Around the CAL/NEC 4: Week 8

Two weeks into the league schedule and we are starting to see some separation. I have to be honest. I didn't expect to see some of the lopsided scores that have occurred in the first two weeks of the league  season. Will that trend hold or will the competitiveness that many of us expected show itself in the final three weeks of the season?

We know the Pioneers did what they had to do on Saturday, so we'll take a look at the other two league games that were played on Friday night. First, the updated standings.



It has been a long time since Lynnfield and North Reading were together at the top of the league standings (32 years to be exact) and it does look refreshingly different.

The powerful Hornets continued to set the pace with a devastating 60-6 beat down of the other Hornets in Manchester-Essex last Friday night. After holding a slim 6-0 lead after the first quarter, NR exploded for 21 points in the second to take a 27-0 lead then erupted for 21 more points in the third quarter.

Carl Lipani rushed for 219 yards and four touchdowns and returned an interception for a fifth trip to the endzone for NR. The Pioneers scored six touchdowns on offense, two on defense and one on special teams.

"Last night we played the most complete game I have seen in quite some time offense, defense and special teams," Ed Melanson, North Reading's offensive coordinator, told me. "Everything that could go right went right. Our special teams played unreal, the defense was on fire and we controlled the line of scrimmage on offense. Lipani had another great game."

Lipani is now in fifth place in Division 3A scoring with 94 points.

And for those who might say North Reading ran up the score, consider that they ran only 29 offensive plays total in the game. That means they averaged more than two points per play.

"In the third quarter we pulled Lipani and moved (C. J. McCarthy) to tailback with JV players in the rest of the backfield and mixed in on the line," said Melanson. 'We wanted to see him in that spot since it will most likely be his next season. He scored on his first carry as a tailback so we pulled him for the night. We then had all JV and freshmen in the game the rest of the way. Scott McDonough scored on his first carry as a varsity quarterback. Our last four offensive plays before we took a knee were all for touchdowns and all four we kept the ball over tackle."

"I know (NR head) coach (Jeff) Wall felt for Manchester Essex," Melanson went on. "He told me he's been in their shoes and it's no fun."

The Hornets may wish they could have saved some of those points for this Friday night when they host Hamilton-Wenham in another huge game. North Reading can almost deal the defending champs a death blow with a win against the Generals. An H-W victory would tighten up the title race considerably.

"We went into these two games against Lynnfield and North Reading knowing we had to have at least one to have a shot," General head coach Andrew Morency told me after Saturday's loss to the Pioneers. "We're going to look at it that way. Obviously it's not what we want, but we're going to have to go to North Reading and play our best.

"Who knows?" Morency continued. "Lynnfield and North Reading have to play on Thanksgiving and anything can happen. We're going to do our best."

When I told him I'm sure that Lynnfield would be rooting for the Generals on Friday night he laughed and said, "That's right. They'll like us then."

For those looking ahead, always a dangerous thing to do since the Pioneers have to take care of their own business, the best outcome from the Lynnfield perspective would be a shootout win for H-W. In any tie between more than two teams, it could come down to the "points allowed against in games among the tied teams."

So the more points scored the better, from the Lynnfield point of view.

Manchester-Essex, meanwhile, will try to regroup against a surging Tiger team in Ipswich Friday night.

As for the Tigers, after scoring 0, 14, 7 and 6 points in their previous four games, they exploded for 40 against an injury riddled Georgetown team.

Peter Moutevelais (2 TD's) and Derek Chamberlain (2 TD's) took turns dancing into the end zone as Ipswich ripped the Royals 40-6. They wrapped this one up early scoring twice in the first and twice in the second to go in at the half up 26-0. The put another two scores on the board in the third to take a 40-0 lead before Georgetown scored late.

Ipswich will host Manchester-Essex in their bid to keep pace with only one loss while Georgetown comes to town to take on the Pioneers.

I'll have a full preview of the Pioneers/Royals contest on Thursday. Check back Wednesday for my next installment of my Wayback Wednesday series on the 1973 champion Pioneers.