Manchester-Essex Leftovers

Pioneer head coach Neal Weidman never saw this coming.

"Practices were better this week then they were last week," Weidman said after the game.  "Just today wasn't. We saw it a little bit before the game."

Once into the game, there wasn't much the coaching staff could do to turn it around.

"You see the guys like that and there's not a lot you can do," Weidman explained. "You can't force it."

Meanwhile, Hornet head coach Mike Athanas had his team sky high for this one. M/E came into the game off of three straight league losses and they played this one like it was their Super Bowl.

To quote old friend Pete Carroll, they were "pumped and jacked" from the beginning and never let down. Weidman mentioned that they wanted it more than his team and it showed.

You can get all the details and photos in my game story in this week's Villager.

For whatever reason, the Pioneers came out flat. They had their usual slow start, but it looked like they had stemmed the tide after stopping two Hornet drives deep in their own end. But the offense couldn't move the ball.

They went three and out on their first two possessions which was made more frustrating due to some dropped passes. The Pioneers had three of them in the first half.

"The drops in the beginning were horrible," acknowledged Weidman. And that was only the beginning of the Pioneers' problems in this one.

"We never got any running game going," Weidman continued. "We never got any big runs. We were forced into throwing the ball too much. Then at the end the circumstances of the game forced us into it."

To back that up, the Pioneers threw 20 times and ran it 18. That is the first time since the Amesbury game that Lynnfield has passed more than run.

Once the Hornets realized the Pioneers were in passing mode, they unleashed the hounds, harassing Mike Karavetsos all game. He was under constant pressure and was sacked for only the second time this year.

"They blitz a lot," Weidman said. "They try to get pressure on you."

Despite all that, the Pioneers were still alive deep into the fourth quarter and were able to mount one last drive.

"We were driving there to at least get a chance at a field goal it looked like," Weidman said of the fourth quarter bid. "When we fumbled that obviously hurt. But that was only one drive. We just never got anything going."

Weidman and his staff now have ten days before the season finale against North Reading. A win would give them three straight winning seasons which should be more incentive if the rivalry isn't enough.

Power Outage
The six points the Pioneers put up were the fewest in their last 37 games. The last time they scored fewer was in October of 2008 when they were shut out by Triton 22-0. It was only the third time the Pioneers have scored single digits in the 33 games since the beginning of 2009. The other two were the 24-7 loss to Newburyport last year and the 28-7 defeat to Wilmington in 2009.

The 138 yards of offense (74 rushing, 64 net passing) was also the lowest of the year. The next lowest was the 185 yards gained against Newburyport in the season opener.

Downs in the Dumps
One of the things to point to in Saturday's loss was the Pioneers' performance on third down on both sides of the ball. Defensively, they allowed the Hornets to convert on 8 of 14 third down chances. What kept M/E from putting up more points was the Pioneers' perfect showing on fourth down where the Hornets were 0 for 4. The Pioneers held them at the 19, 14, 10 and one yard lines.

Offensively, the Pioneers were 1 for 6 on third down and 0 for 1 on fourth down. They managed nine first downs in the game, but five of those came on M/E penalties.

Hobbled
Karavetsos has been hampered by a bad ankle which was aggravated in Saturday's game. As a result and also because of the Hornets' stellar run defense, Karavetsos carried only 4 times for 14 yards. It was his second fewest carries of the year and lowest yardage total. He had three rushes against Georgetown, but had 38 yards and a touchdown.

As a team, Lynnfield managed only 74 rushing yards against M/E, 54 from returning tri-captain Mike Thomas.

Bad Trend
This was the second straight home loss for the Pioneers who finish the year at 3-3 at Pioneer Field at the Middle School. Coming into this season, the Pioneers had won 12 straight home games. With the Turkey Day game in North Reading, they won't have a chance to start a new streak until the 2012 season.

Catching On
Senior Steve Yobaccio had four receptions for 33 yards and no touchdowns in the first three games of the year. Since the St. Mary's game, he has been on fire, hauling in 11 passes for 263 yards and five TD's. On Saturday, he was the Pioneers' leading receiver with three catches for 63 yards and a score.

His five TD's this year ties him for fourth place all time in single season TD receptions. He has plenty of company. Others who have caught 5 in one year are Charlie Meeker (1960), Charlie Shove (1998), Brian McBride (2001), Jeff Milinazzo (2007), Ty Surette (2009) and A. J. Roberto (2010).

With a TD catch on Thanksgiving Day, Yobaccio can move into a tie for third place with Justin Haskell who caught 6 in 1996.

The single season Lynnfield high record for TD receptions is held by Lindsey Ross who caught nine in 1973.

Boomer
One of the highlights of Saturday's game was a booming punt by A. J. Gallo in the third period. The line of scrimmage was the 35. Gallo took the snap and kicked from the Lynnfield 25 and it landed at the Manchester 25 - 55 yards in the air. It took a Pioneer bounce and came to rest on the Hornet 11 yard line 64 yards away from where he kicked it.

Flags Flying
The Hornets were penalized 12 times for 120 yards in the game including 8 "major" calls for among other things unsportsmanlike conduct, roughing the passer and a late hit. The Pioneers were flagged 5 times for 45 yards including one unsportsmanlike call.

Weidman disagreed that the game got "chippy" at the end.

"It wasn't too bad," the coach said. "It was more aggressive than chippy I think."

Notable
- Manchester-Essex is now 3-1 all time against the Pioneers. The Hornets are 2-0 in Lynnfield.
- In the useless statistic category, the Pioneers have now lost their last game before Thanksgiving seven of the last eight years.

That's it for now. Check back tomorrow night when I take a look at the weekend's CAL/NEC 4 games.