By Tom Condardo
Okay. It was hot. Wicked hot as we say around Boston.
Actually dangerously hot as evidenced by the situation with Pentucket captain Jeff Porter who was taken off the field just before halftime escorted by trainers dousing him with ice. He reportedly was taken to a local hospital for dehydration.
Believe it or not, as bad as it was, it still wasn't the hottest opening day for the Pioneers. In 2007, just down the road from Pentucket, the Pioneers faced Georgetown in a similarly sweltering day. Temperature at game time was 97 degrees and it was every bit as uncomfortable that day.
The Pioneers fell behind 14-0 but came back to tie it 14-14 and 20-20 before losing 28-20. New Pioneer assistant coach and then captain Pat Lamusta started the scoring with an 18 yard run. They tied it on a one yard pass from Chris Grassi to Jeff Millinazzo. Ben Salisbury booted both extra points. After the Royals went up 20-14, Grassi and Millinazzo hooked up again for a 41 yard strike. The PAT was wide but the game was knotted again at 20-20. Georgetown quarterback Joe Esposito worked his magic though for another Royals TD leaving the Pioneers both hot and bothered at the end.
It's a safe bet we should find cooler conditions - at least as far as the weather is considered - on Friday night in Newburyport. I can't speak for the temperature between the teams on the field.
Check out my game story and photos on Saturday's game in the Villager on Wednesday. In the meantime, here are some additional tidbits.
Turnover Time
The Pioneers pitched a shutout in winning the turnover battle 4-0 Saturday. They certainly took advantage of Pentucket's largesse, converting three of the four into 21 points.
Ricky Johnson's pick and 32 yard return set up the Pioneers' first score. Both second half TD's were set up by Lynnfield fumble recoveries. David Adams recovered a fumbled snap on fourth and goal to set up the 90 yard bomb from Danny Sullivan to Jon Knee. Then leading 21-7, Al MacLachlan stripped a Sachem running back and Spencer Balian recovered at the Lynnfield 40. That led to the icing-on-the-cake drive featuring heavy work by Drew McCarthy including a one yard score. The only turnover that didn't result in points was Cam Rondeau's early in the game.
Stall Ball
The Pentucket game plan was clearly to try and keep the Pioneer offense off the field. They succeeded in terms of time of possession as they ended up with the ball for 27 minutes to only 17 for Lynnfield. But time of possession is only good if you do something with it which Pentucket was unable to do.
Case in point was the long drive to start the second half. Pentucket ran 15 plays in just under nine minutes. That averages 35.2 seconds per play which is just under the 40 seconds allowed between plays. The Pioneers were getting gashed on the fullback trap play off the Sachem Wing T. Liam Sheehy busted up the middle six times for 54 yards on the drive. Unfortunately for the Sachems, they fumbled on the six yard line and couldn't cash in.
Overheard conversation between two members of the Pentucket chain gang. "Wow that was a really impressive drive." "Yea but they had to come away with points." Perfectly said.
Lies, Damned Lies, & Statistics
Statistics are important, but sometimes don't tell the story you think they tell. For example, the Sachems ended the day with 295 yards of offense, 260 on the ground. And while that tells you the Pioneers had trouble stopping the run (see above) the number needs some tempering.
Of the Pentucket total, 78 yards came in the final minute of the first half when the Pioneers were in full prevent mode and in the last two minutes of the game when both teams emptied their benches. Another 42 came on a broken play/scramble from impressive sophomore quarterback Pat Freiermuth in the first period. That accounts for almost half of the 260.
In the final analysis, however, the only number that counts is the one on the scoreboard.
Double Vision
Speaking of running backs, Jake Rourke had a great opening day as the Pioneers' feature back carrying 10 times for 74 yards and a touchdown. He did a fair imitation of graduated Pioneer standout Kyle McGah by battering would-be Sachem tacklers, especially on his nine yard TD run.
"He has a similar style to McGah," head coach Neal Weidman agreed. "He ran hard. He broke some tackles early. When you run that hard it pays off later in the game. It's tough to tackle kids like that."
Optimization
Because of the long third quarter Pentucket drive, the Pioneers ended up with only two second half possessions for 12 total plays and 4:44 time of possession.They made the most of them though, picking up 133 yards and two touchdowns to put the game away.
Sullivan Solid
Sullivan had another outstanding day completing 7 of 12 for 194 yards and two TD's with no interceptions. That gives him an NFL passer rating of 116.1 for the game. Just for reference, the average of all NFL quarterbacks last season was 86.0. Sullivan also picked up 38 yards rushing.
Baptism of Fire
It was certainly a tough spot for Freiermuth to make his debut considering the conditions, the opponent, and the early loss of Porter. A lot fell on his shoulders and he handled it well, especially in the running game. The 6"4" 205 sophomore carries 10 times for 77 yards. He was both powerful and nimble in picking up some key first downs.
He wasn't quite as comfortable in the passing game, throwing only three times. One was a beautiful 35 yard TD pass to Porter to open the second quarter. The other two were picked off. That's not too surprising considering this was the first game he has ever played at quarterback, having shifted from tight end last year. With the loss of projected senior starter Pat Beaton due to a preseason injury, Freiermuth was drafted into duty. Weidman was impressed with the youngster.
"He's good," the coach said. "He's big, strong and fast."
No doubt Pentucket coach Steve Hayden will bring him along quickly and he should be an even more effective quarterback later in the season.
Sachem Streak
The win was the Pioneers' third straight over Pentucket, the second in West Newbury. They hold a 19-16-1 edge all time over the Sachems.
Another Opening
Some opening day trivia. With the win, the Pioneers upped their record in opening games to 32-25. Weidman is 5-2 with the only two losses coming to…wait for it…Newburyport.
It was the third time Lynnfield has opened the season against Pentucket. In the other two meetings they lost 24-6 in 1995 and won 20-14 in 1996 under the lights at Haverhill Stadium while construction was going on at their high school.
Fifteen different teams have opposed Lynnfield on opening day. The most frequent is Wayland who took on the Pioneers 21 times in the 70's, 80's and 90's. Lynnfield won 13 of those games.
Milestones
- The Pioneers' opening touchdown was Rob Debonis' first varsity touchdown
- Rondeau's interception was the 11th pick of his career. I don't have interception records that go back to the beginning, but I can't imagine anyone is even close to that mark.
That's it for now. Cool off and check back later.
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