Each Wednesday, I will post an article of what was happening with the Super '86 team that week 25 years ago. Most of my information comes from news articles from the Lynnfield Villager of that year and from retrospective interviews I have done over the years with Bill Adams, head coach of that squad, Harry Jameson who was an assistant coach and a few ex-players I have met along the way.
If you played on that team and want to share any memories of specific games, I'd love to include them. Just email me at tcondardo@gmail.com.
For my kickoff post of that special season, I look back at the preseason preview of that 1986 team and what the expectations were for them.
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| The LHS Football Wayback Machine |
When preseason practices began for the 1986 squad, there were some huge holes to fill. The 1985 team had earned a share of the CAL Championship with a 9-1 record. Their only blemish was a 14-7 loss to the other co-champion North Andover.
Gone to graduation were CAL & Globe All Stars defensive lineman John Caruso and QB Mark Nevils. Running backs Scott Milne and Rob Lake were also gone. Milne scored 97 points, Lake posted 36 and Nevils tallied 12. That trio accounted for 65% of the 225 points the Pioneers racked up in 1985.
In its preview story, the Villager did not sound optimistic.
"It appears at first glance that Bill Adams' team will be hard pressed to match last year's championship performance," the article read.
But Adams, beginning his second year as Lynnfield head coach, put on a brave face.
"My outlook is pretty optimistic," he told the Villager. "We're really pulling together as a unit. I think we're at the same point defensively as we were last year and ahead of where we were offensively. We'll be very competitive throughout the year."
However when I interviewed him about the '86 season for a ten year retrospective in 1996 he admitted that he wasn't expecting a championship type season.
"I thought we has lost too much (from 1985) to repeat in 1986," Adams told me. "But we had a tremendous junior class led by Mark Sutera and Jason Mochi to supplement the four returning starters."
Assistant coach Harry Jameson had similar sentiments 10 years after the fact.
"We didn't have too many seniors so we didn't expect much," Jameson said.
Adams was clearly enamored of his co-captains tackle Darrell Carty (6'3" 230) and FB/LB Todd Coviello (6'1" 200). The pair were the only full time returning starters from the '85 champs and Adams called them "the heart of the team."
As Adams and his staff of Jameson, Paul Harrington and Scott Brennan prepared for the season, they had to deal with a quarterback concern. Senior Jay Kelleher was expected to be the starter but he was dealing with a knee injury and was day to day. Junior Dave Frontero was handling most of the snaps in Kelleher's absence.
They represented a contrast in styles as Kelleher was the classic drop back passer while Frontero was smaller and faster and presented more of a running threat.
Adams told the Villager that the complete Pioneers' lineup looked like this:
Offense:
QB - Frontero/Kelleher
RB - Coviello
RB - Jason Mochi
RB- Mark Sutera
WB - Mark Guido
WR - Ron Grasso
WR - David Callahan
T - Carty
T - Dan Madden
G - Paul Booras
G - Chris Loomos
C - Kevin Murphy
PK - Frontero
K - John Wilson
Defense:
T - Carty
T - John Dean, Booras
E - Callahan
E - Bill Aldenberg
NG - Loomos
LB - Coviello
LB - Sutera
CB - Kelleher
CB - Steve Bucci, Mike Pascucci
S - Frontero
S - Mochi, Scott Yerardi
In handicapping the rest of the league, Adams felt that Newburyport, Triton and North Andover appeared to be the top obstacles to the Pioneers title defense. Those three just happened to be the first three teams on Lynnfield's league schedule.
That being the case, the Pioneers were going to find out quickly how they measured up in 1986.
Next: The Pioneers non league opener against Wayland.
If you played on or were involved with the 1986 team and would like to share a memory, please pass it on to me at tcondardo@gmail.com
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