Pioneers Will Be In Fast Company With Cathedral

There are many reasons for the Pioneers' impressive start this season. One of the more prominent ones is their overall team speed. The Pioneers were simply too quick for M/E, Georgetown and Bishop Fenwick on both sides of the ball.

Crusader head coach Dave Woods in particular noted how fast the Pioneers were and cited that as a key factor in his team's 42-21 loss to Lynnfield last Friday.

This week could be a little different. Cathedral comes to town Saturday, and they might be the first team the Pioneers face in this young season that has enough speed to match up with them.

"They are fast and athletic," said Pioneer head coach Neal Weidman. "They have some good speed."

The Pioneer coaching staff scouted the Panthers last Saturday and that is pretty much all they have to go on in preparing for the game.

"We know very little about Cathedral," said Weidman. "They don't exchange tapes."

Of course that means they won't have much to prepare for the Pioneers either, so that is certainly an advantage for the home team.

This will be the second year in a row that Cathedral will come to town. Normally teams sign up for home and home series, so you would expect that the Pioneers would be travelling to Boston for the game. But Weidman explained that getting fields for the Boston teams is difficult so many times they would just as soon play on the road.

The Pioneers were not very good hosts last year, scoring on their first four possessions to open a 28-0 lead and adding another to go in at the half up 34-6. So considering how well the Pioneers have been playing, and the fact that the Panthers play two divisions down in the 4A Catholic Central Small, one might be quick to chalk this one up as an easy victory.

But one would be wise not to jump to that conclusion.

First of all, Cathedral comes into the game 3-0 after convincing wins over O'Bryant (32-6), Hyde Park (26-0) and Burke 16-0). That may not seem impressive, considering all three opponents hail from the Division 4A Boston South League. But consider that last year, the Panthers came to town 0-3 after playing the same three teams and losing to O'Bryant 28-8, Hyde Park 12-6 and Burke 34-26.

Clearly this is an improved team this season.

Twelve seniors return from that team that eventually finished the season with a 3-8 mark. Two of the returnees are running backs David Cinelli Jr and Geeavontie Griffith. Last year as a junior, Cinelli was the Panthers leading ball carrier, rushing for 47 yards on 9 carries. Griffith was a sophmore and carried only once for two yards.

This year, Griffith has come into his own scoring six touchdowns and vaulting into third place in Divisoin 4A scoring with 36 points. Spinelli has used his 4.4 speed to notch three TD's and three 2 pt conversions and is currently ranked seventh in 4A scoring. The Pioneers are going to have to contain these two speedy threats.

They will also have to contain quarterback Antonio Thomas who will be looking for receiver Carlos Lopez. who had four TD's and over 500 yards receiving last year.

Griffith leads the defense from his linebacker spot and the Panthers have been solid, allowing only one touchdown so far this year.

Game time at the Middle School Field is 1 pm.