Around the CAL Baker: Week 6

By Tom Condardo

The winnowing process has begun. Three weeks in and the CAL Baker title fight is down to a three team race. We'll take a look last weekend's results and also review the Division Four North playoff race. First let's get an updated view of the standings.




With two games remaining, the Pioneers, Hamilton Wenham and Ipswich all still remain in the hunt for the Baker crown. Unless Saturday's game between the Pioneers and Generals ends in a tie, one of those teams can finish with no worse than one loss. That means, Georgetown, Amesbury and Manchester-Essex have all been eliminated. Although no one can clinch this weekend, the winner of the big game in Wenham will have one hand wrapped around the trophy.

If the Pioneers win, they will have to beat Ipswich in the final game. Unless the Tigers are upset by M/E on Friday, they'll head into that final game at 3-1. So, if they then knock off the Pioneers, all three teams would finish 4-1 with tiebreakers deciding the champ.

If the Generals win, they would need to knock off Georgetown in its final league game to go undefeated in the league and clinch the crown. Ipswich has to win out and hope for the best.

H/W did their part to set up the big showdown by taking care of business in Manchester, dropping the Hornets 35-6. The youngsters from M/E held the Generals to one touchdown in the first quarter - a 35 yard run by Jimmy Littlefield. H/W exploded in the second quarter getting a two yard TD run from Littlefield and a 56 yard tipped pass TD connection from Thomas Rostad to big Nolan Wilson. That gave the Generals a 21-0 halftime lead.

They blew it open when Littlefield ran back the second half kick for a touchdown and then Ryan Gray scored on a one yard blast to give them a 35-0 lead. The Hornets scored late to account for the final score.

Ipswich stayed alive by taking care of business against Amesbury Friday night. After falling behind 6-0, the Tigers' sophomore running back Charlie Gillis answered with a 75 yard kick return to make it 7-6. Ipswich scored two more times in the half on Gillis' 5 yard run and a Jake Long to Alex Long 25 yard TD pass.

Jake Long ran one in from 23 yards to make it 27-6 in the third and the Tigers finished the scoring late in the game on a 5 yard run by Eddie Flaherty.

Amesbury hosts Georgetown Friday night looking for its first win of the season.


Division Four Power Rankings




The playoff race is beginning to sort itself out, but once again, you won't see the race laid out the way I have it above anywhere else. Everyone is listing the teams according to their power ranking and forgetting about the fact that first and second place teams automatically qualify.

One local paper talked about what a great matchup Lynnfield and Saugus would be if the season ended today. Unfortunately for the Sachems, if this were the end of the regular season, they wouldn't even make the playoffs.

As you can see, all eight slots are made up of teams that are currently either in first or second place. Since Saugus left the CAL and is playing as an independent, they have to make it as a wild card. The way the standings fall right now, there would be no wild card. Two teams below Saugus in the ratings - Hamilton-Wenham and Swampscott - would jump over both Saugus and North Reading for the final two slots since the Generals are tied for first and Swampscott is tied for second. There are still two weeks to go so things could change, but this is the way things stand right now.

The Pioneers, currently in third place, would host Arlington Catholic if the season ended this week. The four teams teams they previously have beaten all lost last weekend so the only opponent points they picked up were the three for Georgetown's win over M/E. Their 15 opponent points are half of Winthrop and Watertown, holders of the top two spots. Both teams play in Division Three leagues so they are racking up 12 point own wins which increases the gap further.

Winthrop plays 2-3 Lynn Classical this weekend and Watertown faces 2-3 Burlington. Both would be 12 points wins. Weston, right behind the Pioneers, appear to be heavy favorites to beat winless Boston Latin. That would also be a 12 point win.

That's it for now. Check back Thursday for my preview of the showdown.