big win over Newburyport. He actually had a one handed interception and a boatload of tackles.

However, during the game, A. J. rebroke the hand and had to undergo surgery to have it reset. He missed the final three regular season games but received clearance on Monday to play in the playoff game, only a month after surgery. A. J. played a key role in slowing down the potent AP running game. The best news, according to coach Sheehan, is that A. J. did no further damage to the hand in the game.

Speaking of Roberto's, A.J. 's brother Jon came up with a big play against AP, blocking a punt early in the fourth period. Unfortunately, the Pioneers were not able to convert it into points.

Wrong Brother
And while we are on the topic of brothers, in the Boston Herald report on the game, they referred to Lynnfield's quarterback as "Tino" Cohee. Now Tino was at the game and the LHS alumn would have loved to get in, but unfortunately the UNH student is a few years beyond his Pioneer playing days.

As for younger brother Gino, he and captain George Hennessey were the only two players to carry the ball for the Pioneers on Tuesday. Cohee picked up 75 yards and a TD on 22 carries. Hennessey rushed 11 times for 47 yards.

The Pioneers were flagged only once all night and that was for an illegal substitution in the second period. AP had four penalties for 40 yards.

Final piece of useless information: If you skimmed through the playoff program they were selling at the game, you would have noticed there were 55 Eastern and Central Mass playoff teams listed. Three of them were the Pioneers.

We'll have a final look at the season next week.