Around the CAL Small: Week One

All seven CAL Small teams were in action over the opening weekend, including two league games.

So let's get right to it. First a look at the standings:



So let's address the obvious first.

That bombshell you may have heard landing in Hamilton Saturday afternoon was the sound of the biggest upset of the young season. The Hamilton-Wenham Generals, coming off a 2-8 season, stunned Newburyport, one of the preseason CAL favorites, by a 14-7 count.

Now one of three things went on there. First, we may have all underestimated how good the Generals are going to be and they may have just announced they will be a contender this year. Second, everyone overrated Newburyport or third, the Clippers may have stepped on a land mine by thinking they could waltz into the Generals' house and stroll to an easy win similar to their 19-0 opening win over H-W last season.

My guess is door number three. Obviously the Generals, who were croaked with injuries all last year, promise to be much improved. And I don't believe the Clippers are overrated with the amount of talent they have returned. So that leaves option number three: Newburyport may have been struck down by a bad case of overconfidence.

From the news accounts of the game, the smaller H-W line simply overpowered the bigger Clippers on both sides of the ball. Despite going up against a Newburyport line featuring three players of plus 260 lbs, the Generals apparently dominated.

They ran for 170 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and came up with a big fourth down stop on a fourth and two on their own 21 to halt the Clippers final drive.

H-W head coachAndrew Morency was quoted in the Newburyport News that he feels his line is his strength. That would appear to be the case from this effort.

The Generals opened the game with a 74 yard drive but then missed the extra point to take a 6-0 lead. Their defense harried Clipper quarterback all first half sacking him three times.

Newburyport got on the board in the third on a 7 yard run by Andrew Sokol. He then kicked the PAT to give the Clippers a 7-6 lead. But the Generals answered right back with a 61 yard drive capped by a one yard run on fourth and goal by Elliot Burr. Dylan Keith hit Jake Prince for the two points to account for the final score.

The Generals host Pat Sheehan's Triton Vikings on Saturday while the Clippers travel to North Reading for a Thursday night game under the lights at 7 pm.

The other league game featured Ipswich at North Reading in a battle of two teams that combined for three wins last season.

The Tigers snapped their 31 game losing streak last Thanksgiving Day and they enjoyed the experience so much they put up another "W" last week with a 22-6 victory over the Hornets.

The Tigers have a lot of skill people back, so they figure to be much improved and they showed it against a very young North Reading team. The Hornets jumped out quickly and scored on their first drive thanks to the running of Carl Lipani and quarterback R. J. Warnock. Nick Rosano punched it in from the one for the score to give NR a 6-0 lead.

But it was pretty much Tigertown after that.

Ipswich opened the game with a 50 yard bomb from Brendan Gallagher to Cam Murray. Several plays later the two connected for a five yard score. Gallagher hit John Eldredge for the two and the Tigers led 8-6.

Gallagher and Eldredge would hook up for two more touchdowns in the second quarter and that would be enough as the two teams battled through a scoreless second half.

Ipswich will look to make it three in a row when they travel to Marblehead to take on the Magicians Thursday night. Meanwhile, the Hornets have the unenviable task of hosting Newburyport who is coming off a disappointing loss to H-W and was probably tortured all week in practice.

Amesbury, another CAL Small contender, opened up on a positive note with a thrilling 22-21 win over Sheehan's Vikings Friday night. The former Pioneer assistant has installed the spread offense at Triton and his senior quarterback Blaise Whitman seemed to flourish it in. The Vikes and Indians battled all game long with neither team able to pull away.

Triton scored on their opening drive to take a 7-0 lead but the Indians took a 14-7 lead when quarterback Tyler Lay led them to two first quarter scores. Lay scored the first on a 23 yard run, then threw the second to Aaron Venezia from 30 yards out.

Triton tied the game early in the third then took a 21-14 lead early in the fourth on a Whitman four yard run.

On the following kickoff, Sheehan showed the nerve of a riverboat gambler, opting for an onside kick. Triton apparently recovered, but the officials ruled the kick had not traveled 10 yards. Amesbury took possession but could not score.

The Indians got the ball back for their winning drive with just under four minutes to play and then drove from their own 40 to the Viking 11. Lay, who was 3 for 4 on the drive, hit Nick Croce for an 11 yard strike pulling Amesbury to within one at 21-20 with 53 seconds to play.

Amesbury opted to go for the two rather than risk overtime and Lay ran it in for the winning points.

Amesbury hosts North Andover Friday night.

Finally, the Pioneers' next opponent, Georgetown was literally run over by a highly regarded St. Mary's team Saturday night. The Spartans rolled for nearly 500 yards on the ground en route to a 42-7 win over the Royals.

St. Mary's scored on runs of 43, 67, 36, 59, 80 and 9 yards as they didn't attempt a single pass. The Royals did have some success passing the ball, as Tyler Wade was 8 for 12 for 112 yards against the Spartans.

In other games featuring future Pioneer opponents, Bishop Fenwick (Sept 24) lost to Saugus 41-20, Cathedral (Oct 2) beat O'Bryant 34-6 and Chelsea (Oct 15) lost to Pope John 12-6.

That's it for now. Tune back in Thursday for a full preview of Georgetown game.