Not quite.
Apparently head coach Neal Weidman had other ideas.
Seems when the boys got off the bus, they were told to take a left to the field rather than a right to the locker room to get a little extra work in.
Rumor has it Weidman appeared to be channeling his inner 1980 Herb Brooks after the Norway game. Here's the scene from the movie Miracle to refresh your memory
"Yea we came back and practiced a little after the scrimmage," Weidman admitted. "They were a little more ready to play today. Much more focused."
The 'today' the coach was referring to was Saturday morning in Wakefield where the Pioneers played their last game type scrimmage against the Northeast Golden Knights.
And the difference, as they say, was like night and day.
The Pioneer varsity had five possessions and they scored on four of them. They rolled for 172 yards on the ground and 40 passing for 212 yards in 31 plays.
Quarterback captain Mike Karavetsos was 7 for 8 but the real damage was done on the ground. Junior Kyle McGah was a human battering ram, scoring three touchdowns of 1, 4 and 28 yards. Captain Tyler Palumbo capped the opening 67 yard, nine play drive with a 28 yard TD run.
The varsity defense led by captains D. J. DeGeorge and Andrew Kibarian stifled the Knight offense, holding them to 43 yards on the ground and 7 passing in four possessions. They also forced turnovers on the first two Northeast drives with A. J. Gallo and Anthony Costa coming up with fumble recoveries.
Their day's work done, the varsity defense didn't see the field in the second half.
The Northeast varsity managed three second half scores against the Pioneers second and third team defenses, but this one was over by halftime.
It was a quantum leap from Wednesday in Byfield.
"We had a lot of material in for the offense," Weidman said. "But we pared it down for this scrimmage. We had way too much going on. We took out a lot of things and the offense responded to it. We didn't run very many different things today."
"As we get into the season we'll have specific game plan things," the coach continued. "We need to get good at some things. We started that process (against Northeast).
So for those scoring at home, the Pioneers finished the preseason 2-0-1 in scrimmages, but the battles start for real on Friday night. Check out my full preview article in the Villager on Wednesday.
New Look Villager
As you all may have noticed, the Villager is now under new ownership. I have worked for the Sylvia family who started the paper in 1973 for 35 years and they did a great job bringing a locally focused newspaper to Lynnfield with the Villager and in North Reading where they operated the Transcript since 1956.
Fortunately, the paper will remain under local ownership since it was purchased by the Wakefield Item whose publisher is Lynnfield's own Glenn Dolbeare. You can be sure the Villager will continue to be focused on local news including sports which will now feature photos, including mine, in full color.
If you haven't seen the new layout, this would be a good week to pick up a copy of the Villager. It's also a good time to sign up for a subscription so you'll catch all of my game stories and photos all season. There is a link on the left side of the blog that you can click on and it will get you to a subscription form. Just fill it out and mail it in. It's a great deal for only $19 per year.
As an aside, Dolbeare is a former Lynnfield High running back who played on the Pioneers' 1973 CAL champion team and was the team's second leading scorer in 1974.
Young Standouts
The coaching staff was able to get everyone into the scrimmage, no small feat considering the size of the squad. It was tough to pick out many individual efforts without out numbered jerseys, but a few plays did stand out. The junior varsity and freshmen teams played well. Ricky Johnson and John Knee both had interceptions and Adam Buchanan made a number of nice plays from his linebacker spot.
"We have some blossoming athleticism at the younger level," praised Weidman. "We still have a long way to go but we have some underclassmen that are going to become some pretty good players.
Giving Back
It was great to see that 2010 captain Jeff Gannon and John Bossi, members of the 2009 championship team, will be working with the younger players this season. Bossi also helped out last season. That type of continuity is the way a successful program is built.
In Memoriam
A special thank you to Lisa and Dwight DeGeorge, who made a generous donation to the Gridblog in memory of Lisa's dad John J. Kelleher, who passed away in 2010. Lisa related that her dad was always at the games for the boys and is missed tremendously.
Mr. Kelleher is also the father of Jay Kelleher who played on the 1986 Pioneer football team.
Heard on the Sideline
And speaking of the DeGeorge's, here's a snippet of conversation I overheard during the Northeast scrimmage.
"Who made that play?"
"That was little DeGeorge"
I guess everything is relative.
"Little" DeGeorge is captain D. J.'s freshman brother Cam who will be sharing time at offensive tackle on the varsity this season. However when I stood next to "Little" Cam on the sideline, I discovered he is only slightly smaller than his older brother who is 6' 3" 225 lbs.
"Little" probably isn't the adjective I would have used.
That's it for now but check back on Wednesday for my next post on the 1973 Pioneers and then on Thursday when I'll be posting a preview of Friday night's Newburyport game.
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