Around the CAL Baker: Week 6

by Tom Condardo

The Pioneers and Ipswich have taken all the drama out of the Baker race with their wins last week, but the playoff participants and seedings are still very up in the air. We'll take a look at last week's league action and review the D4 North Playoff standings heading into the final week of the regular season. First, the Baker Standings.



The Pioneers clinched the Baker title with their win over Georgetown, and Ipswich continued its resurgence by beating Manchester Essex and clinching second place. Second place comes with an automatic bid into the playoffs - which will be eliminated next year - so Ipswich gets into the post season for the first time since 2006.

The Hornets carried the play early but couldn't put points on the board and that usually comes back to haunt and it did for M/E. Ipswich couldn't get anything going on offense either and the teams went in at the break in a scoreless tie. M/E finally drew blood early in the third on a 49 yard TD run to make it 6-0. The Tigers' Alex Morris answered with a long distance strike of his own, cruising 63 yards to tie the score at 6-6.

Ipswich pulled ahead early in the fourth on a one yard blast from Jake Long to make it 12-6. The Tigers put up an insurance score to make it 18-6 midway in the final quarter on a halfback option pass from Morris to Tom Ginolfi from 37 yards out. They needed the cushion when the Hornets struck with less than two minutes to play on a six yard run by Carr to cut the lead to 18-13.

The Hornet defense held and got the ball back, but the Tigers sacked M/E quarterback Charlie Otterbein three times to end the final threat.

Ipswich will try to improve their playoff seeding when the travel to Georgetown Friday night. The Hornets will host Amesbury.

Meanwhile, in Amesbury, Hamilton Wenham kept their faint hopes of a playoff spot alive with a come from behind 21-16 win. The Indians jumped out to an early lead when they converted a fourth and long on their opening drive with a 23 yard reverse pass from Levi Burrill to Dan Welch. Adam Incontri found Ryan Foley with the two point conversion to give Amesbury an 8-0 lead.

The Indian defense put Amesbury on the board again with a sack of of C. J. Cooper causing a fumble. Elijah Huynh recovered in the endzone for the TD. Holder Connor Skane turned a bad snap on the PAT into a two-pointer when he ran it in to give Amesbury a 16-0.

The dangerous passing combination of Cooper and sophomore Cam Peach who had seven catches for 123 yards. He also scored the Generals' first TD on a one yard run in the second quarter. Right before halftime, Cooper and Peach connected for a five yard TD pass to cut the lead to 16-14.

The two teams battled throughout the second half until the final minute when Cooper hit Hunter Ascolillo with a 17 yard TD pass. Ascolillo made a great catch to stay in bounds and give the Generals the win.

HW has a very outside shot at a playoff spot if a lot of the teams above them lose and they manage the upset of the Pioneers. Amesbury will be looking for their second win of the year when they travel to Manchester to take on the Hornets



Division Four North Playoff Rankings


With one week to go in the regular season, only a few things have been decided in D4N: Pentucket has clinched the top seed and will take on seed number 8 in two weeks. The Sachems are off this week so they'll have couple of weeks to prepare for that game.

The Pioneers, North Reading, and Ipswich have clinched spots so there are still four openings available. Projecting the final seedings is nearly impossible with so many permutations. For example, Pat Sheehan's Triton squad can finish with 22 different point totals depending on what they and their opponents do this weekend.

A couple of things are somewhat clearer. If North Reading can beat Newburyport, they will likely get the #2 seed. However there is one scenario where Stoneham can sneak ahead of them by beating Watertown and all five of their previous opponents win. A Pioneer win gives them the second, third or fourth seed and guarantees them at least one playoff home game.

Stoneham appears to be in regardless of the outcome of their game and Bedford, Watertown, Triton, and Winthrop look to be battling for the final three slots. H/W and Newburyport are lurking if they win and several of those teams fall.

This won't be sorted out until all the results are in and the committee meets on Sunday. Fasten your seat belts, we're in for a bumpy ride.

That's it for now. Check back Thursday night for my Hamilton Wenham game preview