Manchester-Essex Game Preview: Something's Abuzz

by Tom Condardo

Memories are often short in high school football. With only a three year window, players cycle through programs pretty quickly so team fortunes rise and fall over relatively short periods of time.

Manchester-Essex falls into that category. The Pioneers and Hornets will battle for undisputed possession of first place in the CAL Baker Friday night, and that puts M/E in a position they haven't enjoyed in recent years. But it wasn't that long ago that the Hornets were a powerhouse program on Cape Ann, and the Pioneers felt their stinger more than once.

M/E was a force in the Commonwealth Athletic Conference in the 2000's with their glory days coming from 2006-2008 when they reeled off three straight CAC titles capped by a 13-0 season and a Division 4 Super Bowl title in 2008.

The Pioneers faced the Hornets twice in that stretch, falling in 2007 and 2008 in a pair of non league games. In 2007, Bill Adams took his Lynnfield squad to Newell Stadium in Gloucester to face M/E when the Hornet's new home field was under construction. The Pioneers stunned the Hornets for three and a half quarters, building a 14-0 lead. But the three time champs scored two touchdowns in the final six minutes to tie the score and another in overtime to escape with a 21-14 win.

In 2008, the Hornets and Pioneers engaged in an old fashioned shootout in Pioneer head coach Neal Weidman's inaugural campaign. M/E out gunned the Pioneers 35-21 enroute to their undefeated season, but head coach Mike Athanas, who stepped down this year, told Weidman the Pioneers gave them the toughest test they had up to that time.

It was a portent of things to come for the Pioneers who reeled off league championships in four of the next six season. Unfortunately, things went in the opposite direction for the Hornets following their Super Bowl title.

The Pioneers and Hornets met in 2010 in a non league game and came away with a 37-6 win. M/E joined the CAL in 2011 and have managed an 8-12 league record (16-28 overall) in their first

four years in the league. Despite their struggles, they weren't  yet finished tweaking the Pioneers as they ruined a perfectly good Senior Day in 2011 with a 7-6 upset win at the old Middle School Field.

That would be the last time the Pioneers looked past the Hornets. They have made short work of M/E in the three games since with three lopsided wins outscoring the Hornets 131-20. You can bet the Pioneers won't be looking past them this year either as the Hornets come in with the same record: 2-0 in the CAL Baker, 3-1 overall.

Dawn of the Dutton Era
New head coach Jeff Dutton, a former Beverly assistant, has ditched the spread offense the Hornets had been running and switched to the Panthers Wing T. The Pioneers have been seeing a lot of that offense lately as Newburyport and Amesbury both both threw a version of it at Lynnfield earlier this year.

The Hornets graduated only three players from last season's 2-9 squad and have a dozen seniors on their 30 man squad. Depth is a problem as most players are going both ways. The Hornets nearly ran out of gas against Hamilton-Wenham last week. After building a 16-0 lead heading into the fourth quarter, the Generals roared back with two unanswered TD's but couldn't get a third and fell 16-12.

Defense has been the calling card for the Hornets so far as two of their wins have been shutouts. They whitewashed Northeast Metro Tech 13-0 and blanked Georgetown 34-0. Their only loss was also a defensive struggle, as they fell to Greater Lowell 18-13. They come in allowing only 8 points per game while the Pioneers are scoring an average of 30 per game. Something has to give Friday night at Hyland Field.

Running back Chris Carr is the Hornets main weapon, having scored four of M/E's 11 touchdowns. Quarterback Charlie Otterbein has thrown two TD passes. Nick DiPietro and Jack Hennigan also get carries in the Hornet Wing T. Sophomore Robbie Sarmanian has a pair of TD runs.

In their three wins, the Hornet offensive and defensive lines have been able to overpower smaller opponents on both sides of the ball. That's unlikely to be the case against the massive front of the Pioneers. However that doesn't necessarily mean they can't be effective since the core of the Wing T is more about blocking schemes and deception rather than pure size. Defensively they are quick and swarm - pun intended - to the ball.

The key for the Hornets is going to be solving a stout Pioneer defense that is allowing only seven points per game. The starting defense has allowed only three TD's in four games, all against D3 Danvers.

It should be interesting. Game time in Manchester is 7 pm.