Pentucket Game Preview: Dragon Hunting

All year I've been talking up Hamilton Wenham and their bruising running back Elliot Burr who has terrorized all H-W opponents thus far. He is big at 6'0 200 lbs and carries would-be tacklers like tin cans tied to his legs.

So what does that have to do with the Pioneers' game this Saturday against Pentucket?

Well, the Pioneers will get a chance for a sneak preview of Burr in Sachem running back Nolan Dragon.  Pentucket's big fullback is about the same size at 6'1" 210 lbs, and just as tough. The Lynnfield defense is going to have to slow him down if they hope to upset the 3-2 Sachems.

Dragon almost single handedly slew Haverhill last week rushing for 237 yards and three touchdowns. He also returned an interception for a fourth score. In all, the Sachems rushed for 342 yards in the 41-21 rout.

In addition to Dragon, Pentucket also features halfback Cody Rothwell, who transferred in from St. John's Prep and presents a dangerous outside threat option to Dragon's inside pounding.

The Sachems fell to Marblehead 14-12 in their season opener and then allowed Hamilton-Wenham to roll for 214 yards on the ground in a 30-7 General win. But after falling  to 0-2, the Sachems have now taken three in a row with wins over Danvers 19-0, Ipswich 28-12 and then last week's victory over Haverhill.

There are rays of hope for the Pioneers who return home trying to snap a two game losing streak.

Ipswich handled Pentucket for nearly three quarters, entering the final period down15-12 before the Sachems blew it open. The caveat there is that the Tigers had an advantage since Pentucket utilizes nearly the same Delaware Wing T offense as Ipswich, so the Tigers were defending the same offense that they see every day in practice.

Another potential good sign for the Pioneers is that although Pentucket appears to be difficult to run against, they have been susceptible to the pass. In particular in last week's game, Haverhill quarterback Tom Morgan, operating out of a similar spread formation as Lynnfield, completed 21 of 29 passes for 242 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

In another crack in the Pentucket defense, Triton was able to move the ball against the Sachems last Thanksgiving. The Vikings, which basically runs the same offense as Lynnfield under former Pioneer assistant Pat Sheehan, had particular success with the quarterback pull and go, a play that quarterback Mike Karavetsos has run well so far this year.

Karavetsos has completed 57% of his passes in his first five games (43 of 75) with seven touchdowns and only four interceptions and a total of 770 yards. His leading targets have been Dan Ashwell (8 catches, 172 yards and two TD's), Alex Pascucci (10 for 151) and Steve Yobaccio (9 for 137, 2 TD's). Nico Varano has come alive in the past two games hauling in three passes for 51 yards and a touchdown.

With tri-captain running back Mike Thomas out for the season and the running burden falling on sophomore Kyle McGah, look for the Pioneers to rely on Karavetsos both throwing and running to compete with the Sachems.

Pentucket is returning to the Pioneer schedule after an absence of three years. The last time Lynnfield met the Sachems was in 2007 when they fell to Pentucket 28-13.

The Pioneers began their series with the Sachems in 1973 when both schools became members of the new Cape Ann League. They would meet annually for the next 31 years. Lynnfield dominated through 1987, winning 12 of the teams' 14 meetings. Things turned dramatically beginning in 1988 as Lynnfield's enrollment began to shrink while Pentucket became a large regional high school. The Sachems won 12 of the next 16 contests.

In 2004, the Cape Ann League divided into Large and Small Divisions, with each school only having to play three teams in the other group each year. The Pioneers got a respite in 2004 and 2005 but Pentucket was back on the schedule in 2006 and 2007, handing Lynnfield two more losses by the combined score of 53-28.

After 2007, the crossover games were no longer mandated and the Pioneers eliminated the Sachems from their schedule. This season, Pentucket is in the new CAL/NEC 3, and Pioneer head coach Neal Weidman added them in one of the moves toward making the schedule more challenging. The Sachems will certainly provide that challenge.

The Pioneers have lost eight straight to the Sachems going back to 1998. They haven't beaten Pentucket since a 13-0 win in 1997. That's another streak the Pioneers will be hoping to snap this Saturday.

This is the final non-league contest for the Pioneers (2-3) who will be looking to even their season mark heading into their league schedule.

Game time at the Middle School field is 2 pm.

That's it for now. Check back Saturday after the game for my post game thoughts.