Danvers Leftovers

Since preseason began, Pioneer head coach Neal Weidman has said that the only games that really matter are the CAL/NEC 4 games which begin on October 21. He purposely toughened up his schedule to get the Pioneers ready for their league season. He knew there would be some lumps dished out to his young squad as they went through this non-league learning process.

That said, the coach was clearly not happy with the performance of his team against Danvers.

"This was a winnable game that we lost," Weidman said following the wide open contest.

You can read all the details in my Villager game article on Wednesday.

"We started off lousy, came back scored three times then we let them regain momentum," Weidman said.

The Pioneers started off slow again as they did last week against St. Mary's, dug themselves a hole and this time nearly climbed out. They also allowed Danvers to roll up 370 yards on the ground, the third time in five games they have allowed over 300 yards rushing. Amesbury went for 329 and St. Mary's had 359. The Pioneers have allowed 1244 yards rushing and 433 yards passing in their first five games, a 332 per game average.

Weidman wants to see both those trends end with only one non-league game left before the league schedule begins.

Karavetsos Strong Again
Junior quarterback Mike Karavetsos had another huge game, throwing for 240 yards and two more TD passes. That gives him seven on the season. He has passed for 770 yards in five games. He picked up another running TD giving him three on the year to go along with a pair of two point conversions. Karavetsos is also the team's leading rusher with 364 yards, a 6.3 per carry average.

"This is only his fifth game starting," Weidman pointed out. "He's improving each week. He's doing a great job."

Running Back Change
The saddest person at Dr. Deering Stadium Thursday night was tri-captain Mike Thomas who was on the sideline with a broken collarbone that has ended his senior season. As the fireworks continued to explode in the fourth quarter, I turned to him and said, "Great game huh? I wish you were in there."

"So do I," he replied quietly.

Thomas' hard running will be sorely missed but he also leaves a hole on defense where he had been making an impact.

Offensively, sophomore Kyle McGah stepped in and had a solid debut against Danvers, rushing for 75 yards and two touchdowns. In addition to his increased offensive responsibilities, McGah continues to man one of the crucial inside linebacker spots on the Pioneer defense.

"We ask him to do a lot," said Weidman.  "He's going to be really good."

Getting Into The Action
Senior Steve Yobaccio continues to get more involved in the Pioneer attack. He scored another touchdown this week on a beautiful 56 yard bomb from Karavetsos. He nearly had another late in the fourth quarter but he was downed at the one yard line after hauling in a 24 yard Karavetsos throw. In the past two games, Yobaccio had caught five passes for 105 yards and two TD's.

"We know we need to get him going so we made a conscious effort to get him involved," said Weidman.

Sound of Danvers
One of the treats of having the Falcons on the Pioneers' schedule is being able to watch and listen to the nationally recognized Danvers High Band. Over 125 strong, the Falcon band presents one of the best shows by a high school band in the area.

The Danvers band, which has appeared in the Rose Bowl parade among its many notable appearances, will be traveling to Honolulu in early December to represent Massachusetts and New England at the ceremonies commemorating the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Offensive Output
Danvers and Lynnfield combined for 892 yards of offense with both teams going over 400 yards. That is the first time since I have been covering the Pioneers that such a feat has been accomplished.

The two teams combined for 30 first downs and 77 points.

That ties the record for most combined points in a Pioneer game. The only other time that happened was in the 49-28 Saugus victory over the Pioneers in 2008.

The Falcons and Pioneers combined for 11 touchdowns. Putting that into context, the game featured a touchdown on average every four minutes of game time. The game lasted two hours and 13 minutes so in real time, there was a touchdown scored on average every 12 minutes.

Quick Strikes
The Pioneers did not exactly practice ball control in this one as they were constantly in hurry up mode trying to catch the Falcons. Lynnfield's five TD drives in game time consumed 2:42, 0:45, 2:03, 1:26 and 0:42.

Sticky Fingers
The fourth quarter featured some remarkable catches by the Pioneer receivers. Nico Varano had two diving catches including one for his 16 yard touchdown. Alex Pascucci also had a diving grab as did Yobaccio.

Notable:
- In honor of Breast Cancer awareness month, members of both teams wore pink socks and towels.
- This was Danvers' first win over the Pioneers after suffering losses of 40-18 last year and 14-6 in 2009.
- For only the second time in school history, the Pioneers have allowed 40+ points in consecutive games. The only other time it happened was in 2006 when Lynnfield lost back to back games to Hamilton-Wenham 42-14 and Newburyport 42-7.
- The Falcons had a rough time with penalties being flagged 13 times for 82 yards. The Pioneers were penalized only twice for 15 yards.
- The Pioneers lost the time of possession battle 17:46 to 26:14.

That's it for now. Check back Monday night for my look around the league.