Ipswich Leftovers

In my game preview post last Thursday, I called on some Pioneer alumni to help outline the best way to stop the tricky Delaware Wing T offense run by Ipswich. It was all great advice and as a companion piece for future reference, we can simply include the video of Saturday's stonewalling of the Tigers by the Pioneers.

You can read all the details in my Villager game story on Wednesday, but suffice to say, that was a big time performance in a crucial game.

I've been watching teams trying to defend that defense for over 30 years and I've never seen it done better than Lynnfield yesterday. There have been years when the Tigers were struggling and didn't have the personnel when the Pioneers have had success, but the result yesterday was not about the Tigers' talent.

Quarterback Brendan Gallagher, running backs Peter Moutevelis, Jake LeBlanc, Kenny Wing and receiver John Eldredge are good. They were just shut down by a superior defensive performance by the Pioneers.

"Ipswich does what they do well," said Pioneer head coach Neal Weidman after the game. "They have some very good players. They have a bunch of guys that can play but we wanted it today. Our players wanted it and that's why we had success."

Although the Pioneers came up huge in a game they had to have, this was a far from obvious outcome coming in. The Pioneer coaching staff (and a good number of the fanbase as well) was definitely apprehensive coming into this game. They were not sure what affect the brutal defeat in Newburyport would have on this team against Ipswich.

"I've been quite nervous all week," Weidman admitted. "They were workmanlike at practice is the best way to put it. There wasn't a lot of rah, rah stuff going on. I wasn't exactly sure how to take it. At the beginning of the week I thought they were a little somber, but by the end of the week, I realized that they were just serious."

The Pioneers had to play without co-captain Jeff Gannon for the second week in a row, forcing them to start a freshman, Kyle McGah along with sophomore Tyler Palumbo at linebacker. That is dangerous when you are trying to stop an intricate defense like the Wing T.

"Guys stepped up," Weidman said. "Last week was the first week with the adjustment (of not having Gannon) and we had another whole week to adjust to not having him which is helpful."

Gannon's availability for the big showdown with Hamilton Wenham this Saturday is still up in the air according to Weidman. "We're not sure yet. I'd love to have him back"

Turning Point
It may sound odd to talk about a turning point in a 41-0 blowout, but I think there clearly was one and it happened on the Pioneers' second series.

Leading 7-0, Lynnfield faced a second and nine from their own 34 yard line. They ran the option to the right side and co-captain Gino Cohee pitched to junior Mike Thomas. The pitch was a little high and not handled cleanly and the ball fell to the ground with Thomas in hot pursuit. For a moment it looked like the Ipswich defender was about to recover it but Thomas quickly snatched it back, covered it up and the Pioneers kept possession.

It went into the game chart as a four yard loss, but it could have been a huge momentum swing if the Tigers recovered at the Lynnfield 30 yard line with a short field and a chance to go in for the tying score.

Instead, on third and 13, Cohee faded back and drilled co-captain A. J. Roberto over the middle who reached up, bobbled it for a second, gathered it in and then motored away for a 70 yard TD reception. So instead of facing a potentioal 7-7 tie, the Pioneers led 14-0, a huge 14 point swing.

I'd call that a pretty big turning point.

Third Down Bingo
Part of the reason for the Pioneers early offensive barrage was their efficiency on third down in the first half. They were faced with third down six times and converted on five of them, two for touchdowns. Here is a rundown:

Third and 17 from their own 27. Result: Cohee 73 yard TD run.

Third and 13 from their own 30. Result: Cohee to Roberto 70 yard TD pass.

Third and 10 from their own 35. Result: Cohee to Roberto pass for nine yards. Punt.

Third and 7 from the 50. Result: Cohee 10 yard run for first down.

Third and 3 from the Ipswich 33. Result: Cohee four yard run for first down

Third and 7 from Ipswich 26. Result: Thomas 10 yard run for first down.

Those last three kept the Pioneers' third scoring drive alive and allowed them to go up 21-0.

"On the first two series especially we had more of a chance to see what they were doing against us defensively," Weidman explained. "Once we figured out what they were doing against us, we were able to figure out what we wanted to do on third down."

Making Their Points
Cohee notched two more touchdowns Saturday, increasing his career point total to 182. That moves him past Eric Hansen (1976-78) who has 180 into third place on the all time scoring list.

Meanwhile, Rick Berardino tallied twice more on long TD runs, lifting his point total for the year to 60, tops on the team. There is a real dogfight going on for the team scoring lead. Gannon is in second place with 56 points with co-captain Steve Ullian (49) and Cohee (48) lurking right behind. Roberto with 38 is still within striking distance as well.

As a team, the Pioneers now have an even 300 points, only the second team in school history to reach that mark. They are now second all time to the 1960 team which scored 410 points in nine games.

Saturday's game marked the fourth time this year the Pioneers have scored more than 40 points. The only other time that has happened was in 1960 when Lynnfield exceeded the 40 mark six times.

Pickpocket
In addition to leading the team in scoring, Berardino is also tops in interceptions. He picked off his fifth against Ipswich, which is the most in a single season since 1996 when Tony Reed snared six. That is the most since I've been keeping that particular stat which goes back to 1989. Dan Venoit and Matt Stanton each had four in 2000.

Passing Fancy
In the early going, the Pioneers looked like they really wanted to throw the ball, which once again was a function of reacting to what the defense was giving them. Eight of the first sixteen plays were pass plays.

"They were definitely bouncing around trying to make us guess what they were doing," Weidman said of the Tiger defense. "We are good when we run the ball well and when we make teams pay throwing the ball. If they don't let us run then we have to make them pay with the pass. It we don't make them pay then we don't have success."

Tiger Tales
This was the 42nd meeting between the Pioneers and the Tigers. That is more than any other Lynnfield opponent other than Masco who the Pioneers also faced 42 times and North Reading. The Hornets are the only team the Pioneers have played every year since the program started in 1958. This Thanksgiving will mark the 53rd meeting between the two rivals.

Lynnfield has a 16-26 record against Ipswich although the Pioneers have now won four in a row against them. The 41 points is the most Lynnfield has ever scored against the Tigers. Prior to last Saturday, the most points the Pioneers have scored against Ipswich was 28 which happened in 1980 and 1987. Overall the Tigers hold a 724-553 edge in scoring.

That's it for now. Check back on Tuesday when I'll take a look at this week's results around the CAL Small and update the playoff permutations.