Around the CAL/NEC 4: Week Five

Another round of non-league games and with only one more week to go before the league schedule, the teams are starting to show who they really are. Hamilton-Wenham had a bye this week but everyone else was in action and we'll take a look at all of the games. First, let's look at the revised standings.


I went over to North Reading to watch the Hornets come from behind to defeat Pentucket, the Pioneers' next opponent, 17-14. After the game, I spoke to North Reading's head coach Jeff Wall and reminded him that last Thanksgiving Day, I told him his Hornets were the 2012 favorites to win it all.

"Yea I told you not to," he laughed. "I didn't want to hear it."

Well he'd better get used to it. With only a week left in non league play, it has become abundantly clear that North Reading is the team to beat. They have now won ten of their last 12 games going back to last season and are on a roll. If there was any doubt about their credentials, it can be dismissed after the war they won over the Sachems Friday night.

The game was billed as the battle of two great running backs in NR's Carl Lipani and Pentucket's Cody Rothwell, but it was the defenses that stood out, especially in the early going. Both teams were forced to punt on their initial possessions, but the Sachems drew first blood midway in the first quarter when quarterback Ryan Kutcher hit Mike Tashjian for a 20 yard TD strike. The converted lineman made a beautiful fingertip catch going away for the score. The PAT was no good, and the Sachems led 6-0.

The Hornet's single wing went into action from there and drove deep into Pentucket territory twice, but the Sachem defense stopped Lipani on a fourth and six to turn the ball over on downs at the 11. They forced a quick three and out and got the ball back in great field position at the Pentucket 32. Again they drove deep, this time stalling at the nine yard line. But on fourth and 10, Wall elected to try the field goal and Mike DiSanto banged it through from 22 yards to cut the lead to 6-3.

"I was hoping that wouldn't come back to haunt us," Wall said of the two deep drives that netted only three points. "You always get nervous when you get down in there and don't come away with points. I told the kids just be patient and play our style of football."

The Hornet defense "held" Rothwell to 90 yards, but on the possession following the field goal, the super running back made his presence felt, picking up 64 of those yards on three carries. He capped the 69 yard drive with a 34 yard scamper for the score. Kutcher found Will Sullivan for the two point conversion and the Sachems led 14-3.

"He's a great runner," Wall said of Rothwell. "We saw it on film. We knew we had to stop him. We didn't do a terrific job with it but we got by."

The Hornets opened the second half with a classic single wing drive moving 59 yards on nine plays with C. J. McCarthy going in from the ten for the score. The rush for two failed and the Hornets trailed 14-9.

The game turned on the next possession when the Sachems started on their own 37 but ended up on their own 25 after a chop block and two illegal motion penalties. Lipani delivered the coup de grace on third and 30 when he blitzed from the left side, crushed Kutcher and knocked the ball loose. Ryan Boucher recovered it on the 11 yard line and the Hornets had a golden opportunity.

This time they cashed in when McCarthy slashed in from the three yard line. Lipani added the two point conversion and the Hornets led 17-14.

"We have some checks in there and if the quarterback rolls, Carl has free rein to go if the back doesn't come to his side," Wall explained of Lipani's game changing blitz. "When he saw the back vacate his area, he know he had nothing there so he just went. He's been doing it for four years now so we trust him."

The Hornets played ball control the rest of the way, running off 16 plays to only seven for Pentucket. They didn't make another first down for the rest of the game.

It was an emotional win for the Hornets who were playing without their offensive coordinator Ed Melanson, who was in a car accident on Monday and suffered serious injuries. After the game, the Hornets gave the game ball to Melanson's father to present to the coach."

"It meant the world to us to be able to do that," said Wall. "It was an emotional week. To Coach Melanson's credit, an hour after he was in the hospital the first thing he asked about was the kids. 'Make sure the kids know I care about them. Make sure they know I love them. I'm sorry and I'll come back.' Not once did he ask us to win the game for him. It was more 'I just want you to go out and play hard.'"

"Without him, we put our trust in the kids and they put their trust in us and we worked through it," said Wall.

Regular readers will know that coach Melanson has been filling me in on the Hornet games which I really appreciate. Just to tell you what kind of guy he is, on Tuesday I sent him an email asking if the game was still on Friday. Despite what he was going through, he had his wife send me an email saying that Ed had been in an accident and he wasn't sure but thought the game was still on for Friday. With everything else going on, to take the time to even respond to such a trivial request speaks volumes about the man.

On Saturday after the game he sent me another email.

"Sorry I won't be much help this week as far as the game goes," he wrote. "I will say this, I have been coaching for quite some time, my first gig was at Bishop Fenwick in 1985 and I'll tell you I have never been more proud of a team than I was last night. It killed me not being able to be there with them but to know how they fought back and pulled out the win just meant so much to me. I know it couldn't have been easy for the other coaches to try and call the plays with very limited practice time but they pulled it off. These are just great people and great kids, a great town and I thank God for giving me the opportunity to be a part of it.

"As for me on a side note: two broken hips, broken hand, broken foot, ripped apart my chest, 20+ stitches and staples on my head and numerous cuts, bruises and overall pain. I will however be back on the field Tuesday (in a wheelchair)," he concluded.

Awesome gentleman and great coach. I'm sure you join me in wishing him a speedy recovery.

Now as for the rest of the league, Hamilton Wenham had a bye this week and will travel to Peabody Friday night to take on the undefeated Bishop Fenwick Crusaders. Should be an interesting matchup.

Ipswich had an off day, according to head coach Ted Flaherty, and were beaten handily by Amesbury 35-14. The teams were tied at 7-7 early in the second quarter, but the Indians scored two late first half touchdowns to go up 21-7 at halftime.

The Tigers cut the lead to 21-14 in the third on a 7 yard touchdown by Derek Chamberlain, but Amesbury added two fourth quarter scores to pull away.

The Tigers will try to regroup this Saturday when they host Newburyport.

Georgetown continues to surprise, hanging with Saugus for a while before falling 35-14. Playing without their sparkplug quarterback Niko Edwards and his favorite target Colby Ingraham who were both out with injuries, the Royals played tough. They scored first on a 14 yard Jackson Fritz to Pat Bjork TD pass and added the two point conversion on Tim Dillon's run to jump on top of the 4-1 Sachems.

Saugus scored twice in the first half to grab a 14-8 lead at the break. The Sachems blew it open in the third on a pair of scores that made it 28-8. Georgetown added a TD on a Tom Zargaj 64 yard run.

The Royals host Amesbury this Saturday.

Manchester-Essex continued to struggle falling to Austin Prep 32-19. The two teams alternated scores in the first quarter as the Hornets took a 13-12 lead. Chris Dumont had a one yard run for the first M/E score and Joe Beardsley caught a 33 yard TD pass from Cory Burnham for the second TD.

The Cougars scored in the second quarter to take an 18-13 halftime lead. After a scoreless third quarter, AP stretched the lead to 26-13 early in the fourth quarter. M/E cut it to 26-19 when Henry Gedney pulled in a 6 yard Burhnam TD pass but the Cougars added another TD to account for the final score.

The Hornets host Northeast Metro Tech this Friday night in their final non league encounter.