Let the Countdown Begin!

Welcome to the first August post.

Hard to believe but practice starts in two weeks and opening night at Manchester is only four weeks from Friday.

Now that the season is nearly upon us, I will be ramping up the posting schedule. My next two entries will be on Thursday, August 26 and Thursday, September 2. Then I will get into regular season mode beginning the week of September 6.

If something interesting happens to pop up in the interim, I may sneak in another post so you might want to check back now and again.

But we still have a few weeks to go before the season kicks off so let's get up to date on some more offseason  news.

7 on 7 Tournament
It really felt like football season on Saturday, July 24 when Lynnfield and Swampscott co-hosted the 7th Annual Shootout Tournament at LHS. Thirty Two team participated in the 7 on 7 event and the Pioneers certainly held their own making it into the round of eight before being knocked out.

The tournament began by breaking the teams into eight groups of four. Lynnfield went 3-0 in round robin play to win its group defeating Lynn Classical, Pope John and Quincy to advance. They beat Wilmington in the round of eight before being ousted by Longmeadow. Longmeadow made it to the final four along with Chelmsford, Gloucester and Lynn English. It was an all Northeast Conference final as English beat Gloucester to take the crown.

Pioneer captains Gino Cohee and A.J. Roberto both played well at quarterback.

"We played pretty decently," head coach Neal Weidman said following the tournament. "We played against good competition and I think it showed we have some good players. We have work to do but we have a good core of players to fill all the holes we have."

Weidman also noted that the summer passing league that the Pioneers are participating in is going well.

"It's good for the kids," he said. "They are running the things that we will run in the season.so that helps."

Shove Transferring Out
Promising junior Freddy Shove, who saw a good deal of playing time both as a freshman and sophomore, will be transferring to St. John's, according to Weidman. His main focus is playing basketball for the Eagles but he will also surely see time on the gridiron for St. John's.

The aggressive defensive end/tight end made significant contributions in his first two years with the Pioneers. In two seasons, Shove caught 10 passes for 134 yards. On defense, he had a couple of sacks, a pair of interceptions and two fumble recoveries.

"He probably would have played both ways for us," Weidman said. "But it gives someone else an opportunity."

Preseason Schedule
Weidman has announced his preseason workout schedule which will begin with some administrative and stretching work on Monday, August 23. Practices will begin on Tuesday with the Jayvees starting at 8:50 am and the varsity taking the field at 3:30 pm. The players' favorite, double sessions, will begin on Wednesday, August 25.

The Pioneers will travel to Masconomet on Saturday, August 28 at 10 am to tangle with the Chieftains and Revere in their first scrimmage of the year. On Wednesday, September 1 they will take on Salem at 3:45 pm at the high school and will conclude the preseason with their traditional scrimmage against Northeast Regional in Wakefield on September 4th at 10 am.

Over 60 players have signed up but Weidman expects the actual turnout to be between 55-60 for first practices and figures the roster will be down to the low to mid forties once the season begins.

"I'm looking forward to getting started," Weidman said. "Looking forward to having a good season. We're a little thin depthwise but hopefully some of the younger players will step up."

That's it for now. Check back in on August 26th for my next post.