Ipswich Leftovers

There's an old saying in golf that applies to the Pioneer victory over Ipswich Friday night: They don't draw pictures on the scorecard.

Yes it was a win. Yes it gave the Pioneers a critical first victory in the CAL/NEC 4 title chase. But it certainly wasn't pretty.

The Pioneers were outplayed for most of the first half and for stretches of the second half, but they made critical plays when they needed to and came away with a win in a place that is always difficult for the Pioneers' to play.

Head coach Neal Weidman will take the victory, but he knows his team dodged a bullet in Ipswich.

"(Ipswich) did a great job," Weidman told me after the game. "Other than making a few mental mistakes like a young team's going to make, but as far as being physical an playing hard, they're good. That's what they do all the time. (Tiger head coach) Ted (Flaherty) does a good job with that. he always has his kids ready to play. They're tough kids. Not always the biggest team in the world, but they're always tough."

So what exactly were the Tigers doing in the first half that allowed them to bottle up the Pioneer offense while slashing through the Lynnfield defense?

"They just played the heck out of us," Weidman said. "What they ran is what we thought we'd get. They were tough to block and they were blocking us. That's what it comes down to. We picked it up a little in the second half, blocking them better and we started getting off blocks better defensively too.

"It wasn't just that we were playing poorly in the first half," Weidman went on. "You have to give Ipswich credit. They were playing well. They were ready to play. I'm not going to take anything away from them. Do I think we played our best game? No, but the biggest reason for that was because they made us play that way."

"They're a good team," he summed up. "They only have one win and they haven't had much success the past few years but I've never seen a team play as well as they play without being rewarded for it."

Halftime Adjustment
The Pioneers did a better handling the Ipswich Delaware Wing T in the second half, especially on the Tigers' opening possession of the third quarter. Lynnfield forced the Tigers into their first (of only two) three and outs on the night, giving the ball to the offense quickly.

One of the keys to the change was the Pioneers' switching to a three man front from the four down linemen they came out in. That was the formation the Pioneers' used so successfully against Pentucket, but clearly Ipswich was ready for it.

"We started mixing it in a little bit," Weidman said of the three man alignment. "They were definitely prepared for our four man front so we decided to mix it up a little bit.

The change helped the Pioneers slow down the Tiger offense a little, holding them to that first three and out and then holding them on fourth down deep in Lynnfield territory late in the third period. The Pioneers followed that up with another forced three and out before the nerve-wracking final drive at the end of the game.

Critical Downs
Part of the Pioneers' problem in the first half and at the end of the game was their inability to stop the Tigers on third and fourth downs. Ipswich was 3 for 4 on third downs in the first half. The Pioneers limited that to 1 for 4 in the second half. But on the final drive of the game, Lynnfield allowed the Tigers to convert on their only third down attempt and two of their three fourth down attempts.

The Tigers failed on their other fourth down try when substitute quarterback Louis Galanis lost track of the downs and spiked the ball to stop the clock on fourth down when Ipswich was still a yard shy of the first down marker.

The Pioneers were 2 for 6 on third and fourth downs in the first half but improved to 3 for 4 in the second half.

QB Switch
Speaking of Galanis, the senior was subbing for the Tigers' freshman signal caller Nick Andreas who was injured against Newburyport. His loss obviously hampered the Ipswich passing game as Galanis, who hadn't played quarterback since he was a freshman himself, was clearly rusty throwing the ball. He completed only one pass in seven attempts (of course it was a 23 yarder on fourth down on the final edge-of-your-seat Tiger drive).

"He brings other things that are tough to defend," Weidman said of the QB switch. " We didn't know the freshman wasn't going to play. He warmed up before the game and looked okay but they went with the other guy."

Galanis is clearly a more dangerous runner and hurt the Pioneers several times with keeper sweeps. He picked up 56 yards on 13 carries.

Scary Moment
The Pioneer faithful who journeyed to Ipswich held their collective breath early in the game when quarterback Mike Karavetsos was shaken up on the fifth play of the game. He was stood up by the Ipswich defense and was struggling for another yard or two when he was popped in the side. The Pioneer coaches were yelling for him to go down, but the hit came first.

Backup Alex Roper came in to hand off to Alex Pascucci on third down and then carried on a fake punt that came up a yard short at the Tiger 42 yard line on fourth down.

The Tigers took over and marched to their only touchdown and when the Pioneers got the ball back after the kickoff, Karavetsos was back at the controls.

"He got the wind knocked out of him," Weidman explained. "He came back, didn't have a great first half but he showed some character in the second half and played well. He played well enough for us to win which is good. He didn't have his best game but he still made plays for us to win the game.

Economical Offense?
The Pioneers finished the night with 201 yards of offense. 82 of those came on the Pioneers' two scoring plays - the 30 yard TD run by Karavetsos and the 52 yard TD pass from Karavetsos to Nico Varano.  The Pioneers ran off only 40 plays in the game and of those 15 were for no gain or a loss.

Hole Diggers
For the fourth straight game, the Pioneers allowed their opponent to score first. But for the second week in a row, they were able to dig their way out of the hole and record a win. It is not a trend Weidman wants to continue.

"Right now I don't know what to do about that," he admitted. "We're just not starting games well. I think a lot of it is that they are still unsure of themselves. We're still a pretty young team and we're just a little unsure of ourselves when we start the game, I think. Until they feel it out and then realize that they can play.

"I think it shows character no doubt (that they have been able to come back from those starts," Weidman continued. "The hard part is when you play a real good team it makes it difficult to come back from. Like the St. Mary's of the world. We made a little bit of a run against them, but they were just too good to get behind by that much."

Snapping the Streaks
The win snaps two losing streaks that stretch back a year. It ends a four game road losing streak and a string of three straight night game losses. The last time Lynnfield has won at night and on the road was against Amesbury last October 22.

Keeping Their Balance
Although many look at the Pioneers' spread offense as a wide open passing attack, the numbers actually show a very balanced offense.

Through their first seven games, the Pioneers have run for 1066 yards and 11 touchdowns. They have passed for 961 yards and nine TD's.

Notable
- The Pioneers hold a 23-13 advantage in turnovers through their first seven games
- Lynnfield played without another injured senior in Dan Ashwell who sat out after a big hit against Pentucket. He is expected back against Hamilton Wenham.
- The Pioneers have now won five straight against the Tigers. That includes two tough wins Ipswich - Friday night and a tougher than you would have expected 20-3 win in the 2009 championship year.
- The Pioneer defense has shown huge improvement since being lit up for 82 points against St. Mary's and Danvers. They have allowed only 20 points in their last two games against Pentucket and Ipswich.
- The 13 Pioneer points is the fewest they have scored since the 24-7 loss to Newburyport last year.
- The last time the Pioneers scored as few as 13 points and won was in 2008 when ironically they defeated Ipswich 13-7.
- The 6 points was the fewest the Pioneers have allowed since shutting out - you guessed it - Ipswich 41-0 last year.

That's it for now. Check back Monday night when I'll take a look at the first week of play in the CAL/NEC 4.