Georgetown Leftovers

by Tom Condardo

Okay so a couple of blowout victories were fun - not for Manchester-Essex or Georgetown - but still. Unfortunately, as the Pioneers were smothering teams loaded with freshman and sophomores (even 8th graders in the case of the Royals), opponents the Pioneers might meet in the playoffs were doing some really heavy lifting. For example, Division Four leader Winthrop was beating Division Three Peabody and Watertown stepped up a division to take down Melrose.

Not that there is anything the Pioneers can do but play the schedule they are handed, I asked head coach Neal Weidman if he's concerned about the routs over two teams clearly in a rebuilding phase instead of playing tougher opponents.

"I'm not sure how concerned I am because there's nothing I can do about it," he replied. "But we're going to get all the testing we want next week."

Weidman is referring to next week's first place showdown with Hamilton-Wenham, a renewal of a rivalry that has grown exponentially over the past few years. We'll talk more about that game as the week goes along. Today, though, I want to discuss the silver lining in the two cakewalk victories - the ability for the backups and underclassmen to gain valuable game experience.

Although the starters barely broke a sweat in piling up 84 points in two halves of work the past two week, the rest of the squad was able to get out there and work on things to help them and the team improve going forward.

"All of those guys that have been on the two deep have done a really good job when they've gotten the chance," Weidman said. "We've been lucky to sub in a full eleven when we go on the two deep. They're getting good experience."

And they're performing as well. Against Manchester Essex, they had one major breakdown that allowed a single long TD and Friday night they picked up where the starters left off by completing the shutout.

Standing on the sidelines, I get to see things you don't normally notice from the stands or the press box. One of those things is to watch the Pioneer coaching staff in action when the bench is unloaded. The starters may be on the sidelines relaxing, but the coaches are in full teaching mode, in some ways putting in more work than when the starters are in.

"Technically you would expect that they make more mistakes, otherwise they'd be starters," Weidman said about his reserves. "They get a few less reps in practice and they're not as old. So it's not going to do them any good for next year if they keep making mistakes. So we have to coach them a little more and get them lined up right and all those things."

"They're getting some experience," he went on. "It hopefully helps out for next year. A lot of those kids are going to have to play at some point this year or next year. This gives them some game experience under the lights so when it comes to be their time, they're not in awe of it. It's always good. I used to hear people comment on it before when we used to play teams and they'd start the second half with their second and third strings and the next year those kids are starting and they do the same thing. Hopefully some of that can happen for us too."

It's fun to watch some of the younger guys perform. Friday night there were several impressive performances. Junior Max Robert was a demon on defense while junior Jake McHugh and freshman Nick Kinnon both played well at quarterback. Sophomore Nick Contardo has now had 13 carries for 70 yards in two games.

Junior Alex Soden, who would be starting on many teams, continues to run hard, something he's been doing since the preseason scrimmages. He now has 12 carries for 80 yards. Junior Esaie Philantrope is electrifying and appears to be a touchdown in waiting every time he touches the ball. He picked off an interception Friday night and nearly turned that into a score with some nifty moves.

Just to show how this works, I checked back in the blog for blowouts of a couple of years ago. Here's a snippet that I wrote after the 47-13 win over M/E in 2012.

"Last week, sophomore Jonathan Knee made a nice play on a goal line stand to keep Georgetown out of the endzone. Friday night he made a great play on offense to keep the Pioneers' final scoring drive alive.

Facing a fourth and four from the M/E 32, Knee took the handoff on an end around needing to get to the 27 for the first down. He was hit at the 32 but shrugged that off. He was wrapped up at the 31 but Knee, all 120 pounds of him, kept driving and carried the tackler for three yards to the 27 and the first down as the Pioneer sideline erupted in cheers."

Name sound familiar? Two years later, four inches taller and 40 lbs heavier, Knee is a captain with four touchdowns for the undefeated Pioneer team.

Here are some combined stats from the M/E and Georgetown routs two years ago.

• Danny Sullivan, 2 for 5, 12 yards passing, 7 carries for 36 yards, 1 TD
• Jon Knee, 3 carries for 6 yards, 
• Cam Rondeau, 1 catch, 3 yards

Not eye popping but the point is they played in varsity games, got their feet wet, and set the stage for this year. Other players contributing this year who played in those games included Steven White, Rob Debonis, and Steve Kinnon. It's all about getting a head start.

So although the competition level may not have been up to par these past few weeks, the Pioneers picked up a couple of easy wins but just as importantly, they investments in their next crop of players that should yield dividends in the years ahead.  It's the circle of football life. And obviously, it works.

Highlight Reel
For those of you who haven't yet caught the highlights of the game which was broadcast on the MIAA network, here are the links:

- Jon Knee's punt return
- Jake Rourke TD run
- Danny Sullivan to Cam Rondeau TD pass
- Danny Sullivan to Jon Knee TD pass
- Kevin Lee TD run
- Drew McCarthy TD run

Growing Pains

Watch out for the Georgetown Royals. In 2017. In three years, the Royals could roll out a squad with 15 seniors and 8 juniors who have been battled test. The problem for energetic new coach Justin Spurr is that he is forced to play many of them this year as eighth and ninth graders.  

The Georgetown team the Pioneers faced Friday night features a 47 player roster, but only eight seniors and eight juniors. That's a tough way to approach life at the high school football level and the results show it. However, if the young group hangs together and Spurr can keep the program heading in the right direction, games against the Royals in the future may not be as easy.

The Sullivan Show

Quarterback captain Danny Sullivan had another big week in a cameo appearance Friday night. He was 3 for 3 for 28 yards and a pair of TD's passing and he ran for 39 yards on five carries. His NFL passer rating for the game was 145.1. 

For the season, he is 30 for 46 (65%), for 663 yards, eight touchdowns, and no interceptions. His yards gained per attempt is 14.4. Since the passer rating puts high emphasis on touchdowns and yards gained per attempt, while heavily penalizing interceptions, it's no surprise his overall rating for the year so far is 148.1 A perfect score is 158.3.

Happy Returns

Captain Jon Knee's punt return for a touchdown was the 31st in the history of the school. It was the first since Ricky Berardino did it against Cathedral in 2010.

Pioneer Trivia Time

That return gave Knee the honor of being the first Pioneer to score on the new field. However, the final touchdown at Pioneer Field at the Middle School belongs to Kyle McGah who scored on an 11 yard run in the second quarter of the Division Four North Semi-Final playoffs against Bedford last year. The final point ever scored at Pioneer Field was scored by Dan Bronshvayg, who banged through the extra point on McGah's TD.

In case you were wondering, the first points ever scored at Pioneer Field came in the second Lynnfield game ever played in 1958. Sophomore Doug Murdock hit junior Gary Ross who took it in for the only score in a 22-6 loss to Lynn Trade.

The Defense Department

One intrepid reporter - okay me - stressed in his season preview in the Villager that the Pioneer defense might very well be the key to the season this year.  Or to quote myself, because I can:

"As the Pioneers prepare for their 2014 season opener Saturday afternoon against Pentucket, they likely will look to the other side of the ball as the key to a third straight league title."

Although the offensive fireworks have gotten most of the ink so far, the defense has quietly become an immovable force. The Pioneers have allowed only 20 points in five games and notched a pair of shutouts. That's second best through five games all time.

The stingiest performance came from the 1962 team which held its first five opponents to six points while posting four shutouts. They finished the year allowing only 32 points in nine games for a 3.6 per game average.

The Pioneers are currently at a 4.0 ppg average. As the schedule gets tougher, points may be harder to come by so the defense will become even more important.

Fantasy Island
While on the topic of defense, those of you who have the Lynnfield defense this week in your Fantasy League, you picked up 20 points on Friday night. 10 points for the shutout, 6 for Knee's punt return for a touchdown, 2 for Esaie Philantrope's interception, and one each for sacks by Cam DeGeorge and Chad Martin.

Spreading the Wealth
The Pioneers continued to spread out their scoring with five players accounting for six touchdowns. On the season, ten players have contributed to their 25 touchdowns.

As explosive as the offense has been this year, they still trail last year's 5-0 start in points scored. Barely. The 2013 team scored 179 points through five games while this year the tally is 177.

The 20 points allowed however is less than half of the 48 allowed through five last season.

PATs on the Back
Dan Bronshvayg had his second consecutive six point PAT night, the only time that has happened in the history of the program. In fact six PAT's in a game has only happened four times, three of them by Bronshvayg. He has now hit 12 in a row and is 20 for 21 on the year.

The six against Georgetown gives the Pioneers 510 PAT's all time. So what that means is that I missed the fact that Bronshvayg's second PAT last week against M/E was the 500th in the history of the school.

Of the 510, 186 have been booted in the Weidman Era, i.e. the last six and a half seasons. Just to put that in perspective, in the first 14 years of the program, the Pioneers kicked 8 PATs. Joe Maney's kick in 1983 gave them 100 - 26 years into the program. In the 31 1/2 years since, they've kicked 410 of them.

Streaking
The win extends the Pioneer league winning streak to 13 games. They have won 11 of their last 12 home games. They are now 2-0 at home on Friday night under the lights.

It was Lynnfield's sixth straight win over Georgetown and they've outscored the Royals 219-20 in that stretch. Overall they lead the series 6-3.

That's it for now. Check back later in the week for my look around the league and division.