It Should be a Dandy at Landry

It's probably too early to call this a "must win" game, but it certainly could be labeled a "really important one to win". Whoever takes this game will be 2-0 in the league and will have a leg up on the loser who will fall to 1-1 in CAL Small play. Big difference.

In any case, one thing is sure. We should be in for quite a football game at Landry Stadium in Amesbury on Friday night when the league champs from the last three years (Amesbury in 2007 & 2008 and Lynnfield in 2009) hook up.

A lot of questions will be answered Friday night.

How good are the Pioneers?

They have obliterated every team they have played thus far. The closest margin of victory has been 21 points. They have been tested only briefly, by Danvers, and that was shortlived and quickly overcome.

Can they continue their dominance now that they are in the CAL Small league play?

The Boston Globe thinks they are pretty good. The Pioneers are ranked 26th in the latest Boston.com Top 100 list.  Hamilton-Wenham is the only other team in the CAL Small on the list and they come in at number 69.

And what of Amesbury? Should we overlook their 2-4 record because three of their losses have come against CAL Large powers North Andover and Pentucket and undefeated Division 3A's St. Mary's?

We'll know a lot more at around 9:30 pm Friday.

We do know this. Amesbury is a prime contender. They came the closest of any team in the Small last year of beating Lynnfield. Truth be told, they outplayed the Pioneers on their home field and it took a miracle play in the fourth quarter when Evan Panzero stripped an Indian runner and Tim Lamusta ran it back for the score.

The Pioneers escaped with a 14-10 win and they knew it.

If they made the mistake of taking Amesbury lightly last season, you can be sure that won't be the case this year.

"They're good," said Pioneer head coach Neal Weidman. "We get Amesbury and Newburyport back to back on the road. That's the way it is. We had them both at home last year so I guess we can't complain. We have Amesbury first and that is what we have to focus on."

Like the Pioneers, the Indians are experienced, starting eight seniors on offense and defense. Offensively, quarterback Tyler Lay is the key. He has only thrown two TD passes but he has run for two others and for three two point conversions.

Tall and rangy, Lay looked strong against Pentucket until they started pressuring him. It will be key for Jonathan Roberto and Andrew Kibarian to introduce themselves to Lay early and often.

Matt Enaire leads the Indians with five rushing TD's, but Ian McLaughlin has also been getting carries. They are also starting to get the ball to Stephan Deas, on run plays and little swing passes. He is small, but quick and dangerous, very similar in style to David Cinelli, Jr. of Cathedral and Troy Crossley of Chelsea. The Pioneers' quickness bottled up both of those quick runners, and they will need to do the same to Deas.

No team has been able to run against the Pioneer's first defense. In their first six games, the Pioneer first defense has given up a total of 162 yards on 85 carries - an amazing 1.9 yards per carry average. Even more stunning, 37 of those carries (43%) went for 1 yard or less. The have given up only 11 runs of more than five yards in six games.

John Bossi has been a rock in the middle of the line, taking on multiple blockers freeing up linebackers co-captains A. J. Roberto and Jeff Gannon to make tackles.

"Bossi's been doing a great job in the middle," said Pioneer defensive coordinator Greg Haberland. "Everyone is double teaming him now. It's a great story."

Meanwhile, linebackers co-captains Steve Ullian and Gino Cohee, Craig Cataldo and Tyler Palumbo have set the edge so no one could get to the outside. Defensive backs Rick Berardino, Wes Sullivan, Tim Shannon and Matt Kelly have come up to provide great run support.

The Pioneers need to shut down the Indian running game, pressure Lay and make him beat them through the air. Easier said than done.

Offensively, the Pioneers have shown the ability to take what the defense gives them. M/E, Georgetown, Bishop Fenwick and Cathedral tried to shut down the Pioneer running game, so that allowed Cohee to carve them up through the air completing 32 of 49 passes for 637 yards and nine TD's. Danvers decided to try and shut off the passing game, so Gannon and Cohee gashed them on the ground for 239 yards on 24 carries, a 9.9 yards per carry average.

Amesbury head coach Thom Connors has scouted the Pioneers extensively and understands the dilemna facing him Friday night.

"They spread you out and throw the ball," Connors told me. "They present you with some challenges that you don't see every week. It goes back to like when we played Triton (coached by former Pioneer offensive coordinator Pat Sheehan) at the beginning of the year.

"We're probably going to have to do a few things differently defensively to take away that spread," Connors continued. "But I still think they run the ball a lot even though they spread out. They make you cover guys wide then they run the ball at you. We have a pretty good scout on them. We'll know what they do. We just have to go out and execute."

Mike Geary, former Pioneer line coach and current assistant coach at Triton watched as his Vikings lost to Amesbury 22-21 in the opening game of the season.  He understands the challenge that the Pioneer coaching staff faces in preparing for the Indians.

"Preparing for Amesbury, one of the toughest problems for Lynnfield could be getting used to the slanting and stunting up front by their D-line and linebackers," Geary said. "That movement gave our offensive line a tough time when we played them because we couldn't simulate it enough in practice. That's the problem when mostly freshmen are on your scout team. Hopefully Neal (Weidman) can do a better job than we did getting the line prepared for their quickness up front."

Weidman put this game in particular and the rest of the league schedule in perspective.

"I think they have some specific goals," Weidman said about his team, "and these first games aren't going to get them where they want to go. They're the ones that came up with the goals and what they wanted to do. They're smart enough to know that the last five games are the ones that count. And it's not going to be easy. It's going to be five tough weeks in a row. All we can do it take them one at a time."

The first one is Friday night. Game time in Amesbury is 7 pm.