Pioneers Step It Up in Scrimmage

After a few days of workouts, the Pioneers got their first taste of action yesterday in a joint scrimmage with Masco and Revere in Topsfield. It was a nice test for Lynnfield who was clearly stepping up in competition.

The Chieftains are the defending CAL Large Champs from Division 2A while the Patriots are a member of the Northeast Conference, a Division 1A league. The good news is that the Pioneers held their own in the three way battle.

"Couple of good teams," head coach Neal Weidman agreed. "Masco lost some guys from last year, no doubt, but they came out with 95 guys today."

When reminded that the Pioneers dressed around 50 for the scrimmage, Weidman laughed. "That's right. When we get in the 50's we're pretty happy."

Using mostly a passing attack, the Pioneers capped a 60 yard scoring drive against Revere in eight plays when Gino Cohee hit fellow captain A. J. Roberto with an 18 yard strike. Against Masco, they drove from their own 40 to the Masco 11 yard line in ten plays before ending the set. Offensively, the Pioneers were clearly working on the passing game and held off on running the ball to any great extent.

Defensively, the Pioneers made both teams work hard. They did not yield a score to Masco until the tenth play of the set and that came on an 11 yard pass. Revere scored on a 20 yard run, but that was after many of the second stringers came in to get some work.

Neither team was able to run effectively against Lynnfield and that is a positive sign heading into the season.

"We stopped the run well,"Weidman said. "We started putting some kids in with a lot less experience and they started to move the ball, but that is to be expected. We wanted those kids to get out there because there is a chance that they're going to have to get on the field for us. Which is what this is for.We really got the young kids a ton of reps which is great. They weren't standing around watching this scrimmage. (Masco head coach) Jim Pugh did a great job setting this up. We got a lot done in a short period of time."

Not only were the varsities scrimmaging, but there was a section of the field set up for the jayvees teams to have their own set of workouts among the three schools.

You can read more about the scrimmage along with some of the personnel moves the Pioneers are making along the offensive line and in the linebacking corps in my article in the Villager on Wednesday.

Panzero Out; Bossi, Cataldo In
The Pioneers got some bad news late last week when they found out that Evan Panzero, a three year starter, two way, All League lineman, will undergo surgery on his injured shoulder and will miss the season.

Weidman conceded that the loss of the big guard and nose tackle is a blow, but that it gives an opportunity to some of the other guys to step up.

Two that apparently have done so are John Bossi and Craig Cataldo.

Bossi was plugged into the nose tackle spot normally manned by Panzero and the 6"2" 259 lb senior did well, neutralizing the starting centers from both Revere and Masco.

 "He's a senior. He's been here and he knows the drill," Weidman said of Bossi. "He worked very hard this summer and lost 20 pounds to get in shape for football. He's still a big kid and he's dedicated himself to his senior year which is great. I'm happy for him. I'm proud of him."

The Pioneers got another boost when Cataldo, the Pioneers' four year starting hockey goalie, decided to come out for his senior year.

"He hasn't played high school football but he's a big, strong kid," Weidman said.

In the scrimmage, Cataldo played at the guard spot that Panzero occupied for the past few seasons, so he clearly has an opportunity to contribute there.

Waisnor Back On The Mike
For those of you who have regularly attended Pioneer home games the last few years you will be happy to know that Tom Waisnor, the Voice of the Pioneers, will be back in the booth this season. Tom does a tremendous job of accurately spotting the action on the field with the right blend of excitement and enthusiasm.

We all look forward to another year of great work from Tom.

2010 Schedule
Speaking of Tom, he pointed out to me that the Pioneer schedule hasn't been roundly circulated yet, although I am sure it will be in the Villager this week. But for those who can't wait, here is a link to the 2010 Pioneer Schedule on Highschoolsports.net. Be patient. That site has been up and down all week.

In addition, you can review my March post titled 2010 Schedule Set!


Follow The Action - Real Time
For those of you who can't make it to the Pioneer games but want to follow the action real time, I suggest you sign up to follow me on Twitter. I plan on tweeting updates during all the games. I did it during the scrimmage Saturday to give you an idea how it will work. Click on the Twitter logo to the left (the bluebird with the Lynnfield helmet) and that will take you to the Twitter home page where you can sign up to follow me.

Final Tuneups
The Pioneers will take on Salem on Tuesday at 3:45 at the high school (that's a change from the previous schedules which had this on Wednesday). The final scrimmage of the preseason will take place next Saturday, September 4 at 10 am at Northeast Regional in Wakefield. I'll be tweeting updates so if you can't make it, make sure you sign up by then.

That's it for now. Check back for more later in the week.