Cathedral Leftovers

It may not have looked like it by the final score, but that Cathedral team yesterday was a vast improvement over the Panther team the Pioneers rolled over 34-8 last year.

First of all they came in with a swagger befitting a team that was 3-0 after three convincing wins. They were also much more disciplined and more athletic.

"I'll tell you what," said Pioneer head coach Neal Weidman, "they've improved from last year. They're younger but they're also better than last year. Up front they were pretty good too."

So what does that tell us about the Pioneers who shut them out and rolled for 421 yards of offense and 40 points?

They're pretty good too.

Something Special
While the offense may have been a bit sluggish in the first half, the special teams were...well, special. They partially blocked the first Panther punt resulting in net zero yardage, forced several bad snaps and had a punt return for a score from Rick Berardino that put the Pioneers up 14-0. Weidman felt that might have been the turning point in the game.

"Absolutely. Those are the types of advantages we have against a young team like that," Weidman said. "Special teams wise we put ourselves in some good positions both offensively and defensively."

Beat the Clock
Weidman was pleased with the Pioneers' scoring drive just before the half.

After a Panther punt, the Pioneers took over on the Cathedral 45 yard line with only 1:08 remaining in the half. Co-Captain Gino Cohee started it off with a pass to co-captain A. J. Roberto for 11 yards. After an incompletion, Cohee hit co-captain Steve Ullian for 11 more yards for a first down to the Panther 30. Following another incompletion, Cohee ran for 13 yards then slipped out of bounds and aggravated a sore ankle he has been dealing with (more on that later.)

With a first and ten from the 17, Cohee hit Berardino for another first down to the six yard line. They capped it with a six yard Cohee to Roberto pass for the score. Seven plays, 45 yards, 44 seconds. Pretty impressive.

"There was a little sense of urgency there and it was the first sense of urgency that the kids had the whole day," Weidman said. "We were against the clock a little bit and we needed that. We needed to have something to motivate them to take it in there because they weren't super sharp to start the game."

Goal Line Stand for the JV's
The JV's stood up to be counted in the final minute of the game by rising up for a goal line stand to preserve the shutout. It was particularly impressive since the Panthers still had some starters in there trying to punch in a score.

Cathedral started the fourth quarter drive at their own 17 and quickly got it to the Lynnfield 25 on a nifty 50 yard run by Gio Griffith. ( That was more than half of the 85 total yards rushing Cathedral gained all day.) Two plays later, after a face mask penalty for half the distance to the goal, the Panthers had a first down on the nine yard line.

Starting quarterback Antonio Thomas ran it twice to set up a third and goal from the one. The Pioneer JV's then stoned Griffith for no gain setting up a fourth and goal from the one.

Sophomore linebacker Connor Lordan broke through, corralled Griffith and dropped him for a four yard loss to keep the Panthers out of the endzone.

"Lordan stepped up on that last play and we had a couple of guys make some nice plays inside the ten as well," Weidman said. "It means a lot for those young guys that get a chance to play at the end. It's their time for them to go in and play hard. We don't just look at that as throwaway time. It's time for us to see who can play and to try and get those guys to be better.

"We try to coach them so that they learn during that time," he continued. "It's not just time to put guys in just for the heck of it. So for them to get it means a lot to us because it means that they're paying attention in practice trying to do the right things and they're starting to get it a little bit."

Lessons Learned
Last week, Weidman spoke about senior defensive back Matt Kelly who struggled against some of the Bishop Fenwick varsity in the second half. Kelly, a hockey standout who is playing football for the first time, stepped it up big time this week, picking off a pair of interceptions against Cathedral.

"Not only did he have two picks, but he was in the right spot, which is the big thing," said Weidman. "Last week he got himself out of position by being a little too aggressive and not understanding why he was supposed to be in a certain spot at a certain time. He learned from that last week. Good things happen when you do what you're supposed to do. So for him to go from last week when he had trouble to this week when he had success by doing what he was supposed to is the perfect way to learn."

Kelly also finally got to kick an extra point after missing an attempt against Manchester Essex and one earlier against Cathedral. He finally nailed the PAT after the final touchdown to account for the Pioneers' 40th point.

"He banged the second one through which is great," Weidman said. "He missed the first one but that was probably the farthest and highest he's kicked it all year."

Kelly was subbing for Ullian (more on that later).

Streak Snapped
While we're on the topic of kicking, Ullian's consecutive PAT streak was broken after Roberto's touchdown at the end of the first half when the kick was blocked. That was the first unsuccessful extra point try for Ullian this year after making 17 straight. It also snapped his consecutive PAT string at 26 going back to last year.

The two PAT's did extend Ullian's school record for career PAT's to 58.

Mighty Mike
Junior running back Mike Thomas unloaded on the Pioneers' final play when he sprang loose for a 97 yard TD run.

The  Pioneers took over at the five yard line following the goal line stand but they were immediately hit with a motion penalty pushing them back to the 2.5 yard line. Thomas went inside, broke a tackle and then outraced the defense to the endzone for his third TD of the year.

"It was great but I felt a little bad about it," Weidman said, concerned about looking like he was running up the score. "We ran up the middle. I was trying to get a couple of yards to have some room to take a knee. He broke a tackle which was the best part.

"He's getting better and better," Weidman continued. "He actually runs inside zone really nice. He understands the lanes and cutbacks on our zone play. He needs to continue to improve his blocking and things like that but we have high hopes that he is going to be a good player for us. He already is but in order to be a starter some day he needs to be more consistent and do all the things."

Thanks to that run Saturday, Thomas is now leads the Pioneers' in rushing on the season with 232 yards on 30 carries. Cohee has 182 yards on 22 carries and Gannon has 181 yards on 22 carries.


Walking Wounded
The Pioneers were hit with a couple of injuries that could be concerning as the season goes along. Cohee hurt his ankle and Ullian was shaken up as well resulting in Kelly trying the last two PAT's.

"We tried to get him some work just in case," Weidman said about Kelly doing some kicking. "Steve's a little banged up right now."

As for Cohee, Weidman said "He hurt the ankle last week in practice before the Fenwick game. It's some precautionary stuff."

When asked if the injury was something that was serious and would hamper the quarterback for the rest of season, Weidman replied:

"I hope not. I'd rather sit him for a game or two to have him get better."

Obviously this one bears watching.

To the Archives
The Pioneers continue to score at a dizzying pace, which continues to send me into the archives to come up with some historical perspective.

- This week's 40 points scored was the most since...last week. However the 42 point outburst against Fenwich was the largest Lynnfield point total since 1985 when the Pioneers beat Masco 55-0.

- Prior to last week, a Lynnfield football team had scored 40 or more points only 15 times. The Pioneers have now done it two straight weeks.

- The last time the Pioneers scored 40 or more points in two consecutive games was 1960 when unbelievably they did it FIVE STRAIGHT TIMES! In that five game stretch they beat Wayland 60-0, Lynn Trade 60-6, Bedford 50-6, Westford Academy 50-0 and Ashland 60-0. Think that team had some firepower?

- After four games, the 2010 team has moved into 26th place for season scoring. That means that 26 Pioneers teams didn't score in a season what this year's Pioneers have tallied so far this year. They are averaging 38.5 ppg, second only to the 1960 juggernaut that AVERAGED 45.6 ppg in their nine game season.

- Rick Berardino has now scored a TD on a kickoff and punt return this season. That hasn't happened in the same season for the Pioneers since 1985 when Scott Milne returned a kickoff for a score and Mark Sutera took a punt back all the way. The only other players to accomplish the feat of both in the same season are Mike Burns in 1970 and Frank Berardino (no relation I don't believe) who did it in the Pioneers' inaugural season of 1958.

Hit of the Week
This week's award winner is freshman Kyle McGah who leveled Panther kick returner Cameron Seamore on the kick following the Pioneers' final score.  The large home crowd reacted with the requisite oohs and aahhs.

That's it for now. Check back Tuesday for a look around the CAL Small.