George Herbert Walker Bush was elected and then defeated as president. Bill Clinton and George W. Bush were elected and reelected and each served two full terms in the White House.
The Simpsons premiered and enjoyed a 25 year run on Fox TV.
There were seven Summer and seven Winter Olympic games.
The Patriots appeared in six Super Bowls and won three of them. The Red Sox made it to three World Series and swept two of them. The Bruins and Celtics each won a championship.
The Lynnfield Pioneers made it to the Division 3 Super Bowl.
Okay what is all that?
It's a list of things have have occurred since the last time the Pioneers have won a football game in Newburyport.
And you can add one of a personal nature. This will be my 24th year covering the Pioneers for the Villager and I have never been able to write a game story about a Lynnfield win in Newburyport.
The mark is 25 years and counting. The Pioneers will be looking to snap a quarter century of dissapointment Friday night when they open their 2012 season in their personal House of Horrors in the Port City.
Not that they have had much more success when the teams have met at Pioneer Field.
Lynnfield and Newburyport entered the Cape Ann League together in 1973 and have met 39 times. The Pioneers' record in those games is 8-31, a .205 "winning" percentage, by far the worst record against any of their long time CAL rivals. And it's not even close.
The next worst winning percentage against a long time Pioneer opponent is .389 (14-22) against North Andover which has more to do with the relative sizes of the schools than anything else. Next is Ipswich at .395 (17-26).
The Pioneers are 5-15 at home against the Clippers and 3-16 in Newburyport. The only wins up north came in 1978 (28-8), 1982 (14-7) and 1986.
In the 12 straight losses, the Pioneers have been outscored 448-202.
The closest they came to victory was in 2004.
Late in the fourth quarter of that game eight years ago, the 0-6 Pioneers mounted a late game comeback against the 1-6 Clippers. With time running out, Newburyport running back Joe Pace coughed up the football and Pioneer defensive back Rick Parziale pounced on it at the Lynnfield 11 yard line. With 2:09 left, Lynnfield had 89 yards to go to reach the endzone.
Pioneer quarterback Tony DiCesare connected on five of six passes to three different receivers in an amazing drive downfield. A 27 yarder to Jesse Bruinsma and two short completions to Tino Cohee got the ball to the Clipper 42 with 1:12 left. DiCesare then hit Parziale on a 23 yarder to get to the Clipper 19 with 64 seconds left. Another 13 yard sideline pass to Bruinsma put the ball at the Newburyport six yard line.
Fullback Jared Provost plowed in from there on an inside trap and the Pioneers had cut the lead to 21-20 with 37 seconds to play.
Faced with the decision to kick the extra point and send the game into overtime or going for the immediate win, head coach Bill Adams opted to go for the victory right there.
The Pioneers called the same trap that had succeeded three times already in the game but unfortunately, DiCesare and Provost could not connect on the handoff and the the loose ball was pounced on by a pile of Pioneers and Clippers just short of the goal line.
"You can second guess us, but we went for the win," Adams told me after the game. "We actually had decided before the game that if it came down to the end we would go for the win. We reconfirmed it at halftime and during the second half. We were going to take the chance to win."
The Pioneers have tried three more times to win in Newburyport since that 21-20 loss, but the results were losses of 42-7 in 2006 and 24-14 in 2008 and the stunning 24-7 Clipper upset win in 2010.
The loss two years ago stung particularly hard.
The defending CAL Small champion Pioneers roared into Newburyport on fire. They were 7-0 having outscored the opposition 252-58. Their smallest point total in those games was 28 and they reached 40 points three times. They were riding a school record 15 straight wins dating back to the championship year. They had won 10 straight league games and seven straight on the road.
The Clippers appeared to be struggling coming into the game 3-4, but that was deceptive as they were coming off a hellacious non league schedule against all the CAL Large teams.
It was a circus atmosphere that night with Fox 25 having picked the game as their High School game of the week. They broadcast their 6 pm newscast from the field at the stadium and ran highlights at the 10 pm edition. It was a perfect setting for the Pioneers to flex their muscles and take the pole position in the CAL Small title chase.
Not.
The Pioneers wilted under bright lights as the Clippers rolled to lopsided advantages in rushing yards (244-23), total yards (339-111), first downs (12-2), time of possession (26:44 to 13:16) and ultimately the final score which was 24-7.
"We got outplayed right from the start," Weidman told me after the game. "It obviously wasn't our best game."
Despite being thoroughly outplayed, the Pioneers trailed only 7-0 at halftime but they could never get any closer and a late TD and field goal killed the Pioneers as those 10 extra points left Lynnfield on the short end of virtually every tiebreakers had it come to that.
When the Pioneers lost to Hamilton Wenham on a last second field goal two weeks later, their title defense ended, but even if they had beaten the Generals, they would have lost out to the Clippers because of the tiebreaker edge the Clippers earned that night.
So what is in store for Friday night?
The Pioneers will be taking on a Clipper team that swept the CAL/NEC 3 with five straight wins last year and finished 9-3 overall. They lost to H-W in the closing minutes of the Division 3A playoff game and come into the season looking for another crack at the postseason.
The Herald's Danny Ventura has Newburyport rated the top rated team in Division 3A. He has the Pioneers at number four.
Newburyport will be without their starting quarterback Connor Wile who will be out until October with a torn labrum suffered prior to the baseball season.
Wile played his first varsity game against the Pioneers last year in the opening game and was 12 for 19 with 167 yards and a pair of touchdown passes. He went on from there to break the Newburyport school record for yards (2,006) and touchdown passes (21).
Friday night the Pioneers will face another Clipper signal caller playing in his first game in junior Drew Boudreau who has stepped in for Wile behind center.
Newburyport head coach Ed Gaudiano is confident that Boudreau can keep the Clipper ship on a steady course until Wile returns.
"We haven't changed our offense," Gaudiano told Dan Guttenplan of the Newburyport News as preseason practice started. "Drew is a little different as a passer. We can adjust to what he does. Connor is a drop back guy. Drew gives us other things coming out of the backfield, not just throwing but running as well."
That doesn't surprise Weidman who discussed the Clippers not having Wile in the opener.
"Of course they'll probably put in some fast, athletic kid and do something funky with him," Weidman said.
Sounds like young Mr. Boudreau perhaps?
Even without Wile, the Clippers, as usual, will be a handful.
They return 14 seniors and 21 lettermen from their championship team led by captain Sam Francis a hard hitting linebacker. Francis and junior defensive end Dillon Guthro lead the seasoned Clipper defense.
Brett Fontaine, who led Division 3A with 11 touchdown receptions last season has graduated, but brother Coltin should step right into his shoes as the key receiver. Senior Ian Michaels is another pass catching threat.
The offensive line is anchored by T. J. Souther, 6'3" 275 lbs. and Drew Beaupre, 6'1" 215 lbs. Tyler Cusack will be the primary running back.
Size wise the Pioneers should match up and Gaudiano has stated that his squad is a little young in the defensive backfield so look for quarterback captain Mike Karavetsos to throw the ball. But as former NFL GM Mike Lombardi said this week on Bill Simmons podcast, the run is the key to the spread so expect the Clippers to get a steady dose of Pioneer runners captain Tyler Palumbo, Kyle McGah and Anthony Costa.
No doubt the Clippers will provide the Pioneers with one of their sternest tests of the year and will provide an early guage of what the 2012 Lynnfield squad can do.
Guttenplan in his week picks column today selected the Clippers 14-13.
Could this be a preview of the Division 3A opening playoff game?
It's a little early for that. The Pioneers are just trying to get out of Newburyport, something that hasn't happened since way before all of them were born.
"It's been a long time since we beat them up there," said Weidman. "We're getting a chance to play against a good team. It's always good to play against good competition."
Game time in Newburyport is 7:00 pm. Let's get this started.
That's it for now. Check back late Friday night for my first thoughts on the outcome.
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