Ipswich Leftovers

One of the defensive sets by Ipswich is referred to as "Vegas." Standing on the sideline, I kept hearing the Tiger coaches calling that set frequently during the game on Saturday.

I'm not privy to exactly what that call means or what it does or how it works, but it seems appropriate for the aggressive Tiger defense which relies a good deal on gambling. And with that type of defense, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.

Saturday was not a good day at the tables for the Tigers in the tough loss, and Ipswich head coachTed Flaherty explained why to me after the game.

"We started taking some chances because we were down a little bit," the coach said. "It was a little higher risk/reward situation and we paid for it. (Lynnfield) did a nice job hitting blitzes. We just missed a tackle and it was gone.

"We have a good run defense," Flaherty went on. "When we're healthy I think its a very good run defense. The big play has been our Achilles heel all year. We've been blitzing more than we ever have in the past and I guess we have to get better at it. You get a nice reward from it but if you miss one tackle, you're in trouble."

But the Tiger defense held the Pioneers in check for most of the first half. If you take away captain Mike Karavetsos' 28 yard and 24 yard TD runs, two of the big plays Flaherty referred to, Lynnfield managed only 35 yards rushing in the first two quarters. The Pioneers could not make a first down on the ground in the first half. Lynnfield's leading runner Kyle McGah managed only two yards before halftime.

"First of all it's shear numbers," said Pioneer head coach Neal Weidman in explaining the Tigers' effectiveness in stopping the run. "They run a pressure type of defense which makes it difficult to run against. And they're aggressive. Their defensive line is pretty good too. And they use their linebackers to pressure the rest of the time."

Then how were the Pioneers finally able to break through and score 34 points?

"We finally completed some of those passes we wanted to against them," Weidman said. "With a team like that you have to make them pay in the passing game to loosen them up a little bit and we were finally able to do that. Once we backed them off a little bit, then we started to be able to run the ball. They weren't backed off in the first half. They were right up there on the line."

To Weidman's point, once Karavetsos completed the 62 yard bomb to A. J. Gallo on the opening drive of the third period, things began to open up in the run game for the Pioneers. After the pass to Gallo, the Pioneers racked up 109 yards on their next two possessions, both ending in touchdowns that iced the win.

"That's what the spread does," said Flaherty. "It kind of isolates people in space. When we were able to gang tackle and pursue like that we are tough. It's when you get isolated whether it's the blitz design of a play we're okay. But if we miss a tackle, it's a tough deal."

The other key to the win was the domination and shutdown of the tricky Ipswich Delaware Wing T offense. Part of that was the fact that the Tigers were giving up some size, especially in the line.

"Oh yeah they were very strong," admitted Flaherty. "This is a pretty good sized Ipswich team for a small school but those guys were big. Like Newburyport last week.

"They were exactly where we thought they would be," Flaherty went on regarding the Lynnfield defense. "We cut our offense down a little bit just to try to be better instead of more. They were just faster and able to get off blocks better than we were able to get to the block and stay on the block. They were hitting seams between our pulls and double teams and they were really good at it."

The Tigers also were short handed due to some lingering injuries that flared up again during the game.

"We had a few kids with injuries," Flaherty explained. "Our starting tailback and safety was out in the second half. Our inside linebacker/fullback was in and out the second half. We had some younger kids in there. But in my opinion, it was just the fact that the defense was on the field too much. You combine the offense not being able to take any pressure off the defense and then you have a few guys out and you have to start taking some chances it's never a good situation. And (Lynnfield) is strong enough and good enough and balanced enough to be able to take advantage of that and they did a good job."

Flaherty acknowledged the effect of losing this first league game.

"We told (the team) as soon as you lose one in a five team tournament now it's in someone else's hands," the coach said. "The good news is that Lynnfield plays North Reading on Thanksgiving Day so if Hamilton Wenham can knock off Lynnfield and we can knock off North Reading...., " his voice trailed off.

"There's a lot of parity," he said. "I knew the league was going to be really good this year. There were so many juniors on the all league team last year.

Overall, the Ipswich coach was impressed with what he saw of the Pioneers.

"I saw them against Pentucket and I was like 'wow!'," Flaherty said. "(Lynnfield) just dominated that game. The score was not indicative of the game. (Lynnfield) is something."

Class Act
The CAL/NEC4 is lucky to have a number of classy coaches and Flaherty is certainly in that category. When I went over to his sideline to talk to him after the game, he was the last remaining member of the Ipswich contingent and he was policing the bench area to make sure everything was cleaned up. I can think of quite a few coaches who wouldn't have bothered after suffering through a lopsided loss.

More importantly, you could see by the attitude of his staff and players on the sideline during the game that he has instilled in them the right way to approach the game. Even as the game grew out of control, the Ipswich coaches continued to teach constructively while the players continued to encourage each other. There was no finger pointing or blaming or packing it in. All the players were still engaged and rooting each other on, fighting to the final whistle.

Senior linemen Mike Dillon summed is up best as he patrolled the sideline exhorting his teammates.

"We're in a ton of adversity right now," he shouted. "But we can't give up."

That type of attitude is a direct positive reflection of Flaherty and his staff and the way he operates his program.

For that reason, and for the more important self interest in the CAL/NEC 4 race, it behooves Pioneer fans to pull out some black and orange pom poms and root for the Tigers the rest of the way.

Senior Day
With the impressive win over Ipswich, the Pioneers had quite a reversal from last year's Senior Day when they came out flat and fell to Manchester Essex 7-6. By any description, this was a much better effort, more in keeping with the spirit of the day.

"Yes it was," agreed Weidman. "We talked about it a little bit. I didn't want to make too big a deal about it. It's one thing to lose but it's another thing to not play well and lose. You don't want to not play well on a day like Senior Day."

Before the game, the senior cheerleaders and football players were announced and presented flowers to their parents.

Senior cheerleaders recognized were Captains Stephanie Grimaldi and Zoe DeGeorgeand seniors Alanna Liburdi Francesca Pezzulo and Manager Tiana Maylor.

Senior football players recognized were captains D. J. DeGeorge, Michael Karavetsos, Andrew Kibarian, Tyler Palumbo and Alex Pascucci and seniors Joe Andrade, Michael Bonafine, AJ Gallo, Connor Lordan, Anthony Mancini, Nick O’Brien, Zach Panzini, Giulio Pellegrini, Corey Ragusa, Alex Roper, Alex Rugato and Michael Soden.

And thanks to the way the game turned out, the coaching staff was able to get all the seniors into the game a very nice added bonus.

Making the most of his appearance, Alex Rugato was able to help the Pioneers sustain their most time consuming drive at the end of the game by rushing six times for 28 yards.

Time Management
After watching the fiasco in Seattle last week when the Patriots butchered the end of the first half, threw away three points and ultimately lost by one, it was nice to see the Pioneers handle it quite differently Saturday.

Leading just 7-0, the Pioneers punted and had Ipswich at their own 26 yard line with 3:38 remaining in the half. As the Pioneer defense smothered the Tiger running game, Weidman began calling time outs with the hope of getting the ball back before the end of the quarter.

Allowing only two yards on three rushes, the Pioneers got what they wanted by forcing Ipswich to punt, having used only just over a minute of clock. The plan worked even better when Anthony Costa roared in to block the punt. The Pioneers took over on the Tiger 32 and three plays later, Karavetsos swept in from 24 yards out to give Lynnfield a 14-0 lead with 1:46 left in the half.

"It's one of those things where it's really what's the field position first," said Weidman. "They were backed up and then it's what did we do on first and second down. When we did well on first and second down we decided to go ahead and use them."

Well played.

Back in Gear
After struggling with a bad ankle for the first part of the season, Karavetsos was finally forced to sit out the Danvers game to let it heal. After the bye week gave him a couple of weeks off, the quarterback came back with a good effort in the Pentucket win. He was clearly back to full strength against Ipswich, running and throwing for over 100 yards each, rushing for two TD's and throwing for another.

Weidman was asked what the keys were to his quarterback's strong performance.

"Lots of different reasons," Weidman said. "One, he played well obviously. But no one does well running or throwing without the offensive line so that's the biggest thing. The offensive line played well. Mike hit some big passes that we needed. Game plan wise, going in we knew we were going to have to do that to have any kind of success running the ball against them."

Speaking of the offensive line of Kibarian, D. J. DeGeorge, Cam DeGeorge, Lordan and Dominc Costa, they didn't have much success early as they were outnumbered by the blitzing Ipswich front seven. But as the game wore on and the passing game began to click, the big line did what it was supposed to do, wear down the opposition. By the end of the game it was clear they had won the battle in the trenches and was key in the victory.

Pigskin Picking
The Pioneer defense continues to win the turnover battle and Saturday it was 3-0 with three more interceptions. The trio of Pascucci, Palumbo and Cam Rondeau each had a pick for the second game this year. They did the trick against Danvers as well.

The Pioneers now are a +3 in turnovers this year (16-13) and have picked off 10 interceptions. That is the third most in the last ten years behind only 2010 (14) and 2003 (11). If the defense continues to stifle opposing running games and force opponents to pass, look for this year's group to surpass both of those marks.

Streaking
The Pioneers have now won three straight games, their longest winning streak since the school record 15 consecutive regular seasons wins spanning 2009-10.

Quick Time
The time of possession Saturday was pretty even with the Tigers holding a slight edge at 22:58 to 21:02, but the Pioneers did most of their damage quickly.

They had ten possessions and scored on five of them. Those five scoring drives consumed 1:14, 0:39, 0:28, 1:45 and 1:29 for a total of 5:35 or an average of 1:07 per drive. That's bookin'.

Laundry List
The Pioneers were flagged five times for 55 yards while no penalties were called on Ipswich in the game. On the year, the Pioneers have been penalized 23 times for 198 yards while their opponents have drawn 19 flags for 155 yards.

Individual Efforts
There were some outstanding individual plays in the game worth noting.

Midway in the first period on a second and eight from their own eight yard line the Tigers swept the right side with Kyle Barber looking to turn the corner. Linebacker Alex Roper was being blocked (held?) all along the line but still stretched it out, fought off the block and made the tackle to hold Barber to a one yard gain.

Palumbo followed with a sack to the one and the Pioneers got great field position at the Tiger 35 after the punt. Three plays later Karavetsos scored to give Lynnfield a 7-0 lead.

Later in the period, the Pioneers punted to the dangerous John Elnagger who fielded Gallo's kick at the Ipswich 30 and quickly moved to the 35. He had Nate Glaster in front of him and appeared to have running room.

Pioneer junior Ryan Battaglia quickly covering the kick fought off the Glaster block and made a nice open field tackle on Elnagger, dropping him at the Tiger 38 after only an eight yard return.

It was a great individual effort.

Overall the kick coverage team did an outstanding job holding the Tigers to only 49 total yards on nine kickoffs/punts. That's an average of 5.4 yards per return.

That's it for now. Check back Monday night when I'll take a look at the other two CAL/NEC4 games.