Chelsea Leftovers

For anyone who made the trip down Revere Beach Parkway to Chelsea, you know how miserable the conditions were. Cold, rainy and windy. Not a night fit for man/woman nor beast. But according to Pioneer head coach Neal Weidman, it was the wind that was the big factor.

"Typically wet doesn't bother us that much but the wind is a different beast," said Weidman."But both teams had to play in it."

The Pioneers scored early but were clearly affected by the conditions. In a savvy bit of coaching, Chelsea head coach (and Lynnfield resident) Mike Stellato took advantage by using the weather as another way of  slowing down the Pioneers.

"They were trying to take some run stuff away from us as well as the short passing game," Weidman explained. "They were right up on us trying to make us throw the ball down the field which is smart when there's 35 mile an hour wind gusts."

Up only 14-0 at the half, the Pioneers locked this one up early in the third period on Rick Berardino's interception followed shortly by co-captain Jeff Gannon's seven yard TD run.

"We made one adjustment that helped," Weidman said about the Pioneers better play in the second half. "That interception, then we came down and scored was huge."

"It was an interesting evening," Weidman aptly summed up.

A Chelsea Legend
The hardy souls that made the trip were treated to the unique work of a true Chelsea legend, public address announcer Arnie Goodman. Goodman has been a fixture in Chelsea as a teacher, coach, sports columnist and unofficial "mayor" for nearly half a century. He has been announcing the Red Devil games at Chelsea Memorial Stadium since I was in grammar school back in the mid-sixties and he still does a thorough job. (And for those that noted several mistakes in his announcing Friday night, trust me the conditions were just as bad for him and his spotters. I was in the booth for the second half and you simply could not see through the plexiglass protecting the booth. He was totally reliant on his spotters.)

As noted on his Facebook page, Tom Waisnor, Lynnfield's own Legend-in-the-Making and Voice of the Pioneers at LMS was in attendance Friday night. Hopefully he was taking copious notes on Mr. Goodman's work. Tom only has about 40 years to go to match him.

See you in 2050 Tom!

Size and Speed
As expected, the Red Devils provided an interesting combination of size and speed that the Pioneers hadn't seen yet this year.

"We haven't seen anyone faster than them," Weidman agreed. "They're fast. (Troy Crossly #3) can run. He was fast but we knew that going in. They had a couple of guys that can run. Cathedral was close in team speed. But Chelsea had a combination of being pretty big too. They had some size. They played tough. They came out ready to play and they played us tough for four quarters."

Streak Snapped
One casualty of the weather in Chelsea was co-captain Steve Ullian's consecutive game PAT streak. Prior to Friday night, Ullian had booted at least one extra point in 17 straight games - all 12 last season and the first five this year. You have to go back to Thanksgiving Day 2008 for the last game in which Ullian did not have a PAT. That was because in the final games that year, Ben Salisbury was doing the placekicking after returning from an injury. Salisbury booted three against the Hornets in that game.

With the gusting winds and driving rain, Ullian had no chance on either PAT try.

Opening With a Bang
Sophomore Tyler Palumbo set the tone on the opening kickoff Friday night. Wes Sullivan gathered in the squib kick on the 30 and Palumbo got things started with a massive hit on a Red Devil coverage player. The devastating block was of the "de-cleating" variety as Palumbo's hit sent the Chelsea player "butt over tea kettle."

Sullivan got to the Lynnfield 40 setting up the first Pioneer TD drive.

Goose Eggs
The Pioneers' 28-0 win was their third shutout of the year, most since 2003 when Lynnfield blanked their opponents four times. The record is held by the 1962 team which posted six shutouts in nine games. That team, which went 8-1, allowed only 32 points all season and 20 of those came in their only loss, a 20-0 defeat to Wilmington.

Notable
- The Pioneers' six wins guarantees Lynnfield will have back to back winning seasons for the first time since 1986 (9-2) and 1987 (7-3) under former Pioneer head coach Bill Adams.

- Lynnfield has now scored 222 points on the year, the best for the first six games of the season since 1960 when the Pioneers rolled for 296 points in the first half dozen games.

- The 2010 Pioneers are now in eighth place for all time team season scoring with five games remaining.



Snakebit in Byfield
You have to feel for former Pioneer assistant coach Pat Sheehan who is in his first year as head coach at Triton. The Vikes have been competitive in every game but have not yet put up their first W.

But more frustrating is that their largest margin of defeat has been only seven points. Their average loss margin has been 4.6 points. They lost to Amesbury by 1 on a two point conversion with less than a minute to play. They lost to Ipswich by two.

But the unkindness cut of all came last Friday when Triton lost to Austin Prep 32-26 in FOUR overtimes on a controversial 1 yard touchdown.

The two teams battled to a 12-12 tie in regulation in the mud and rain in Byfield. Both teams scored TD's and two point conversions in the first OT to keep the scored tied at 20-20. Both scored touchdowns in the second overtime to make it 26-26. Neither team scored in the third OT. Triton did not score on their possession in the fourth OT, but on fourth and goal from one for Austin Prep, the refs ruled that Cougar Adam Fraser made it over for the winning touchdown.

"I didn't think (Fraser) crossed the goal line at the end, and it took a long time for them to call it and it was unfortunate, but that's a hard loss," Sheehan was quoted as saying in the Newburyport News.

Despite the losses, Sheehan has his team playing hard and you know that has to pay dividends in the long run. The Vikes just need a break.

High School Friday: Cast Your Ballot!
Finally, just a reminder to get onto Fox High School Friday to cast your ballot for the Lynnfield-Newburyport game to be the feature game on October 29. At one point today, the Pioneer game was leading by 76%-24% but as of 7 pm on Sunday night, it was down to a 65%-35%. Remember you can vote once every 24 hours until the final decisions on Wednesday.

That's it for now. Check back on Tuesday for a look around at what happened to the CAL Small teams in the final week of non-league play.