Hamilton-Wenham Game Preview: Showdown

by Tom Condardo

"Remember boys, when you wake up tomorrow, it'll be Hamilton-Wenham week."

That was the directive from one Pioneer player as they broke their celebratory huddle following last Friday night's win over Georgetown. Anyone who has followed the fortunes of the Lynnfield football program for the past five years knows what that means. North Reading will always be North Reading. However, given the implications of this annual battle, Hamilton-Wenham has become HAMILTON-WENHAM.

In case you missed it, here's a review of the rivalry over the past half decade.

In 2009, the Pioneers clinched the CAL Small championship at the Middle School Field with a 21-3 victory.

In 2010, the Generals returned the favor by capturing the CAL Small title with a 16-15 come from behind win on a last minute field goal.

In 2011, H-W again came from behind, this time in Lynnfield, to tie the game in the final minute and win it 22-14 in overtime. It didn't clinch the CAL/NEC 4, but everyone knew the Pioneers were the only real obstacle for the Generals that year. H-W went on to win their final three league games by a score of 102-34 enroute to the championship and a second straight trip to the playoffs, and a berth in the Division 3A Superbowl. Only a first half injury to quarterback Trevor Lyons prevented them from winning it all.

In 2012, the Pioneers downed the Generals 25-14 on the way to sweeping the CAL/NEC 4 and earning a post season trip and a visit to Foxboro. H-W finished in third behind North Reading.

Last year, the Generals brought their "A" game to Pioneer Field once again and battled the Pioneers, holding them to a 13-0 halftime lead. But Ryan Battaglia opened the second half with an 86 yard TD return, and the rout was on. The final was 34-0 and Lynnfield had secured their second straight league title. The Generals ended up in second place and made the playoffs where they bowed out to Pentucket in the first round.

2009: 21-3 Title Celebration

2010: 16-15 James Brao's 25 yard heartbreaking Field Goal

2011: 22-14 OT Shocker

2012: 25-14 On the road to another championship

2013: 34-0 Beatdown - Champions Redux

And the closeness of the series goes back to the beginning starting in 1973. The two teams are 20-20-1 in their previous 41 match-ups with the Generals holding a slight 671-631 edge in scoring.

The Matchup
Which brings us to Saturday's game.

I mentioned in my Around the League post this week that nothing could be decided in Saturday's game. On further review, that's not the case. A General win will clinch the Baker title for them. A victory over the Pioneers would make them 4-0 in league play and they could finish no worse than 4-1 and would hold the head-to-head tiebreaker against both Lynnfield and Ipswich who they defeated 24-7

three weeks ago.

The Pioneers, however, even with a win would still have work to do. Ipswich is still lurking at 2-1 and if they take care of business against Manchester-Essex at home Friday night, will come to town with a 3-1 mark. The Pioneers would need to win to capture the title. A Tiger win, however, would leave all three teams at 4-1(if HW beat Georgetown in their final league game) and since the head to head would be 1-1 for all of them, it would come down to points against in games among the schools.

That's a mind-bender for another day. First things first for the Pioneers who are focused on Hamilton- Wenham.

The real question is: how good is this Pioneer team? They have vaporized three teams (Amesbury, Man-Essex, and Georgetown) that are a combined 1-14. They have a pair of comfortable wins over two teams (Newburyport and Pentucket) who are a combined 4-6. This will be Lynnfield's first game against a team with a winning record as the Generals come in at 3-2.

So what to expect? There are two ways to look at it if you are a Pioneer fan:

Reasons to be optimistic:
1) Although the Generals come in with three straight wins, they haven't exactly been overwhelming. They barely sneaked by winless Amesbury 14-12 two weeks ago when the Indians' attempt at a two point conversion failed. The Pioneers cruised past Amesbury 33-6 and were never threatened.

2) Hamilton-Wenham rolled over Manchester-Essex 35-6 last week, but could only score seven points in the first quarter and 21 in the first half. The Pioneers scored 28 points in the first five minutes and had 42 by halftime. They quite literally could have probably scored 100 points if head coach Neal Weidman hadn't called off the dogs early in the second quarter.

3) The Generals rely heavily on one back. Hard running junior Jimmy Littlefield has accounted for six of H-W's 13 TDs - four rushing and two kickoff returns. If the Generals get one dimensional on this Pioneer defense, they could be in trouble.

Reasons to be concerned:
1) The Pioneers will finally be up against a team that is at least in the same ballpark size-wise. Two way demon TE/DE Nolan Wilson (6'5 250) won't be fazed by Lynnfield's bulk. The rest of the General line appears to be able to match up as well.

2) If the Pioneers focus on Littlefield, H-W may have the air attack that can burn them. Quarterback Thomas Rostad is a first year starter but he has some inviting targets in Wilson, Jimmy Campbell, and Jim Baras. In the Pioneer win over Newburyport, Lynnfield shut down the Clipper running game but Michael Shay was 9 for 16 for 123 yards and was able to pick up large chunks in the passing game.

3) Littlefield is the real deal. If the Pioneers are unable to control the junior, they could be in for a long afternoon. Pentucket only managed to score once against the Pioneers, but they did gash the Lynnfield defense for 260 yards on the ground.

4) The Generals won't be intimidated. They feel they can win and the longer they hang around, the more dangerous they become.

We'll see how it all unfolds on Saturday. Game time in Wenham is 2 pm.

That's it for now. Check back Sunday night.