When our little "news conference" follows a loss, it is usually a tense time and there can be a few moments of awkward silence before the questioning begins. That was the case after the North Reading game.
Kevin Doyle of the Daily Item finally spoke first to Weidman.
"You faced a lot of adversity today," he said quietly.
That about summed it up.
Saying the Pioneers faced "some adversity" on Thanksgiving Day was like saying the Big Dig was simply a little construction job.
Battling injuries all season, the Pioneers reached the tipping point against North Reading.
At the beginning of the season, I sat with the coach to go over the lineups on both sides of the ball for my season preview article. At that time, he will usually mention the starters and key backups at each position. During this year's interview in September, Weidman mentioned the names of 22 players that he expected to either start or see significant action either offensively or defensively.
By the end of the North Reading game, seven of them were not on the field. That's 31% of those 22. So yes I would say the Pioneers faced a lot of adversity in their final game of the year.
"We came in with a bit of a MASH unit and it got worse as the game wore on," Weidman said after the game.
Going in missing tri-captain Mike Thomas who reinjured his collarbone was bad enough. Not having starting outside linebacker, placekicker and backup quarterback Alex Roper added to the problem. Then the unthinkable happened early in the second quarter when signal caller Mike Karavetsos, the key to the Pioneer offense already nursing a bad ankle, took a big hit to the head on a nine yard run. As co-athletic director and head trainer Sean Roach helped the wobbly junior off the field, he looked at Weidman and shook his head slowly. At that point it was clear that Karavetsos was done for the day.
Enter 5'6", 135 lb freshman Dan Sullivan to take over the controls of the Pioneer spread. Ultimately, sophomore Matt Kramich would also see action at quarterback.
"It's one thing to have your back up quarterback out but we had to ask a freshman and sophomore who have never played before to shuttle in and out," said Weidman. "But you know what, they didn't do a bad job. We thrust them into really a no win situation for them and they really took advantage of it. Matt made a couple of nice runs and Danny threw the touchdown pass."
It was quite a debut for Sullivan, who tossed his first varsity TD -an 80 yarder to Alex Pascucci- on his first varsity pass. He would later throw an interception that was returned for a score, but considering the circumstances he did well for a ninth grader in a stressful spot.
"Field position got flipped on us there and that didn't help," Weidman said of the pick six that came when Sullivan was forced to throw out of his own end zone. "We threw Danny into a tough situation and they picked off the one pass and ran it in for the touchdown. We just didn't have a lot to go to from the one yard line. It was tough. But (Danny's) going to be a good player some day."
But as usual, Weidman hoped to get some positive out of the difficult circumstance. When I asked him what the young guys would get out of being thrown into the fire he responded, "They mainly need to realize you need to commit to be good. It just doesn't happen."
The loss means the Pioneers ended the season with a two game losing streak, the second time that has happened this year. They also lost consecutive games to St. Mary's and Danvers. The loss leaves the Pioneers at 5-6 snapping a two year winning season streak.
"It was an up and down season," he summed up. "We had some good moments. Obviously we weren't playing our best football at the end for a lot of reasons. That's one of the things that happens when you coach at a small school. It only takes one or two players to make a huge difference."
Fast Start
For the first time in weeks, the Pioneers got off to a fast start, stunning the Hornets with two quick touchdowns in the first four minutes of play. The Pioneer had 2 first downs, a fumble recovery, 72 yards of offense, a 58 yard kickoff return and a pair of scores before the Hornets ran off their first offensive play. Unfortunately it went downhill from there.
After the injury to Karavetsos, the Pioneers managed only 29 yard rushing and 79 net yards passing on two completions, one of them the Sullivan to Pascucci 80 yard touchdown.
Meanwhile, the Hornets regrouped in impressive fashion and rode the running of Division 3A leading scorer Carl Lipani for the comeback win.
"The kids played well," said North Reading head coach Jeff Wall. "It's tough when you go down 12-0. It showed a tremendous amount of character to come back. Some teams would have packed it in. We preached to them right before the game. We told them today you play with heart, you play with pride and you play with courage. I think they've taken that to heart. They know they have a will to win and they just wouldn't be denied."
Despite the loss, the Pioneers still hold a 32-22 edge in the rivalry. They have outscored the Hornets 868-717. The Pioneers fall to 15-12 in games in North Reading. They hold a 17-10 edge in games at the Middle School Field.
Uneven Playing Field?
There were eight touchdowns and one safety scored in the game on Thursday. All eight scores came in the east endzone where rabid fans from both towns took turns taunting the opposition. The Pioneers scored their TD's in the first and third period, while the Hornets did all their scoring in the second and fourth quarters. The Fieldturf at the west end of Arthur Kenney was barely used. The Hornets made it to the 20 as the first period ended and to the 18 as the third ended. The Pioneers never got any deeper than the 42.
Stellar Year for Karavetsos
Losing Karavetsos for most of the North Reading game was obviously a death blow for the Pioneers and it highlights just how important the junior was to the Lynnfield offense this season. When you review his season totals, it becomes clear what an outstanding year he had.
He finished the year 74/146 passing for a completion percentage of 50.7%. That ranks third in the past 23 years (since I have been keeping these stats) behind Gino Cohee's 54.1% in 2009 and Cohee's 52.8% in 2008.
He threw for 1249 yards, which ranks him third behind Chris Grassi's 1493 in 2007 and Cohee's 1347 in 2010.
He tossed 13 TD passes which ties him for second on the single season TD pass list with Steve Olsen in 1973. It also puts him in 6th place all time for career TD passes with another season to go. Cohee leads that category with 30.
The 13 TD's was good enough for third place place in Division 3A behind Newburyport's Connor Wile who threw 20 and Pat Sheehan's qb Blaise Whitman at Triton who had 14.
He threw only six interceptions giving him a TD/Interception ratio of 2.2 to 1 third best behind 2008 Cohee's 3 to 1 and 2010 Cohee's 2.8 to 1.
According to the NFL passer rating formula, Karavetsos finished the season with a 92.52 rating. That is the second best in the past 23 years behind only Cohee's 99.1 last season. Cohee's 84.5 in 2009 is third best.
The junior also rushed for eight touchdowns and 765 yards, seventh best single season since 1989. Dan Veinot heads that list with 1363 yards in 2000.
It'll be exciting to see what Karavetsos might be able to do his senior year with such a solid season under his belt.
Season Stats
The Pioneers finished the year with 221 points scored and 223 points allowed, which pretty much illustrates the type of year it was. It was only the 11th year in Pioneer history that they have scored over 200 points in a season and marks the third year in a row they have done it.
The 221 points was ninth best all time. The 223 points against was an average of 20.3 per game and ranked 38th all time.
For the three year period of 2009 to 2011, the Pioneers scored 836 points. That is the third best three year performance in the history of the school. The best was 1959-61 when they scored 852 and second best was 1960-62 when they tallied 843.
This season, they gained 2,939 yards to 3,180 yards allowed. They lost the first down battle 103 to 158. They were exactly even in the turnover category, fumbling 9 times and throwing 8 interceptions for 17 turnovers and recovering 11 fumbles and picking off 6 interceptions for 17 takeaways.
The Pioneers now have a record of 266-259-11 in their 54 year history and have a point differential of minus 2 (8,389-8,391).
The Pioneers' three year win total of 24 is tied for second best with the teams from 1960-62. The leader are the teams of 1985-87 which won 25 games in three years.
Season Leaders
Junior Alex Pascucci led the Pioneers in receptions with 24 for 417 yards, both eighth best single season since 1989. Jeff Milinazzo leads both categories with 55 catches for 789 yards in 2007.
Steve Yobaccio had 15 catches for 296 yards and 5 TD's, which ties him for 4th all time for single season TD receptions.
Yobaccio and Dan Ashwell tied for the team lead in interceptions with two each.
Tyler Palumbo led the team with 4 fumble recoveries
Andrew Kibarian was the team sack leader with 5 1/2. No one else had more than one.
Karavetsos led the team in scoring with 52 points followed by sophomore Kyle McGah and Yobaccio with 30 each.
Hitting the (Record) Books
Although no one reached the top of any of the school records, several did make the list.
In addition to Karavetsos and Yobaccio mentioned above, Ashwell joined 21 others who are tied for second place in single game TD catches with 2. He did it against Bishop Fenwick. Charlie Shove heads that list with three TD receptions against H-W in 1998.
Roper broke into the record books for his placekicking. His 21 PAT's was fourth best for a single season. Steve Ullian holds the top two spots in that category with 34 in 2010 and 30 in 2009.
Roper's 21 puts him in seventh place for career PAT's with another season to play. Ullian is light years ahead of everyone on that list with 75 career PAT's, more than double Dave Frontero's 36 in second place.
Roper's 5 PAT's against Georgetown tied him for 3rd place with four others for most single game PAT's. Scott Milne is the leader there with 7 against Masco in 1985.
Four Year Weidman Tally
Weidman's four year record is now 27-18, a .600 winning percentage. That is third best all time for Pioneer head coaches behind Bill Rodan 1969-84 (101-52-2, . 652) and Steve Sobieck 1958-66 (49-23, .620).
The Pioneers have scored 1001 points the past four years for a 22.2 per game average. Rodan's teams averaged 16.6 and Sobieck's squads were at 18.8. Weidman's teams have allowed 15.4 points per game vs. 11.5 for Rodan and 8.5 for Sobieck.
Senior Sendoff
Following the game, Weidman exchanged a hug and a few words with each senior on the team. This is a special group for Weidman since they were his first freshman class as a head coach and he has had them for all four years. He got a bit emotional when he was asked about saying farewell to his seniors.
"You always miss the seniors," he said with a slight catch in his voice. "It's probably the hardest thing about coaching - the last game of the year for the seniors."
That's it for now. Check back Monday night when I take a look at the CAL/NEC Tier 4 rivalry games and also a sneak peak on what next season might hold for the league.
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