By Tom Condardo
Did you ever have one of those dreams where you're trying to get somewhere and you're trying to run and you can't seem to move? Your legs feel like they are stuck in the mud and you never reach your destination.
Everything that had worked all year just didn't on Saturday. Head coach Neal Weidman always says that they will take what the defense gives them. If a team wants to load the box and stuff the run, he'll just unleash his Sullivan-Knee-Rondeau Flying Circus and torch them through the air.
Decide to cover the passing game? No problem he'll give them a piece of the Rourke and pound them inside. Maybe even sprinkle a little McCarthy on the side to keep them honest.
But on Saturday, none of it worked. Standing on the sidelines watching it unfold, it truly seemed like Holliston had 12 guys on defense. Every blue jersey had a white one attached to it, every play, all over the field.
"We were behind the sticks the whole time," a clearly frustrated Weidman told me after the game. "We were never in a favorable position to get any of our matches because they were so fast."
The Panthers' speed was clearly a problem for the Pioneers. Holliston stretched out the field and always seemed to be in position to make the tackle.
"They were good tacklers, but they were better at getting off their blocks," Weidman said. "They were off their blocks in a heartbeat. They got off blocks so fast it was crazy."
A flurry of flags didn't help. Although the Pioneers were only penalized 4 times for 33 yards, the yellow seemed to fly at the most inopportune times. A gain by Jake Rourke on the first drive was wiped out by a holding call, killing the drive and another holding call destroyed a second period Pioneer drive.
"Every time we picked up a couple of first downs we'd have a penalty move us back," Weidman said.
The Panthers smothered the passing game, putting pressure on Danny Sullivan and blanketing Jon Knee and Cam Rondeau. Pioneer fans used to seeing the dynamic duo roam free in the secondary might have been excused for thinking they were wearing white since the Holliston defenders were draped on them all afternoon.
"They were real physical with a lot of hands on and unfortunately it was allowed," Weidman said of the Panther defense. "Sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't and this time it was allowed and unfavorable for us. Sometimes it's allowed and favorable for us. It just wasn't favorable (Saturday)."
At some point, you just have to tip your helmet to a better team and move on. Holliston certainly was better Saturday. The Pioneers will just have to settle for a league championship, division title, 10 straight wins, and being one of the four best teams in D4 in the state.
All in all, pretty special. One loss in a state semi-final doesn't change that.
First and Down
Normally a key statistic is third and fourth down conversions. Holliston had the edge there converting 2 of 5 on third and one of one on fourth. The Pioneers, on the other hand, were 1 for 9 on third down and 1 for 1 on first.
But those weren't the key downs as it turned out. It was Holliston's first downs. They picked up 216 yards, 65% of their 332 total, on first down. When a team averages 9.3 yards on first down, chances are you're going to be in for a rough day.
Despite that, the defense did better than any team in terms of holding down the Panthers. They came in averaging 40 points a game so the Pioneers held them to two less scores than normal. That's better than any of Holliston's opponents other than Medfield who held them to the same score in a 26-14 Panther win.
The Pioneers eliminated the quick strike, making the Panthers work for their scores. Holliston mounted sustained drives of 65 yards in nine plays and 80 yards in nine plays. Nick Athy got loose for a 49 harder run to set up the third TD and a bad snap/1 yard punt gave the Panthers a 20 yard short field for their fourth score.
The Lynnfield defense also forced a turnover on downs, stopping Holliston at the 17 on their opening drive.
Turnover Battle
One of the Pioneer strengths all year has been their turnover advantage. They came into the game with a gaudy 24-7 (+17) edge in that category. But for the first time all year, they lost the turnover battle with two picks to one fumble for Holliston. Ironically one of the Pioneer interceptions and the Panther fumble came on the same play late in the first half. Athy picked off off Sullivan at the 43 and headed up field where he met Rondeau who stripped him and then recovered the fumble.
It was a fortuitous exchange for the Pioneers since it was a third down play and resulted in a new set of downs for Lynnfield.
Fast Start
The Pioneer offense actually got off to a fast start after stopping Holliston on their first drive. Rourke carried three times for 27 yards sandwiched around an incomplete pass and a Panther offside call to the get the ball to midfield. Rourke picked up three more yards but the play was flagged for holding cutting off the momentum. The Pioneers would rush for only 57 more yards the rest of the day.
Kickin'
The Pioneers were forced to punt six times in the game. Coming in, they had punted only 13 times in their previous 10 games. In five games they punted only once and in two games they never punted. The most kicks prior to this was four against Swampscott.
Day of Firsts
It was a game of first for the Pioneers, most of them not pleasant. In addition to their first loss, it was the first time they've been shut out this year and the first time they were held to less than 28 points. Holliston became the first team to score three times and four times against them.
Margin Call
The 26 point loss was the largest margin of victory against Lynnfield in the Weidman era. The last time the Pioneers lost by more than 26 points was in a 49-21 loss to North Andover in 2007.
That's it for now. It's now North Reading (half)week. Check back Tuesday for my preview of the Turkey Day game.
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