Let's start with the prohibitive league favorite up route 128 in the Hamilton-Wenham Generals. I took in the H-W Amesbury game, the second time I've seen the Generals live, and they are a load. That said, they were only able to beat Amesbury 7-0, although they ended the game taking a couple of knees on the Indian seven yard line.
The Indians defense did play tough, keeping the Generals out of the endzone for the rest of the game after a long H-W scoring drive to open the game.
Both teams had ample opportunities to score, but two good defenses came up with the plays when they had to.
Amesbury intercepted General quarterback Trevor Lyons at the Amesbury 19 late in the first period and recovered a General fumble at the Indian six yard line early in the fourth quarter.
Meanwhile, Amesbury played a similar game to the one in Lynnfield, moving the ball well, but making key mistakes in the red zone. They picked up 201 yards of offense but quarterback Matt Talbot was intercepted at the HW one yard line late in the second period, the Indians fumbled at the HW six early in the third and Talbot got picked off again at the HW 17 midway in the fourth.
General running back Eliot Burr continues to be a beast. He carried 29 times for 192 yards and their only touchdown. At 6"0" 200 lbs, Burr not only picks up huge chunks of yardage, but punishes anyone who tries to tackle him.
The Generals' other dangerous weapon, Lyons, continues to get more comfortable at quarterback after being a tailback last year. He ran for 69 yards but still struggled passing, completing only 2 of 7 passes for 24 yards and an interception.
And if the Generals' opponents didn't need more to worry about, H-W coach Andrew Morency had Lyons operating out of the spread on several occasions. You could see he wasn't quite with it yet, but if they are able to master that along with Burr out of the power I, the Generals will become even more dangerous.
The only warning sign for the defending CAL Small champs is the lack of depth on the General squad.
They suit up only 41 players, including 13 freshmen. They have 13 seniors but only 5 juniors.
Most of starters play both ways including Burr and Lyons, and according to my count, H-W used only 14 players against Amesbury. That could be a problem for H-W as they get deeper into the season.
But they obviously have the right players, since the win lifts the Generals to 4-0 against four tough non league foes. They have allowed only 13 points, a stingy 3.25 average.
Circle October 29th on your calendar. That is the date the Pioneers will take on this monumental challenge at the Middle School Field. The Generals have this week off then come back to host Bishop Fenwick and travel to Manchester Essex, so there is a pretty good chance that Hamilton Wenham will swagger into Lynnfield for the big showdown undefeated at 6-0.
Down at the other end of Chestnut Street, the North Reading Hornets evened their season record at 2-2 with a comeback victory over Austin Prep. Eric Valenti booted a 27 yard field goal to give the Hornets a 3-0 lead, but the Cougars responded with two unanswered touchdowns to take a 14-3 halftime lead.
The Hornets single wing offense took over in the second half controlling the ball for most of the final two periods. Carl Lipani, who ran for 170 yards, scored midway in the third period. The rush for two failed but NR now trailed 14-9. Later in the period, CJ McCarthy broke loose for a 33 yard TD and Lipani added the two pointer to give North Reading the 17-14 win.
The Hornets travel to Peabody Thursday night to take on Bishop Fenwick.
Fenwick should be revved up for North Reading coming off a 30-13 pasting of Georgetown who fell to 1-2 with the loss. The Pioneers handled the Crusaders easily last week and bottled up running back Rufus Rushins, holding him to only 38 yards rushing. Georgetown wasn't as successful as the freshman sensation ran wild against the Royals, rolling for 184 yards and three touchdowns.
Georgetown trailed 14-7 at the half and pulled to 14-13 in the third, but BF responded with 16 unanswered points to run away with this one.
Tyler Wade through for one TD and Matt Prescott had a 41 yard TD run for the Royals.
Georgetown hosts Saugus on Saturday.
Up in West Newbury, the Ipswich Tigers showed some serious signs of life against Pentucket on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers came in as heavy underdogs at 0-2 having scored only one touchdown and having been outscored, 66-8 in their first two games.
None of that mattered as they gave the Sachems all they could handle even though things started out badly for Ipswich. Cody Rothwell took the opening kickoff back 78 yards and gave Pentucket a 7-0 lead before all the fans were seated.
But give Ipswich credit. They roared back with their Delaware Wing T chewing up the clock and marching down the field. Senior Cam Murray capped a 63 yard drive with a nine yard run. The PAT was no good but the Tigers were back in the game at 7-6. They drove to the Pentucket six yard line on their next possession but a field goal attempt was wide and they still trailed by a point.
Again the Tigers held the Sachems forcing them to punt and Ipswich then blocked the kick. This time they capitalized when Peter Moutevalis scampered in from nine yards out to give the Tigers a 12-7 lead at halftime.
Pentucket came back in the third period to score and take a 15-12 lead. The Tigers tried to answer but early in the fourth period, Sachem Jeff Porter picked off Ipswich quarterback Nick Andreas to end the threat. Pentucket then rolled down the field to score and take a 21-12 lead. They would reach the endzone one more time to account for the 28-12 final.
Despite falling to 0-3, the Tigers will certainly gain some confidence from that first half when they outplayed Pentucket. The Pioneers will see the Sachems a week from Saturday then open the CAL/NEC 4 schedule with a trip to Ipswich.
The Tigers will be looking to break into the win column Friday night when they travel to Landry Stadium to take on Amesbury.
Finally, Manchester-Essex moved down two divisions to pick up their second win of the season in an easy 28-7 rout of North Shore.
Hornet running back Jake Fitzgerald had a monster day rushing for 241 yards and three touchdowns. Quarterback Corey Burhham added a one yard sneak for M-E's fourth score.
The Hornets scored on their first play from scrimmage when Fitzgerald broke a 96 yard run. Burnham's rush made it 13-0 on their next drive. They then pulled off an onside kick and scored again to build a 20-0 lead in the first quarter. They would get to 28-0 before the Bulldogs broke the shutout with a score in the final minute of the game.
M-E hosts Austin Prep this Friday.
One final note, Pat Sheehan's Triton Vikings won their third straight game with an impressive 28-20 win over Masco and now stand at 3-1 on the season.
That's it for now. Check back tomorrow night for the next post in my series on the 1986 Super Pioneers.
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