Amesbury Leftovers

by Tom Condardo

I've mentioned before that when you try to get a comment about an individual from Pioneer head coach Neal Weidman, he goes into Full Belichick Mode. The conversation immediately switches to other members of the team that contributed to any individual success. He is, and always has been, about the team. He reinforced that even further on Saturday after the Amesbury win when he was asked how important it was that he was able to get a number of non-starters into the game.

"First, you try to reward the kids that show up every day at practice and help out," the coach began. "People don't understand. It's not just the guys that are on the field playing. Without those other guys, we can't practice. We can't prepare for the game. It is impossible. I try to tell the kids that all the time and it's hard for them to understand that which I completely understand but it literally takes everybody to do it right.

"Second of all," Weidman continued, "there are some kids that are a play away from being in the game. (Getting them playing time) gets them some experience so when you do have to thrust them in there, it's not the first time they've been out there."

Being able to get varsity experience for backups and younger players is so valuable. I used to watch other teams like Masco and North Andover do that all the time when they were pounding undermanned Lynnfield teams. Getting your bench players into the game is such a great way to build a program while keeping everyone interested and engaged. You may not get many of those kinds of games that allow you to do it, but Weidman has taken advantage of almost every one.

Always Learning
Weidman also discussed captain Kyle McGah, who continues to run amok in his first three games. He's  rushed for 370 yards on 50 carries so far, an eye-popping 7.4 yard per carry average. He also has 7 touchdowns, or one every 7.1 carries. Channeling my inner-Weidman, I have to point out that the play of coach Gino Fodera's offensive line has a great deal to do with it. Captain Dom Costa, Alex Ganter, Anthony Vaccaro, Matt Connelly, Steven White, David Adams, and Cameron DeGeorge have done a tremendous job paving the way.

The Pioneers have gained 855 rushing yards on 114 carries, a 7.5 per carry average. Twelve of their 14 touchdowns this year have been on the ground.

But back to McGah. It wasn't the three TD's or the 147 yards that pleased Weidman the most. He was most encouraged by the improvements the senior continues to make.

"Kyle ripped off some nice runs," the coach told me. "He also did a nice job today with aiming points so he's learned over the last few weeks. It's great to see a senior captain who's gotten as much recognition as he has that he still wants to pay attention and learn and get better. Things we work on in practice, he took into the game."

Boffo Baptism
Sophomore quarterback Jake McHugh had himself quite a day in his first extended varsity action taking over for starter Danny Sullivan once the game got out of hand. McHugh was 3 for 4 for 51 yards and a touchdown passing and he also carried 7 times for 114 yards and a 69 yard TD run. Not a bad start.

"He never played high school football before and he's a sophomore," Weidman told me. "He came out this year. He's a basketball player, the type of kids we love to get. He said 'I'd like to give it a try. I'd like to play receiver."

Weidman, a record setting quarterback at Ithaca College, obviously knows a fellow signal caller when he sees one.

"I said, no maybe you'll play some quarterback," Weidman recalled. "He said, 'all right, I'll do it.' He did well (against Amesbury). It's good. They get out there and say, 'you know what? I can do this. It's not that big of a deal.' Although it really is."

One Dark Cloud
The only blotch on the big win for the Pioneers came in the penalty column. They were flagged seven times for 60 yards.

"Yea it got bad," Weidman agreed. "The second half was sloppy. We talked about it at halftime to not be sloppy and finishing strong and all those things. The third quarter was bad but the fourth was better. It doesn't matter what the reason is. We specifically talked about it."

Streaking
The win was the sixth straight for the Pioneers over Amesbury including last season's playoff victory. That's the longest winning streak by either team in the series besting the five straight wins Amesbury  put together from 2004 to 2008. The 41 points is the most Lynnfield has ever scored against the Indians in the 42 meetings between the schools. The most points the Indians have ever scored was 47 in a 47-18 win in 1988. The Pioneers lead the series 26-15-1.

Crime Pays
Maybe the Pioneers should consider changing their mascot to the Pirates after a particularly strong run of pilferage in the first three games of the season. The Lynnfield defense has forced nine turnovers (6 interceptions and 3 fumble recoveries). More impressive, the Pioneers have made the opposition pay for coughing it up. Six of the nine led to scoring drives. One other led to a drive that ended a half and another led to a drive that ended the game. The Pioneers have committed four turnovers so far - three fumbles and one interception.

Elite Eleven
There have been only 11 Lynnfield teams in the 56 year history of the program that have gotten off to 3-0 starts. The most recent before this year was in 2010 when the Pioneers went on to post a 9-2 mark. You have to go back 14 years to find the next one. The 1996 team started 3-0 then went on to finish 6-4.

The aggregate record of the 11 teams is 90-17-1. Of the 11 teams, six went on to win championships. Ironically, the two most recent Pioneer champs did not start 3-0. The 2009 CAL Small champs started with wins against Matignon and Georgetown before losing in Wilmington. Last year's squad lost to Newburyport in the opening game of the year, beat Amesbury and lost to Bishop Fenwick to start the season 1-2. They wouldn't lose again until the Division 3A Super Bowl against Bishop Feehan.

That's it for now. Check back tomorrow night when I'll take a look around the league and I'll review the latest playoff power rankings.