Around the CAL Small: Week Seven

Things are starting to get interesting as we have entered the meat of the CAL Small schedule. Two league games to cover this week. First let's look at the updated standings.




As the Pioneers move to 7-0, they are beginning to gain more and more recognition. In today's Globe, they remain one of only 14 teams on The Undefeated Bus. Also in the Herald, Danny Ventura has ranked them number three in the Division 3A Super Seven.

Now on to the results around the league.

The Pioneers were a few yards away from a huge gift Friday night in North Reading, but the Hornets came up just short in their upset bid of Hamilton-Wenham.

The Hornets made Triton assistant coach and former Pioneer assistant Mike Geary look like Nostradamus with their effort on Friday. Remember in my CAL Small Preview post last week, Geary said he was most impressed with the improvement in the North Reading squad. They had a chance to show off that improvement against the Generals.

After a scoreless first period, the Generals broke the scoring ice in the second with a 15 yard TD pass from Dylan Keith to Trevor Lynons to give H-W a 7-0 lead. The Hornets answered with a two yard run from quarterback Nick Rosano, but the attempted PAT was blocked. That left the Generals with a slim 7-6 lead going in at the half.

They stretched it to 13-6 in the third on an Elliot Burr one yard run, but the rush for two failed leaving them with a 13-6 lead.

It stayed that way until the final minute when the Hornets scored on a 7 yard Rosano pass to Joe Jones. NR coach Jeff Wall opted to go for the win right there but the two point conversion rush was stopped by outside linebacker Jake Prince. The Generals escaped with a 13-12 lead, leaving them tied with the Pioneers atop the league with a 2-0 record.

It was a heartbreaking loss for the Hornets - and the Pioneers who would have had at least a one game lead on every other CAL Contender with the upset.

An interesting stat from the game. The Generals put up 262 yards of offense, but only 45 on the ground from what is supposed to be primarily a running team.

The Hornets fall to 0-6, 0-3 in the league and remain the only team in the CAL Small yet to win a game, although with a few breaks they could very well have won their last three in a row. They will upset someone before this season is over.

They get a huge test this week as they travel to West Newbury to play their final non-league game against Pentucket, fresh off an upset win over Wilmington.

The Generals travel to Georgetown to take on the Royals Saturday afternoon.

Georgetown had a rough go of it this past Friday night when they were slammed by Ipswich 41-14. The suddenly rolling Tigers, who got back some key players in running back Jake LeBlanc and receiver John Eldredge, built a 20-0 lead early in the second period and never looked back. They led 34-7 at halftime and both teams added a score in the second half.

Ipswich quarterback Brendan Gallagher ran for 78 yards and passed for 145 and three TD's. LeBlanc ran for 104 yards and a touchdown and Eldredge caught three passes, two of them for scores.

The Tigers host Amesbury Friday night in what promises to be a exciting matchup. Both teams have a loss so the loser of this game will have a rough time getting back into the race with two league losses.

Newburyport continues its thankless march through the CAL Large with a 40-0 defeat at the hands of North Andover at home last Friday. In the past two weeks, the Clippers have been beaten 69-0 by the two leading CAL Large powers Wilmington and NA. They return to a more even playing field when they host the Pioneers this Friday night.

I'll have a full preview of that game on Thursday. That's it for now.