Newburyport Game Preview: Anchors Away

by Tom Condardo

The Pioneers' recent resume is well known. Three straight league championships. Division North title. Super Bowl appearance. And that's just in the last three years. As we prepare to embark on a new season with the Newburyport Clippers sailing into town Friday night, I asked head coach Neal Weidman the keys to sustaining a successful program. If you read my preview article in this week's Villager you know that he credited it to great kids who have come into the program, worked hard, and blossomed into good football players. Not a bad recipe for success.

I also asked if the continued winning was a double edged sword - i.e. winning can become a habit, but can players become complacent and begin to expect victory as a right? He said he's been fortunate that each senior class has wanted to "makes its own mark" and hasn't allowed each team to take anything for granted.

"They need to know that every game is different and each year is different," the coach told me. "You can't just show up. It doesn't work that way."

The Experience Dividend
The Pioneers will be tested again this year as they plug holes left from the graduation of a group of seniors that finished every season with a league title. Only one offensive starter - captain lineman Cam DeGeorge, and two defensive starters - DeGeorge and captain CJ Finn, return. The rest of the starting team will be new, but it may not be quite as dire as it sounds. The new starters are not exactly novices when it comes to experience. And there is another large class of 20 seniors to help fill the void.

The Pioneers won every regular season game last year by over 30 points and enjoyed a couple of lopsided wins in the playoffs as well. That meant the starters were usually pawing the sidelines by halftime. That gave the backups - this year's new starters - plenty of experience against opponents' first teams. Gaining that valuable exposure comes under the heading of the rich get richer. Starting Friday, the Pioneers hope to reap the rewards of that investment.

Gino 2.0?
That said, the Pioneer offense will feature a new set of weapons replacing a volatile attack that exploded for 400 points last season. New quarterback senior Jake McHugh has a bevy of new receivers in Louis Ellis, Dan Bronshvayg, Evan Battaglia, Esaie Philantrope, Kyle Hawes, and Ricky Johnson,. He'll also have two big tight end targets in captains Finn and Drew Balestrieri.

Weidman told me the passing distribution should be much more balanced than last year when Dan Sullivan connected with Cam Rondeau and Jon Knee 85% of the time as they shredded their way through opponents' defensive backfields.

The running attack will have a new look as well. For the first time since 2011 the Pioneers will not have a big, punishing battering ram in the backfield as Jake Rourke and Kyle McGah will not be walking through that door. What they will have is a 5'9" 165 lb. elusive flash in Drew McCarthy. The senior captain demonstrated lightning-like speed last year, scoring six touchdowns and rushing for 495 yards and a dazzling 8.8 yards per carry average. Senior Alex Soden is about 20 pounds heavier than McCarthy and will get his share of carries as well.

But dishing out the running punishment may be left to McHugh, a big, 6'2, 200 lb. bruiser who may bring back memories of former Pioneer quarterback Gino Cohee. At 6'1, 185, Cohee - who had a "I'm-hitting-you-before-you-hit-me approach" to running the ball, delighted in running over linebackers and defensive backs from 2008 to 2010. He was the team's leading ball carrier in 2008 (746 yds./5 TD's), 2009 (840 yards/15 TD's), and 2010 (811 yards/8 TD's). But he wasn't just a running threat as he holds the school's all time TD passing record with 30.

McHugh may take on a similar dual role.

"Could be back to the Gino Cohee days with a little more power running from the quarterback," Weidman told me. "We can do that if we need to."

The huge line averaging 6'3. 238, is anchored by Syracuse-bound guard DeGeorge who'll be flanked by guard captain Spencer Balian, tackles Brendan Rothwell and Trevor Caswell, and center Mike Stellato, the only junior in the starting group.

"The line is coming together pretty well," said Weidman. "Luckily they all got some playing time last year. They played in the second half most games last season. Four of them are seniors and they know it's their last opportunity and they're playing like it."

Defensive rebuilding
Lost in all the offensive fireworks last year was the work of the Pioneer defense. They finished with a 6.1 points per game allowed average, the fourth best in school history. Only DeGeorge and Finn return as starters, but that is also deceiving. Interior linemen Balian, Caswell, and Rothwell rotated through on a regular basis last year and have plenty of experience. They'll be bolstered by Matt Giannasca and Stellato.

Finn, Soden, and Ballestrieri make up a formidable inside linebacker corps while Battaglia, Max Robert, Cooper Marengi, and Ellis will hold down the edges. The defensive backfield is new with Philantrope, Johnson, and Bronshvayg.

Bronshvayg, who is as close to automatic as you get in high school converting 75 of 82 PAT attempts (91.5%) in two seasons, will handle the placekicking.

Opening Night
Which brings us to the opener on Friday night.

The Pioneers' struggles with Newburyport are well documented. Of all their CAL opponents, the Clippers have been the toughest for Lynnfield. The Pioneers have won only 10 times in 42 tries, and finally snapped a 29 year streak of frustration in Newburyport last year with a convincing 32-0 win.

However that win, coupled with a 21-13 victory in 2013 gives the Pioneers a two game winning streak against the Clippers. They'll go for three straight Friday night when they open the season at Pioneer Stadium at 7 pm. That's something they've never been able to accomplish.

This will be their third attempt at a three game winning streak against the Clippers. They beat them 6-0 in 1977, snapping the Clippers 30 game winning streak, and 28-8 in 1978. But their try for a third straight in 1979 fell short in a 7-6 heartbreaking loss. The Pioneers had another shot at it when they beat the Clippers 21-7 in 1985 and again with their Super Bowl team in 1986 with a 19-7 win. But they couldn't pull off the triple in 1987 falling 7-0.

Will the third time be the charm?

Changing Course
Newburyport Head Coach Ed Guadiano, starting his 28th season as skipper of the Clippers, is nothing if not adaptable. He's rolling out his third offense since 2012 this year as he converts to the Wing T. Up until 2012 he ran a pro style offense under then offensive coordinator Ryan McCarthy. With McCarthy's departure in 2013, Gaudiano switched to more of a pistol option featuring lots of quarterback sprint outs. Michael Shay ran that system for two years and graduated last year.

This season, Gaudiano has brought in Sean Rogers as offensive coordinator and the former Danvers High head coach has installed the same Wing T offense he ran with the Falcons. It's a familiar offense for the Pioneers since Ipswich ran the Delaware Wing T for years and Pentucket has also run a variation of it as well. They also faced Danvers when Rogers was in charge there.

Gaudiano told Dan Harrison of the Newburyport News that there's a two way battle for quarterback
between junior Rob Shay (Michael's younger brother) and sophomore Owen Bradbury. Senior captain Jimmy Gallo will be one of the running backs as will sophomore phenom Quinn Stott. Reportedly the quicksilver Stott tore up a number of freshmen games last year scoring a ton of TD's.

There's also a new defensive coordinator in Ben Smolski who comes over from Saugus.

One thing that never changes is that the Clippers will trot out a fast, athletic team that swarms to the ball on defense and has breakaway capability on offense. The Clippers are young with only four seniors on their 34 man roster. That inexperience combined with a new offense means the Clippers could have some growing pains.

That wasn't particularly evident in the preseason season as they did well in three tough scrimmages against Wilmington, Lawrence and Watertown.

Gaudiano Hopeful
The Newburyport head coach knows his team will need to improve as the season progresses but seems happy to be playing the Pioneers early.

"It's a challenge," Gaudiano told Harrison about opening on the road against the Pioneers. "At the end of the season they could end up being the best team in the league. But they emptied out a bit themselves, so we're getting them at the right time playing them first. They're only going to get better as the season goes on."

That's it for now. Check back after the game for more.