“High energy…competitive…enthusiastic…dedicated…feisty”
Two other words usually follow along:
“Young…inexperienced”
Put them all together and you get what you might have expected so far – an 0-3 start with flashes of competitiveness that makes the Falcons a dangerous foe for the Pioneers when they come to town on Saturday afternoon.
First, the youth and inexperience. No question about that starting with new head coach Sean Rogers who was the offensive coordinator for Danvers last year and has moved into the head job this season, succeeding outgoing coach John Sullivan.
Rogers starts with a clean slate as the Falcons graduated 23 players from the team than went 6-5 last season. Among the losses was a 14-6 setback to the Pioneers on a rainy Friday night in a game that many saw as the turning point in Lynnfield’s championship season.
As for the feistiness, the Falcons have played hard in all three losses: 31-16 to Pentucket in their opener, 24-15 to a resurgent Revere team and a 47-16 mismatch against Lynn English last week.
In all three games, the young Falcons have hung in there.
Against Revere (3-1) they were close at 18-15 early in the fourth quarter until UNH bound running back Trae Weathers broke a 63 yard TD run to seal it.
In the Pentucket (2-2) contest, they were in a one possession game trailing 24-16 at the end of the third before the Sachems pulled away with a fourth quarter score.
The game with English (3-1) ended up as a rout, but was scoreless after the first period and 20-0 at the half. Even when the Bulldogs got to 40-0 in the third period the Falcons continued to battle and scored two touchdowns and a pair of two point conversions.
So despite the fact that the Pioneers are undefeated at 4-0 and Danvers is winless at 0-3, this should be the most competitive test Lynnfield has faced so far. The Pioneers are stepping up a notch to play the Divison 3 Falcons, and they need to be ready for a fight.
"They've played Revere tough, and they are very good this year," said Pioneer head coach Neal Weidman. "They also played Pentucket tough. They're good. They're going to be a nice test."
"They've played Revere tough, and they are very good this year," said Pioneer head coach Neal Weidman. "They also played Pentucket tough. They're good. They're going to be a nice test."
Even with a new head coach, nothing much appears to have changed with the Falcons’ offensive and defensive systems.
The Falcons are led by co-captains Zach Ryan and Greg Little.
Ryan is a two way end who rarely leaves the field as he also handles all the punting and some of the placekicking for Danvers.
Little held off a challenge to win the starting quarterback job. He started slow in the opener against Pentucket completing only three passes for 33 yards, but in the last two games he has thrown three TD passes, all to Ryan.
Jim Oliveri (1 TD), a 6’ 1” 220 fullback transfer from Bishop Fenwick and Nick Valles (2 TD’s) handle most of the ball carrying.
Oliveri, Ryan, Ryan Fecteau and Valles lead the defense. In the line, the Falcons return two way lettermen Michael Conners and Shane Tobyne, a 6’260 lb roadblock.
The concern on the Pioneer side is the bumps and bruises that are starting to mount up.
Quarterback co-captain Gino Cohee’s availability is up in the air due to his ankle problem. His nine TD's is tied for the most in Division 3A (even though the Globe only lists him as having eight. They had the forward lateral to co-captain Steve Ullian in the Georgetown game as a run.) If he can’t go or his participation is limited, look for co-captain A. J. Roberto to move in. On the defensive side, Tyler Palumbo has been seeing more action at linebacker to spell Cohee. The sophomore had an interception against Cathedral last week.
Ullian, the Pioneers' leading receiver with nine catches for 215 yards and a score, is also banged up. He sat out most of the second half against the Panthers. He has been a sparkplug offensively and defensively as well as being nearly flawless in the kicking game. His absence would be missed as well. If he can't go, there would be added pressure on Rick Berardino who has four TD catches, tied for fourth best in the division.
So the real question will be, can the energy and enthusiasm of the young Falcons overcome their inexperience and slow down a Pioneer team that has started the season fast and appears to be getting stronger?
We'll find out Saturday afternoon.
Game time at LMS Pioneer Field is 2 pm.
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