By Tom Condardo
Okay kids. Gather round for another chapter of Lynnfield Football History. Today we're only going back five years to take a look at the Pioneers' performance at home in the Neal Weidman era.
From 2008 through last week, the Pioneers are 23-7 at home (21-3 since 2009). During that span, they have played 15 teams at Pioneer Field. They have a winning record against 11 of them, a .500 record against two of them, and a losing record against two others.
Quickly, name the two teams against whom the Pioneers have a losing record at home during that time?
(Insert Jeopardy music here)
So how many of you said Newburyport?
(Lots of hands being raised)
Sorry, you lose. Weidman-coached teams actually have a 2-1 record against the Clippers at home. It was probably the 0-3 mark up in Newburyport that threw you off.
Who said Hamilton-Wenham?
(Good number of hands in the air)
Wrong again. In the the two home meetings since 2008, the Pioneers are 1-1 against the Generals. (1.5-.5 really if you want to count the overtime loss in 2011 as a half a win).
So who are these two teams that have defied the Pioneer Field dominance?
Give up?
Well, one is Wilmington who came to town in Weidman's first year undefeated and escaped with a 14-7 come from behind win.
The other is....
...this week's guest, Manchester-Essex.
Ironically, the Pioneers have beaten the Hornets twice in Manchester in the Weidman era but a combined score of 84-19. It's only at home where they haven't been able to get off the schneid.
M/E came in as a non-league opponent late in 2008 and handled Lynnfield 35-21. The Hornets were a wagon that year headed for a Super Bowl win and looked the part that day. Although their head coach did say that the Pioneers gave them their toughest battle of the year up to then.
Bad Memories
M/E's second visit came in 2011 and the result was the infamous Senior Day Siesta when nothing went right for the home team. Even the PA system malfunctioned, silencing the dulcet tones of Tom Waisnor, Voice of the Pioneers. So there in the silence, the Pioneers came out as flat as Roseanne Barr singing the National Anthem and were upset by the Hornets 7-6.
After that game, Weidman told me, "Manchester wanted it more right from the beginning. We just never got anything going."
The Pioneers committed three turnovers, had six three and outs and made it into Hornet territory only twice. Lynnfield led 6-0 (the way the day went naturally the PAT was blocked) and M/E's Joe Burgess returned an interception for a TD late in the first half to take a 7-6 lead. The scoreless second half was just as dismal for the Pioneers as they ran off only 19 plays and the Hornets celebrated their first league win of the year.
I don't want to say that game still bugs the coach, but he has mentioned it several times since, as recently as last week after the Amesbury game when we talked about this week's matchup with the Hornets.
"They're pretty good," he said of M/E, then without missing a beat. "Hopefully we won't show up like we did a couple of years ago when we didn't have our best game. Although I have to give them credit, they just outplayed us that day."
Although Weidman is usually a "looking forward" kind of coach, my guess is that the Siesta of 2011 will be mentioned in the pre-game talk.
As tough as that game was to take, it was only a battle between two teams with nothing but pride on the line. The Pioneers would go on to lose on Thanksgiving Day to end the year 5-6. The Hornets beat Georgetown on the holiday to finish with the same record.
First Place On The Line This Time
The stakes will be much higher on Saturday. M/E comes in 1-0 in league play off of a 28-12 win over Georgetown last week. The winner of this week's game will be 2-0 and will grab at least a share of first place in the CAL Small.
The Hornets are 2-1 overall having won two in a row after losing 42-28 against Northeast Metro in their opener. They beat Greater Lawrence 22-12 in their second game.
The Pioneer defense will be playing a familiar offense since the Hornets run the same spread scheme as Lynnfield. Graduation took 13 seniors, so M/E has been breaking in new people this year with good results so far.
Senior running back Chris Dumont is the only experience in the backfield and is the Hornets' leading scorer with 22 points. Junior quarterback Craig Carter is right behind him with 18. Fullback Nate Riehl is also a scoring threat.
M/E is more experienced on defense returning linemen Mike and Will David and middle linebacker Doug Rodier who has been a mainstay in the middle.
The Pioneers will enjoy a size advantage as they will against most teams they play, but it won't be as dramatic as it was against Amesbury. The Hornets should be able to hold their own in the trenches.
As far as Power Rankings go, M/E has plenty of incentive to knock off the Pioneers other than the battle for first place. The Hornets are in Division 5 for playoff purposes, so a win against Lynnfield will earn them 12 points. Since the Pioneers are playing an opponent in a lower division, they would only get 8 points for a win.
We'll leave that one to the mathematicians for now. This is an SAT Saturday, so game time is an unusual 3 pm.
That's it for now. Check back after the game.
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