Letdown (let-doun)
noun
1. A decrease in volume, force, energy, etc.
2. disillusionment or disappointment
3. depression; deflation
After last week's stunning last minute loss to Hamilton-Wenham, it would be natural for the Pioneers to suffer from the above when they travel to Georgetown to take on the 1-6 Royals.
They just can't let it happen.
If the Pioneers are to stay alive in the CAL/NEC 4 race - which they still are at this point - they must shake off the disappointment and take care of business in Georgetown.
The Royals, on the other hand, have lost six straight games after an opening week 25-14 win over West Bridgewater. Against common opponents, the Pioneers have clearly performed better. They beat Bishop Fenwick handily and edged both Amesbury and Ipswich. The Royals are 0-3 against those three teams losing by a combined score of 89-25.
Georgetown has struggled with a young team under new coach Paul Sobolweski, who came in after five successful years at Winchester. But as most young teams do, they have struggled with turnovers and the inability to finish drives.
Sobolewski told Tony Moschetto of the Newburyport News that his team has had the ball inside the opponents' 30 yard line 19 times this season and came away with no points. That will happen when you are starting seven sophomores on offense. Against Ipswich they came up empty after driving to the Tiger 11 and four yard line.
On defense, the Royals line up eight sophomores, which has caused them some problems on the other side of the ball.
But despite all that, Georgetown still has a puncher's chance because of their quarterback, senior Tyler Wade. A three year starter, Wade is the focal point of the Royal offense. Georgetown plays out of the spread offense, similar to the Pioneers, but with a few twists.
Sometimes they have one running back next to Wade and at other times he is back there with twins backs. They like to throw swing passes and bubble passes to get the receivers the ball in space.
Against North Reading, they used a bizarre formation that had Wade and a running back in the backfield with only a center over the ball and a guard next to him. The other seven players were lined up wide right. This opened up the field to give Wade some space to show off his running ability.
When he isn't running, he is throwing, and he is not afraid to do that. He has a gun and when he gets time in the pocket, he can do damage. North Reading realized that and employed a defense that had three down lineman, but then they blitzed and came with six or seven rushers on 90% of the snaps. It was effective as the Hornets limited the damage Wade could do.
The Royals are starting to get more production from running back Tim Dillion who rushed for over 50 yards against Ipswich.
The Royals have now played seven games, and are starting to correct some of the early season mistakes. They played their best game of the year against Ipswich, which was much closer than the final 26-6 score. It was 12-6 at the half and Georgetown was in position to tie the game or take the lead early in the third but they stalled inside the Tiger five yard line and turned it over on downs.
The Royals also seem to struggle when punting, in particular the snap from center. Against North Reading, several snaps nearly sailed over the punter's head so that is something else the Pioneers will be looking to take advantage of.
There is good news and bad news when playing a young team like Georgetown. If the Pioneers can get off to a fast start, something they haven't been able to do since the Bishop Fenwick game, they could take the wind out of the Royals' sails. If they let Georgetown hang around, the Royals could get energized and play above their heads looking to spring the big upset.
It will be up to the Pioneers to ensure that doesn't happen.
Game time in Georgetown is 2 pm.
That's it for now. Check back Saturday for my post game thoughts.
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