Around the NEC/CAL 4: Week 9

So it comes down to this.

After an interminable buildup of six weeks, a three week whirlwind of games has winnowed the NEC?CAL 4 field to just the two Chestnut Street rivals. The Pioneers and Hornets will tangle for the 56th time on Thanksgiving Day, but for the first time in more than 30 years, the league championship is on the line for both of them.

They both stand at 3-0, two games ahead of their closest rivals, rendering next week's games meaningless in the race for the title and a spot in the Division 3A playoffs.

We know how the Pioneers got there. Let's take a look at the other two games played over the weekend. But first, a look at the updated standings.


I can't say I'm surprised that the Hornets are in it. I have been beating the drum on how good that team is since last Thanksgiving Day. The Pioneers being there is another question. I didn't doubt that they had a solid senior class bolstered by a good group of juniors, but I wasn't sure how strong the rest of the league would be.

Everyone knew Hamilton Wenham lost a lot, but returning Trevor Lyons, the league's Player of the Year, and being able to parlay the experience of two championship seasons made the Generals a hard team to overlook in the title fight. Ipswich is always a tough out and I felt Manchester-Essex and Georgetown rounded out the most balanced league I had seen in a long time. The M/E Hornets and the Royals were crushed by injuries which short circuited their seasons.

That left the Pioneers the opportunity to control their own fate with the two tough games to start the league schedule and they took advantage. A confidence boosting big win over Ipswich got things rolling and then the over-the-hump win at H-W cemented the Pioneers as contenders.

The only thing left is to play the big game on Thanksgiving.

North Reading removed any doubt about their qualifications by finally driving a stake through the enormous hearts of the defending league champ last Friday night. The Generals, playing like the champs they are, came out in the persistent drizzle in North Reading and landed two quick punches on the Hornets.

The Generals converted a long opening kickoff return into one score and then capitalized on a rare Carl Lipani fumble to score another one and before you could say "don't forget about us," H-W was up 13-0 midway in the first period.

But the Hornets are scary good and continued to battle. Carl Lipani got the Hornets on the board late in the first on a three yard run for his first of SIX (6) touchdowns. But the Generals answered with another  fade touchdown pass from Lyons to Christian Ecker, their third hookup in just over a quarter, to take a 19-7 lead.

But that's when the roof fell in on the Generals. The Hornets scored the next 34 points on four more TD's from Lipani and another from C. J. McCarthy, to take a 41-19 lead. The teams would trade touchdowns to account for the final score. When the little black artificial turn particles had settled at Arthur Kenney Field, Lipani (234 yards) and McCarthy (136 yards) had combined for 370 yards and seven touchdowns.

After the game, Hornet head coach Jeff Wall talked about his club rebounding from the early hole.

"We calmed them down," said Wall. "We always tell them to believe in yourself and believe in each other. Their coach said they were fighting for their lives tonight. So we knew they were going to come out firing on all cylinders. We actually told them to weather the storm and just settle down and play football. And the kids responded well."

Perhaps the turning point of the game was at the end of the first half when the Generals drove to the North Reading two yard line. The Hornets held on fourth down as the half expired, keeping the General lead to only 19-13.

"It was absolutely huge," Wall said of the big defensive effort. "Because we knew we got the ball in the second half. That's why we like to defer."

The Hornets moved right down the field and scored to take a 20-19 lead.

North Reading then blew it open by recovering two straight on side kicks and converting them into scores and the rout was on.

The Generals scored all three of their touchdown on fade routes, but Wall was not concerned.

"I don't think you can live by the fade," the coach said. "They scored three times on it but you can't make a living on fades. Or at least that's what we kept telling ourselves. Once we stopped it, then we got them."

The Hornets have now scored 107 points in their last two games and I mentioned that I covered Hornet teams in the 1980's that didn't score 107 points in a season.

"The offense is starting to come together," he said with a straight face until the group of reporters in front of him cracked up. You think?

"We put it on the (offensive) line," Wall explained. "You open up some holes and we have good backs. Carl and C. J. are hard to stop. You  have to decide and pick which one you have to stop. It's hard to stop them both."

Which makes Ed Melanson's single wing offense so explosive and dangerous. If the Pioneers have any hope of stopping the Hornet express, they are going to have to either figure out how to slow down the wing, or rev up the spread to outscore them. In either case, it should be an interesting holiday morning.

The Hornets host Ipswich Friday night in their tuneup while H-W travels to Georgetown to try to halt a rare two game losing streak.

Meanwhile, the Manchester Essex team that everyone expected to see this year finally showed up and caged a solid Ipswich team 17-14 on Jack Welch Field last Friday.

Instead of wallowing in their misery following a 60-6 beatdown by North Reading two weeks ago, the Hornets regrouped and played their best game of the season in beating the Tigers.

Quarterback Cory Burnham and senior captain receiver John Beardsley connected for two TD passes. With the scored knotted at 14-14 late in the game, the Hornets drove deep into Tiger territory and fittingly Beardsley nailed a 20 yard field goal with over minute to play to sew up the win.

The Hornets, who moved into fourth place in the league with the win, will go for two in a row when they host the Pioneers this Friday.

Ipswich meanwhile, which had a chance to remain in the title chase with a win, instead was eliminated from contention. They will try to knock off the Hornets in North Reading on Friday night.

That's it for now. Check out the Villager this week for my Georgetown game story and action photos and a special article on the new playoff system and how it affects the Pioneers. And come back on Wednesday for my next post on the 1973 Pioneers.