Around the CAL/NEC: Week 7

Well the league season is finally here and we're down to the "five game tournament" as Ipswich head coach Ted Flaherty described it. You can read all about the Lynnfield contest in the Villager on Wednesday, but today we'll take a look at the other two league games. First let's look at the standings which finally has numbers in the League Games column.

The two league favorites posted wins as did Lynnfield creating our first three way tie for first. With the Pioneers heading for Hamilton this week for the first big showdown of the week, at least one team will be 2-0 after next week's slate.

Two-time defending league champion Hamilton Wenham started the league season off with quite a statement, routing Manchester-Essex 43-13. As has been the case several times this season, the Hornets actually scored first but were then overwhelmed by the Generals.

Pulling out all the stops, M/E head coach Mike Athanas called for the onside kick to start the game and the Hornets recovered. They quickly moved downfield against a rattled General defense and covered the 42 yards in five plays. Henry Gedney hauled in a 22 yard pass from Cory Burhnam for the score to give M/E a 7-0 advantage.

It didn't take long for the Generals to settle down, thanks to last season's player of the year Trevor Lyons. They quickly took the lead on a nine yard Lyons run for the score and rush for the two point conversion pass to put H/W up 8-7. Early in the second quarter, Lyons sliced in from the one and threw the two point conversion to Pete Duval to make it 16-7.

Lyons then went to the air and found Christian Eckert for a 17 yard TD pass and then the quarterback ran another one in from 27 yards out and the rout was on. They led 30-13 at halftime and added two more second half scores for the 43-13 final.

In all, Lyons rushed for 169 yards and four touchdowns and threw for 59 yards and a score.

It was a pretty nice tuneup in preparation for the Generals' date with the stingy Pioneer defense next week. No rest for the Hornets who have to host North Reading Friday night in a brutal start to the league schedule for M/E.

Meanwhile, up in Georgetown, North Reading continued its winning ways with a 14-0 win over the Royals. The score may have been lower than some might expect given Carl Lipani and the explosive Hornet offense as well as the fact that the Royals have been struggling lately and ravaged by injuries. But keep in mind that the game was played at Georgetown High on a field that is marginal at best and had been pelted by rain the entire day before. As you would expect, the field was a messy quagmire, not conducive to the quick intricacies of the Hornets' single wing offense.

"It was a weird game," explains North Reading Offensive Coordinator Ed Melanson, back on the sideline recovering from a serious auto accident. "I was not familiar with Georgetown's field and did not realize how bad that field is. We were in six inches of mud from the start."

Lipani slogged 28 yards for the Hornets' first touchdown and Mike DiSanto added the point after to give North Reading a 7-0 lead. They scored again before the half on a one yard blast by fullback Mike Cresta and another PAT by DiSanto gave the Hornets a 14-0 lead at the break.

There would be no more scoring on the day for either team.

"The field really helped Georgetown because nobody could get anything moving," said Melanson. "I honestly doubt Georgetown had 10 yards rushing on the day and the muck slowed us down as well. We moved the ball alright but it was such a mess out there, kids were falling when trying to pull or run it was bad and made it very hard to keep a drive together.

"I felt we were a little rusty after the bye week," Melanson went on, "and Georgetown had a few players return to their lineup that were not playing the last couple of weeks so they looked a little better but the game was never in doubt. The second half was just a complete mess. By the fourth quarter it looked like both teams were in slow motion."

The Hornets will go from the worst field in the league to one of the best when they travel to Manchester to take on the other Hornets on the artificial turf at Hyland Field.

Georgetown will host Ipswich in a battle between two teams looking to break into the league win column.

That's it for now. Check back Wednesday for my next post on the 1973 Pioneers and on Thursday when I'll have my preview of the big game with Hamilton Wenham.