Manchester-Essex Leftovers

by Tom Condardo

Not to be crotchety Denny Downer in the wake of the Pioneers' impressively scary 42-7 win over Manchester-Essex Friday night, but it's times like these that everyone should appreciate how far the Lynnfield football program has progressed. Watching the Pioneers dispatch the helpless Hornets had me harkening back to when I covered the other side of the coin.

So just to add some perspective, I thought I'd dig out one of my Villager articles from the bad old days when the cleat was on the other foot. Here then are some excerpts from my game article from October 12, 1994 so you can see what a difference 20 years can make.

Lynnfield High head football coach Bill Adams may want to consider changing his team's official colors from blue and gold to black and blue. And while he's at it, he might also think about removing the large blue "L" from the side of his players' helmets and replacing it with a bright red cross.

It wasn't bad enough that Adams and his charges had to travel to North Andover to face the undefeated and unscored on Scarlet Knights following three straight losses to open the season. The Pioneers also had to take on the perennial Cape Ann League powerhouse without the services of Co-Captain Ted Caron and linebacker/center Steve Rizzo.

With the lack of experience in general, and the mounting injuries in particular, the outcome of the game was fairly predictable. The Knights shed no tears and showed no mercy as they proceeded to flog the undermanned Pioneers to the tune of 43-6. They rolled up just over 450 yards of offense, almost 400 of it on the ground and picked up 17 first downs. They scored six of the first seven times they touched the ball and only a gutsy Pioneer stand inside the Lynnfield ten on possession number two prevented it from being seven for seven.

The Knights led 28-0 at the half and built a 43-0 lead before the Pioneers scored the first points against North Andover this season midway in the fourth period.

(Grisly details follow)

The last few minutes was fun for the hardy Lynnfield fans who made the trip as the Pioneer freshmen contingent outhit and out hustled the Knight sophomores as the game wound down.

The moral of the story: Never take anything for granted. And in the midst of the jubilation of a big win, take a minute to respect the dedication of the young players on the other side of a blowout like Friday night. Regardless of the results, they also have made the sacrifices and commitment required to play high school football.

Boffo Opening
Manchester-Essex won the opening coin toss and elected to defer to the second half. It was all down hill from there for the struggling Hornets.

Captain Cam Rondeau pretty much destroyed any upset hopes the home team may have had with his 14 second dance through the Hornet kickoff team enroute to a sparkling 81 yard touchdown return.

After the game, head coach Neal Weidman was asked if that's what he had planned for the opening kick.

"Well we tell them who to block, but they still have to block them," Weidman said. "It's a lot easier to tell them who to block than to actually block them. They did really good job. Even as I was watching it the blocks were setting up nicely. Cam made one nice cut but anytime you get a punt or kickoff TD return, you have to make at least one person miss. The other returner who doesn't get the ball has to block one of the unblocked guys - there may be more than one - then the returner has to make one miss. If you block the rest of them, you have a shot. It's easier said than done."

In recent years, the Pioneers have become quite proficient at it. Rondeau's return - the 26th kickoff return for a score in school history - was the fifth in the past 15 games dating back to opening day 2013. Matt Kramich had three last year and Ryan Battaglia had the other.

Prior to Kramich's opening day return last year, the Pioneers had only done the trick twice in the previous 188 games. Rick Berardino did it in 2010 and Jamie Solomon had one in 2002. That was it from game seven in 1995 to 2013.

Prior to that, the Pioneers had another burst of success. In 1995 they came up with four kickoff returns for touchdowns - three from Shawn Egerton and one by Jason Caggiano.

Trending
With the Pioneers scoring 42 points Friday, they continue their streak of scoring more points in each successive game. This year it's been 28 - 32 - 33 - 42. They did the same thing last season scoring in order 21-35-41-42 in their first four games. The only other time a Pioneer team has managed to accomplish the feat was in the first year of the program. The 1958 team scored 0-6-8-22 in compiling a 1-2-1 record in their first four games ever.

The streak ended last year when Lynnfield put up 40 against Georgetown in game five.

Making His Points
Dan Bronshvayg's six PAT's Friday night was second best in school history for a single game. It's been done only two other times. The junior himself did it last season, also against Manchester Essex, and all time leading placekicker Steve Ullian did it against Bishop Fenwick in 2010. The record for most PAT's in a single game is held by Scott Milne who banged through seven of them in a 55-0 beating of Masco in 1985.

Nicked Up
For most of the second half, the Pioneer offense consisted of freshman quarterback Nick Kinnon and sophomore running back Nick Contardo. Kinnon finished with 11 yards on six carries and Contardo picked up 25 yards on five rushes. Alex Soden also had three carries for 11 yards in the final two quarters.

Tidbits
- The win was the third straight for the Pioneers over Manchester-Essex since a disappointing 7-6 loss to the Hornets on Senior Day in 2011. Lynnfield has outscored the Hornets 131-20 in the three victories since. The Pioneers are now 4-3 all time against M/E.

- The 20 points allowed by the Pioneers in the first four games is the lowest since the 1991 team held their first four opponents to 13 points. The 1974 team allowed only 19 points in their opening four contests.

- Friday night marked the 24th time in school history that the Pioneers have scored 40+ points in a single game. Nine of them have come in the Weidman Era. The record for most points in a single game is held by the 1961 team which beat Bedford 63-0.

That's it for now. Check back later in the week when I'll take my look around the league.