Surrounded by a bevy of reporters after Thursday's game, Pioneer head coach Neal Weidman was asked what the difference was in the Lynnfield victory over the Hornets.
The coach hesitated for a second, glanced over to the scoreboard and replied: "Oh I don't know. Seven points?"
The line got a chuckle from the ink stained wretches but the statement was true.
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| Head Coach Neal Weidman takes a Gatorade bath |
All true and the Lynnfield fans that packed Pioneer Field could never relax and the many North Reading fans never had to give up hope.
Yes, this was a great game between two evenly matched teams that resulted in a one score win by the Pioneers. And yes, with the explosive Hornet offense, they were always one Carl Lipani or C. J. McCarthy TD sprint away from tying it up.
But.....
If you look at the final numbers, they show that the Pioneers really had the upper hand for most of the day.
Start with the top level numbers.
The Pioneers rolled for 319 yards. The Hornets were held to 145, only 40 in the second half. That was their third lowest output of the year. Only Ipswich (118) and Newburyport (140) held them to fewer yards.
The Hornets gained 59 yards and earned four first downs on their lone scoring drive. They managed 86 yards and four first downs the rest of the game.
The first down edge went to the Pioneers 13-8.
Lynnfield made it into North Reading territory six of their nine possessions, scoring twice and reaching the NR 18, 37, 25 and 13. They never had a three and out.
The Hornets made it into Lynnfield territory on only three of their eight possessions, scoring once and reaching the Pioneer 47 and 30. They had four three and outs.
The Pioneers averaged 6.1 yards per play. The Hornets managed only 3.4 yards per play.
North Reading had only two plays of over ten yards and six plays over five yards compared to 10 over ten yards and 18 over five yards for Lynnfield
The Pioneers were 5/8 on third down and 0/2 on fourth down for a combined 5/10 (50%). The Hornets were 3/10 on third down and 1/3 on fourth down for a combined 4/13 (30%).
Most of those stats are reinforced by the teams' opening two possessions. The Pioneers ran 18 plays for 107 yards, five first downs and a touchdown. The Hornets ran six plays for 11 yards and no first downs.
Now all that said, what I have just outlined reinforces the old adage that there are lies, damned lies and statistics. Because anyone that was at the field Thursday morning knows that this was a nip and tuck game that was going to be decided by a few key plays. The Pioneers happened to make them but they could easily have been made by the Hornets as well.
Bottom line is that the game lived up to its billing, something that is rarely the case.
And the best part was that the teams played a hard hitting football game that decided the outcome. There was one fumble by each team (the Pioneers recovered by Lipani and the Hornets' covered by Connor Lordan) within five plays of each other that basically cancelled each other out. There was one Cam Rondeau interception that helped seal the win at the end. And there were only three penalties called all game, one on a kickoff and one at the very end when the Pioneers were running out the clock.
The players decided it between the whistles.
"I thought it was a really well played game," North Reading offensive coordinator Ed Melanson told me. "The refs did a fantastic job of staying out of it and letting the boys play. It was hard hitting and fast moving game and except for the final score I couldn't have asked for anything else."
"We couldn't have asked for anything better," Weidman said. "It was a beautiful day and really the teams had a chance to decide it. Great atmosphere. Really fun. Of course it's really easy for me to say now, but it was fun."
Then and Now
Lipani is one of the best backs the Hornets have ever had and proved he was one of the best on the North Shore for the past two years. But the difference in his numbers against Lynnfield from last year to this year is a pretty big indicator of the final outcome.
Last year, the classy back torched the Pioneers for 217 yards and four touchdowns and a two point conversion on 40 carries for a 5.4 yard per carry average. This year he was "held" to 101 yards and one touchdown on 29 carries for a 3.5 ypc average.
"Holding (Lipani) to (101) yards is an unbelievable task for any defense with what they do," Weidman said. "We felt good about the fact that our defense would at least play well."
Running It Up
Because I had to take photos for my Villager article, I needed to be on the North Reading sideline so as not to shoot into the sun. That gave me the opportunity to listen to the comments of the Hornet fans as they rooted their team on.
As junior running back Kyle McGah kept pounding through the North Reading defense on the final clock-killing drive, one Hornet fan said with obvious admiration, "That kid is tough."
I couldn't have said it better myself.
It's not that he gained 112 yards in the game, the fifth time he has cracked the century yard mark in ten games this year, but the way in which he gets them. As Kevin Doyle of the Daily Item pointed out to Weidman in the post game interview, we need to start counting yards after hit for the way McGah continues to gain yards after initial contact.
"He gets it done," said Weidman. "The line does a great job blocking for him but you can't always block everybody and he picks up the rest on his own. He does a good job. He's got that low center of gravity and he's big from the waist down which is good for a running back."
McGah now sits at 972 yards on the year, which is second best for a single season since I've been keeping stats which goes back to 1989. He'll need a really big game against Amesbury Tuesday night to reach Dan Veinot who rushed for 1363 yards in 2000.
McGah's TD now gives him 114 career points and moves him past Todd Coviello (110 points, 1985-86) and Bruce Rothman (112 points, 1969-70) into ninth place on the all time Pioneer scoring list.
Catching Up
Junior Matt Kramich had a big day on Thanksgiving, hauling in three more passes for 49 yards giving him 22 catches for 322 yards for the year. Two of his three catches were third down receptions for first downs.
More Picks
Sophomore Cam Rondeau picked off his fourth interception of the year, tying him with captain Tyler Palumbo for the team lead. The Pioneers now have 16 picks for the season, surpassing the 14 by the 2010 team which is the most in the past ten years.
Third Time the Charm
The Pioneer win snaps a two game losing streak in championship games between the two rivals. The Hornets took the 1978 and 1980 games in Lynnfield when a title was on the line for both teams.
Battle Tested
Weidman has been looking to toughen up the Pioneers in recent years with a strong non-league schedule and it certainly was the case this year. The combined record of the five non league Lynnfield opponents was 34-21. Newburyport (6-5), Amesbury (9-2), Pentucket (6-5) and Bishop Fenwick (8-3) all had winning records and Danvers had the only losing record at 5-6. The Pioneers went 3-2 in non league play.
Nice Touch
Tom Waisnor, Voice of the Pioneers, had a classy finish at the end of Thursday's game by announcing the names of the seniors for both teams as they left the field.
They'll Be Back
To paraphrase the Terminator, the Hornets will be back. And with a vengeance next season. North Reading graduates only 10 seniors including Lipani, but they get most of their starters back.
"With Carl gone it's a huge whole to fill but CJ (McCarthy) (#30) is ready to step in," said Melanson. "We also return five of our front seven, we lose (John) Fortes (#77) at tackle and (Mike) Jannino (#85) at tight end but everyone else is back. We also return half our backfield with our blocking back, (Mike) Cresta (#21) and of course CJ . On defense I believe coach (Jeff Wall) said we have eight starters returning and some more kids that have contributed so hopefully there shouldn't be too much of a drop over there. I hope our kids use this tough lose as motivation and move forward, I believe they will."
Party Like It's 2009
In the post game celebration, I sidled up to volunteer assistant coach Jeff Gannon who was a captain on the 2010 team and a junior on the 2009 championship team. I asked him to compare the two title teams.
"It's different years," Gannon said. "The 2009 team did their thing and I was part of that. It was a great year this year and I'm so proud of these guys to watch them grow and become the players they are today. And to see them come from week one all the way to now and champions on the last day and their last time on their home field is unbelievable. Let's go get that Superbowl."
Senior Sendoff
As has become the team's custom, the team all joined hands and spread across the field and walked from endzone to endzone. For the seniors, it was the last time they would do that as Pioneer football players.
Weidman talked about the seniors moving on.
"A parent said to me 'I don't want it to end. I've had such a good time. The kid's a senior and we appreciate everything you've done' which was great to hear," Weidman said. "I told her how do you think I feel. I have to go through it every single year. I have to lose a bunch of kids that were with me for four years. Every senior class is different in their own way. Some times you have better football players in a senior class but I have a ton of respect for any player that plays for four years, sticks it out, practices six days a week. When you start the season it's a hundred degrees and when you finish the season it's twenty. So every year you have respect for all those seniors that will leave."
That's it for now. Check back Monday night for my Amesbury playoff preview post.
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