Pentucket Leftovers

Well the non league portion of the schedule is now behind us and we can look forward to the games that really matter. That isn't to take anything at all away from the last two impressive wins against Danvers and Pentucket. Those two victories have gone a long way toward helping to define the 2012 Pioneers and have set the stage for an exciting league schedule to come.

So what do we have with this year's edition of the Pioneers? Well I think it's safe to say that the team has become more dominant on defense while showing flashes on the offensive side of the ball.

The Pioneer defense has definitely been the lynchpin of the team thus far. They have allowed only 54 points, half of those in their shootout win over Amesbury. In the last two and a quarter games, they have allowed only 6 points. Their average points per game (ppg) now stands at 10.8.

How does that stand up to some of the better defensive Pioneer teams of the past?

The stingiest Pioneer team of all time was Steve Sobieck's 1962 Dual County championship team that allowed only 32 points in nine games, a 3.6 ppg average. The second best was Bill Adams' 1985 CAL champs who gave up only 52 points in 10 games (5.2 ppg). Coming in third is Sobieck's 1964 team with 42 points allowed in nine games (5.3 ppg).

The tightest Pioneer team in the past 25 years was head coach Neal Weidman's 2010 squad who gave up 104 points in 11 games (9.5 ppg). That places them ninth on the list of Lynnfield's all time best defensive teams. If this year's Pioneers can maintain their current pace, their 10.8 ppg would place them tied for 18th all time.

Weidman acknowledged the performance of the defense, but noted that the challenge was to maintain that level in each game.

"Last week we shut out Danvers who scored 61 points in a game and this week we gave up six points to a good Pentucket team and that was on a long pass," said the coach. "It's about how well you play each week. You can go from being a good defensive team to looking like a bad defensive team quickly."

I asked him what has been the key to the team's defensive success.

"Honestly the kids have bought into what we're teaching as far as what they are supposed to do and they're listening," he said. "The other thing they do is study it. We show them things. They ask for film. We give them the film and they look at it  and they ask questions. They want to know what they are supposed to do if they seen this or that because they are studying it themselves."

I mentioned that talent has something to do with it as well.

"Obviously we have some good players," the coach agreed. "I hate to point out any individuals because so many of them have played well."

Weidman has some concerns about the offense which has scored 79 points so far - a 15.8 ppg average. That puts the 2012 squad on a pace similar to Weidman's first team in 2008 that went 3-8 averaging 15 ppg. It is also well below the scoring of recent Pioneers teams. The ppg scoring for the last fours years was 20.1 last year, 30.5 in 2010, 23.3 in 2009 and 15 in 2008.

The biggest difference appears to be in the turnover department. This year, the Pioneers have given it up 13 times in five games, a pace that would give them 26 on the year. The turnover totals for the past four Pioneers teams have been 17 last year, 13 in 2010, 20 in 2009 and 14 in 2008. Clearly ball security is an issue and has suppressed the Pioneer offensive output this season.

"My biggest concern is that we are still shooting ourselves in the foot offensively," Weidman said. "There are times when we look really good but it's not translating to the scoreboard and that's frustrating."

You can read my complete game story and see my action photos in the Villager this Wednesday, but let's take a look at some other interesting tidbits about the Pentucket game.

Rarified Air
This was the first visit to West Newbury for the Pioneers since 2007 when Sachems prevailed 28-13. Lynnfield hadn't won at Pentucket since 1996 when the quarterback Jason Caggiano-led the Pioneers defeated the Sachems 20-14.

Combined with their 21-14 win last season, the Pioneers now have a two game winning streak against Pentucket. The last time that happened was in 1997 when Lynnfield followed up the '96 win with a 13-0 whitewash at home in 1997. Overall, the Pioneers hold an 18-16-1 edge over Pentucket.

Milestone Time
You'll read in my game article that yesterday's win was the 30th for Weidman as head coach at Lynnfield. He reached the milestone in 50 games and now sports a 30-20 overall record.

For comparison to other Pioneer head coaches, Sobieck reached 30 the fastest in only 41 games with his powerhouse teams of the early sixties. Bill Rodan, the winningest Lynnfield coach with 101 wins, reached the 30 win mark in 44 games. Adams hit 30 wins after 60 games.

Keeps On Ticking
There may be a few of you out there who remember the old Timex watch commercials. They would submit the watch to all kinds of abuse on land and sea and then afterwards show that it was still running. The tag line was "Takes a licking and keeps on ticking."

Pioneer captain Alex Pascucci was a little like one of those Timex watches yesterday. The fleet footed receiver led the Pioneers in receptions with five for 24 yards but took some hellacious hits in the process. Each time though, he bounced up and "kept on ticking" coming back for more.

"He's tough," Weidman acknowledged. "Alex is a tough kid and he's a good player. He's more athletic than he even looks. He's got quick feet. He's not necessarily straight ahead super fast but he is quick. He didn't have a chance to put any moves on yesterday because he was getting hit so much."

Flip Side
Speaking of Pascucci, most times those hits were delivered by Cody Rothwell, the Sachem's outstanding running back who is also a force on defense.

"Rothwell is a good player," Weidman said. "We were trying to avoid him but he kept appearing. Everything we wanted to do he was always there. A real pain in the neck but that's what good players are.

"Typically players get their recognition for their offense but Rothwell and (Tim) Freiermuth are both great defensive players," the coach continued. "Rothwell was all over us and really in the second half he singlehandedly took away a lot of what we thought we could do in the passing game. Freiermuth you have to account for because if you don't get a body on him he's going to make every tackle at the line of scrimmage on the inside running game."

Flag Day
The Pioneers appeared to get the short end of the laundry basket yesterday as they were called for five penalties for 48 yards, three of those for holding. One of the holding calls nullified a 44 yard run by McGah that took the ball to the Pentucket two yard line. Another called back a key first down pick up in the fourth quarter.

Pentucket was flagged once late in the final period for a five yard offside penalty.

"We were probably holding and they probably weren't," Weidman said with a completely straight face. "I guess that's the gist of it."

Designated Hitter?
Freshman Adam Buchanan had one carry on the day, a two yard burst for a first down on fourth and one on the Pioneers' opening drive. This is the second week in a row the 6'2" 205 pounder has come in on a fourth and short.

He's now 2 for 2 in those situations.

Return of the QB
Captain Mike Karavetsos returned at quarterback after missing last week's game with an ankle injury. He scored a touchdown and ran for 117 yards while completing 9 of 12 passes for another 73 yards. He  threw one interception. He was also stripped for a fumble in the first quarter.

"He hadn't played in a while and he was running much better, much faster," Weidman said. "We still have to cut down on his mistakes and hopefully that has something to do with the fact that he hasn't played in three weeks. Hopefully he'll continue to get better."

Same Ol', Same Ol'
Despite picking up only 45 yards on the ground in the first half, the Sachems came out in the second half and continued to run the same run heavy offense. I asked Weidman if he was surprised that Pentucket didn't come out trying something different.

"They run what they run," the coach said. "And they run it well. They are coached well and that is what they do. They'll make minor adjustments on maybe some assignments and things but they run the plays they run because that is what they are good at. Based on what you do to them they'll tweak it, but they don't go crazy trying to change things. The only thing I thought they might do is throw a little bit more to start the second half because they had the long pass for the score right before the half."

Pentucket quarterback Ryan Kuchar ended up throwing 12 passes completing five for 95 yards, 45 of those on the touchdown to Rothwell. He had two passes picked off, one by Pascucci and the other by A. J. Gallo to end the Sachems' last ditch drive at the end of the game.

Icing
The Pioneers did a nice job of putting the game away in the final four minutes when they forced the Sachems to punt from their own 40 yard line. They got the ball back and bled the clock to under a minute before they gave the ball back.

Kyle McGah was immense in that final possession, picking up two key first downs that kept the clock moving.

"That was huge," acknowledged Weidman. "We work on the four minute offense the day before every game. We tell them they have to pick up two first downs to ice this thing. We work on it at practice but you can work on it all you want but you still have to get it done in the game. Sometimes it's because of good blocking and sometimes it's because of the will of a player or several players."

LYF Donation
Lisa DeGeorge wanted me to pass on that the headphones the the Pioneer coaching staff is using this year were purchased by the Lynnfield Youth Football Program. Tom Terranova, Steve Berardino and Wayne Shaffer, directors of the Lynnfield Youth Football Program for the past 12 years, have donated the headphones on behalf of the Lynnfield High School football players.

"Tom, Steve and Wayne have been an instrumental part of the boys’ football experience as most of these boys have “grown up” in the LYF program," Lisa stated in the press release about the donation. "In recognition of the LHS football players, who have taken time over the years to help out at the youth games and have given their time during the pre-season to help out the youth players at the LYF Camp, Tom, Steve and Wayne demonstrated their appreciation of the boys’ efforts of giving back to the Lynnfield Youth Football Program by donating the headsets to the Lynnfield High School coaches. Thank you to both the Lynnfield Youth Football Program and to the Lynnfield High School Football Players for all their contributions."

That's it for now. Check back tomorrow night when I'll take a look around the league at the final week of non league play.