To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the only Pioneer team to make it to the Super Bowl, I am taking a week by week look back at the Super 1986 season.
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| LHS Football Wayback Machine |
You can't win if you don't score. And you can't score if you don't have the football.
The Pentucket Sachems learned that painful lesson the hard way when they fell to the Super Pioneers of 1986 in West Newbury 25 years ago this week.
Similar to last week's opponent Masco, Pentucket has come to represent winning and domination in the Cape Ann League. However like the Chieftains, the Sachems were CAL also rans in the 80's. Coming into the 1986 game, the Pioneers had beaten Pentucket five straight times, but most of those were close fought battles.
The Pioneers didn't figure to have much trouble with the winless Sachems in this one, but the home team still managed to hang around, despite not having the ball much.
According to the game account by Villager reporter David Angelini, the Pioneers controlled the ball for 30 of the 40 minute contest. They ran off 57 plays to only 33 for Pentucket and they never really threatened.
The Pioneer ground game set the tone early with a numbing opening drive that featured 18 running plays and chewed up 9:41 of the first period. Quarterback David Frontero scored from three yards out and added the extra point to give the undefeated Pioneers a 7-0 lead.
The Lynnfield defense, led by Mike Pascucci, dominated Pentucket throughout. Pascucci, a 5' 9", 150 lb defensive end was filling in for the injured Bill Aldenberg and wreaked havoc on the Sachem offense. He picked up four tackles in the first half and keyed the Pioneers' second scoring drive by recovering a fumble at the Sachem 15 yard line.
Lynnfield turned that into their second scoring drive which was led by co-captain Todd Coviello, who picked up 70 yards on 20 carries on the day. He scored the Pioneers' second TD from one yard out and although Frontero's PAT try was short, Lynnfield still had a 13-0 lead at the half.
In the second half, it was the Pioneer defense that dominated and made the lead stand up. Co-captain Darrell Carty, linebacker Mark Sutera and linemen Chris Loomos and John Dean formed an impenetrable wall that Pentucket could not breach. The quartet had 11 tackles in the third quarter alone, according to Angelini.
Safety Scott Yerardi had a nice pass deflection that ended one Pentucket drive and Coviello showed what he could do on the defensive side of the ball with a sack of Sachem quarterback Jason Peterson.
The Pioneers finished with 184 yards rushing with Sutera gaining 41 on 6 carries.
The victory lifted the Pioneers to 6-0 overall and 5-0 in the CAL. Losses by Hamilton Wenham and Ipswich gave Lynnfield sole possession of first place and they also sat atop the Division Three Super Bowl ratings.
Again head coach Bill Adams was not particularly happy with the win.
"We sat back at times and were just too complacent," Adams told Angelini after the game. "But I give a lot of credit to Pentucket. Every year they play us tough."
Adams must have continued to boil during the long bus ride home because according to Loomos, the coach's anger had not subsided once they arrived back in Lynnfield.
"The coaches were really mad," Loomos told me recently remembering that game. "When we got back to the high school right after the game, Coach Adams lined our whole team up on the goal line. He made us hold hands as he gave us a lecture. He was pretty mad."
Despite the Pioneers being undefeated, Adams knew that something was not right with his team. He wouldn't have to wait much longer to have his worst fears realized.
Next: The Pioneers return home to host lowly Amesbury.
The Pentucket Sachems learned that painful lesson the hard way when they fell to the Super Pioneers of 1986 in West Newbury 25 years ago this week.
Similar to last week's opponent Masco, Pentucket has come to represent winning and domination in the Cape Ann League. However like the Chieftains, the Sachems were CAL also rans in the 80's. Coming into the 1986 game, the Pioneers had beaten Pentucket five straight times, but most of those were close fought battles.
The Pioneers didn't figure to have much trouble with the winless Sachems in this one, but the home team still managed to hang around, despite not having the ball much.
According to the game account by Villager reporter David Angelini, the Pioneers controlled the ball for 30 of the 40 minute contest. They ran off 57 plays to only 33 for Pentucket and they never really threatened.
The Pioneer ground game set the tone early with a numbing opening drive that featured 18 running plays and chewed up 9:41 of the first period. Quarterback David Frontero scored from three yards out and added the extra point to give the undefeated Pioneers a 7-0 lead.
The Lynnfield defense, led by Mike Pascucci, dominated Pentucket throughout. Pascucci, a 5' 9", 150 lb defensive end was filling in for the injured Bill Aldenberg and wreaked havoc on the Sachem offense. He picked up four tackles in the first half and keyed the Pioneers' second scoring drive by recovering a fumble at the Sachem 15 yard line.
Lynnfield turned that into their second scoring drive which was led by co-captain Todd Coviello, who picked up 70 yards on 20 carries on the day. He scored the Pioneers' second TD from one yard out and although Frontero's PAT try was short, Lynnfield still had a 13-0 lead at the half.
In the second half, it was the Pioneer defense that dominated and made the lead stand up. Co-captain Darrell Carty, linebacker Mark Sutera and linemen Chris Loomos and John Dean formed an impenetrable wall that Pentucket could not breach. The quartet had 11 tackles in the third quarter alone, according to Angelini.
Safety Scott Yerardi had a nice pass deflection that ended one Pentucket drive and Coviello showed what he could do on the defensive side of the ball with a sack of Sachem quarterback Jason Peterson.
The Pioneers finished with 184 yards rushing with Sutera gaining 41 on 6 carries.
The victory lifted the Pioneers to 6-0 overall and 5-0 in the CAL. Losses by Hamilton Wenham and Ipswich gave Lynnfield sole possession of first place and they also sat atop the Division Three Super Bowl ratings.
Again head coach Bill Adams was not particularly happy with the win.
"We sat back at times and were just too complacent," Adams told Angelini after the game. "But I give a lot of credit to Pentucket. Every year they play us tough."
Adams must have continued to boil during the long bus ride home because according to Loomos, the coach's anger had not subsided once they arrived back in Lynnfield.
"The coaches were really mad," Loomos told me recently remembering that game. "When we got back to the high school right after the game, Coach Adams lined our whole team up on the goal line. He made us hold hands as he gave us a lecture. He was pretty mad."
Despite the Pioneers being undefeated, Adams knew that something was not right with his team. He wouldn't have to wait much longer to have his worst fears realized.
Next: The Pioneers return home to host lowly Amesbury.
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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