Young Pioneers Set The Table!

Rivalry week got off to a roaring start last Friday as the Pioneers swatted the Hornets 28-14 in the JV game played in North Reading.

Sophomore quarterback Mike Karavetsos tossed three touchdown passes, two to junior Dan Ashwell and one to sophomore Mike Soden while freshman Kyle McGah ran in a fourth score to pace the Pioneer attack.

Karavetsos also ran in a two point conversion and connected with Soden for another two pointer.

According to coach Chris Sakelakos, Karavetsos also had a solid game running while linebackers Connor Lordan, Alex Pascucci, Alex Roper and Anthony Costa all played well defensively.

The Pioneers took a 14-0 lead and the Hornets pushed one in before the half to make it 14-6 at the break. Lynnfield put it out of reach with two more scores to up the lead to 28-6 before North Reading scored late to account for the final score.

The JV's had an impressive season overall, going 8-2 with wins over Manchester-Essex, Georgetown, Bishop Fenwick, Cathedral, Newburyport, Hamilton Wenham, Ipswich and the Hornets. Their only losses came against Amesbury and Danvers.

"Karavetsos played well all season," Sakelakos said. "Kyle McGah was our running back most of the time and ran really well."

The Pioneer JV receiving corps consisted of Soden, Ashwell, Pascucci, Steve Yobaccio and Tony Mancini. The linemen were Lordan, Zack Panzini, Cameron Weeks, Mike Bonafine, Corey Ragusa, Joe Dias, Nick Bucci, Andrew Mucci, DJ DeGeorge, Terin O'Neil, Tom Arsenault, Matt Connolly, Anthony Vaccaro and Chris Brown.

According to Sakelakos, other contributors were Alex Roper (QB/LB), Matt Kramich ((QB/DB), Tyler Shaffer (RB/DB), Anthony Costa (RB/LB), Ryan Devoe (RB/LB), David Aiken (WR/LB), Andrew Martin (WR/LB), Antonio Soares-Timas (WR/DB), Shyheim Cole (WR/DB), Kenny Grant (WR/DB), Jared Owen (WR/DB), Guilio Pellegrini (WR/LB), John Klug (WR/DB), Joe Mehr (WR/DB), Frank Kalanderi (QB/DB) and Frank Coburn (RB/DL).

Now that the youngsters have posted a win, the varsity will be looking to keep pace with a victory on Thursday Morning.

For my look at the big game, check out my previous post, "Thanksgiving Day: Time to Finish Strong" by clicking on the link on the left.