By Tom Condardo
When you talk about home field advantage in football, places like The Big House in Ann Arbor, Michigan or Death Valley in Baton Rouge, Louisiana come to mind. You probably wouldn't think about Arthur Kenney Field or Pioneer Stadium/LMS Field. But for the Lynnfield Pioneers and North Reading Hornets, heading on the road into those hostile environments has proven just as perilous as stepping into those more famous venues.
Since Thanksgiving Day 2011, the Pioneers have gone 36-10. Of the 10 losses, four came in playoff games. Of the remaining six, only four came against CAL opponents. Of those four, two came at the hands of the Hornets in North Reading.
Pioneer head coach Neal Weidman doesn't place any particular significance on their rivals recent dominance at home.
"That's probably just a coincidence that they've had good teams for those games," he told me. "And they probably play well at home. A lot of teams do."
What he didn't mention was that there were extenuating circumstances in the Pioneers' last two visits
In 2011, the Pioneers limped into North Reading missing seven of 22 starters including running back Mike Thomas and linebacker/PK/backup QB Alex Roper. Things got worse quickly when quarterback Mike Karavetsos, already nursing a bad ankle, suffered a game ending concussion.
Luckily for the Pioneers, they were able to bring in a record setting replacement who is in the discussion as best LHS quarterback of all time. Well not really. Danny Sullivan did come into the game, but as a 5'6" 135 lb. freshman, his resume was pretty much a blank slate. He would go on to lead the Pioneers to a couple of league championships and set a single season passing TD record, but on this bright Thanksgiving Day morning, he was a raw rookie.
Sullivan did throw the first of his 29 career TD passes - an 80 yard bomb to Alex Pascucci - on his first varsity pass, but to think he and sophomore Matt Kramich, who also took some snaps, could lead a hobbled Pioneer team was too much to ask. The result was a fairly predictable 37-18 loss and a merciful end to a forgettable 5-6 campaign.
Things weren't a whole lot better in 2013 when the Pioneers - CAL Small champs and Division Four North playoff semifinalist - went into North Reading missing key pieces again. This time it was the linebacking corps that took the hit. The Pioneers were asked to stop the run heavy single wing Hornets with three of four starting linebackers lost to injury. David Adams, CJ Finn, and Kevin Lee all were unable to play.
As a result, C. J. McCarthy ran for 271 yards and four TD's and returned an interception for a fifth score to lead the Hornets to a 42-35 win. C. J.'s younger brother Matt will be hoping to pull off something similar Thursday morning.
Barring any last minute setbacks, the Pioneers will go into the game Thursday pretty much at full strength. They will be missing sophomore Nick Kinnon, the Pioneers second leading rushing who has dazzled on some long runs, is out with a fractured collarbone suffered against Pentucket. Other than that, the Pioneers are as healthy as can be.
"Everyone is banged up at this time of the year," Weidman told me. "But actually we're probably healthier than we were against Triton. Trevor Caswell and Brendan Rothwell were a little banged up (against Triton) so they didn't play as much as they normally do."
Both are expected back for full duty against the formidable Hornets.
When it comes to winning on the road, former NBA coach and player Don Nelson offered "I always preached to the team to take care of the details more on the road. You just can't expect any breaks on the road. You have to do everything more perfectly and more focused on the road."
Then he added, "The better your players are, of course, the easier it is to win anywhere."
The Pioneers and Hornets will decide which has the better players on Thursday morning.
The More Things Change...
With former Hornet Offensive Coordinator and single-wing guru Ed Melanson no longer in North Reading, you had to figure head coach Jeff Wall would be changing up his offense. However, the leopard didn't really change his spots that much since the Hornets are still a run first -and often - team now running out of a multiple I formation. They've attempted only 57 passes all season (compared to 155 for the Pioneers) and 317 runs (to 321 for Lynnfield).
"They're in the I formation most of the time and they do run some Power I out of it where they put a third back in," Weidman told me. "They also do a little single back set as well."I asked the coach whether it was harder or easier to defend their new offense as opposed to the single wing.
"I don't know if it's either," Weidman responded. "It's different. The I is more of a regular based offense where the single wing is really something completely different than you don't run into at all. The I is easier to defend in the sense that you see it more often, but harder in the sense that they have the ability to do more out of it."
The Hornets returned their starting backfield pretty much intact in senior captains John Merullo and David Smith, and junior workhorse Matt McCarthy. Those three accounted for 36 of North Reading's 47 carries last year against Lynnfield and the Pioneers held the explosive trio to 114 yards on the snowy Pioneer Stadium turf. That's been the normal output for a half for McCarthy this season. The trio should be even more dangerous on what is expected to be a fast track in North Reading.
"He runs real hard and fast," Weidman said of McCarthy. "He's elusive and can make you miss. He's really good. So are Merullo and Smith. They're all real fast."
The coach also had high praise for the Hornet offensive line. "They are big and they block well. They do a great job of straight up blocking but they also cut block and they reach block and cut late and they're good at it."
Stinging Defense
The Hornets also feature a strong, active defense, in many ways similar to Watertown.
"They're really solid," said Weidman. "They don't give you much room to breath. They're big up front with good linebackers and a ton of speed in the back end. They play a lot of man to man and blitz out of that."
How does Weidman expect the Hornets to defend his high powered offense?
"They'll try to put a lot of pressure on us with man to man defense, I'm guessing" Weidman said. "That's what they've done all year and that't what they've done in the past. That's what they did against us last year and the year before. They have a good sound defensive scheme and they know how to run it and they're good at it."
Something's gotta give
The two teams are evenly matched and strong on both sides of the ball making it hard to predict which way the game will go. The Pioneers are averaging 32 points a game - 26 points in non-Baker League games - and the Hornets are putting up 25 points a game, so you could make a case for a fairly high scoring game.
On the other hand, the Pioneers are allowing only 10 points a game - 17 points in non-Baker games while the Hornets have held opponents to 12 points a game so you could foresee a low scoring battle as well.
You could also play the common matchup game to get a better handle on the contest..
Both teams easily routed Ipswich, Hamilton Wenham, and Newburyport so no difference there. The Hornets had a tough time with Pat Sheehan's Vikings, edging Triton 14-7 while the Pioneers beat the Vikes handily 36-7. That wasn't true comparison, however, since the Triton team that limped into Lynnfield was a shell of the Viking squad that battled the Hornets in Week 6.
Pioneer fans might take something out of the performance of the two teams against Watertown and Pentucket. Lynnfield led Watertown before losing late in a 25-17 game. The Hornets kept their game with the Raiders close for a half before Watertown's Deon Smith exploded leading them to a convincing 31-7 victory.
Similarly, the Pioneers had a shot to beat Pentucket on the final play of the game before falling by a single point 28-27. North Reading again stayed close for a half before the Sachems pulled away for a fairly easy 28-6 win.
However it might be unwise to take anything out of those games other than the fact that the Hornet offense is not really built to come from behind. Once the spread gets to a couple of touchdowns and they need to throw, they struggle. The key then is to get up on them early.
Of course as Weidman said to me after I morphed into Captain Obvious and made that statement to him, "Well that's what you want to do in every game." Luckily we were talking on the phone since I'm sure if we were in the same room, he would have lightly tapped me on the head like a good little reporter.
Coach's Corner
I asked Sheehan for his take on the game since he played both teams.
"This should be a great matchup," he told me. "North Reading's defense should match up well with Lynnfield's offense. They have good cover guys in the defensive backfield and the size to match up with Lynnfield's O line.
"On the defensive side of the ball, Lynnfield doesn't have to guess what's coming or deal with misdirection - like the Pentucket wing T," he said. "North Reading doesn't have much of an offensive playbook but they get the ball to their playmakers - McCarthy and Smith.
"McCarthy is the best player in the league," Sheehan went on. "He is explosive in the kicking game and can break a TD from anywhere on the field. One thing I like about him is how he gets better as the game goes on. He is at his best in the fourth quarter.
"North Reading runs the I offense," he continued. "They run inside with their traps/ISO/power game and outside with the toss sweep. They will hurt you with the pass if you honk up for the run, but they don't want to put the ball in the air.
"The players to watch are McCarthy (#25), Smith (#22), O'Donnell (#52) a beast, and Merullo (#33).
And stealing my thunder, he reiterated my thoughts at the beginning of this post.
"I also think home field will have an impact on this game," he concluded. "Don't ask me why. It's just a hunch."
Tasty Appetizer
The Pioneer Junior Varsity started the holiday week on a positive note with a 16-6 win over North Reading on Friday. JV Defensive Coordinator Pat Lamusta and Offensive Coordinator Vin Calderone
Sophomore quarterback Justin Ysalguez scored the Pioneers' second touchdown but was later injured and left the game. Fellow sophomore quarterback Jack Razzaboni came in and finished up the win.
The victory caps an impressive 6-2-1 record for the young Pioneers.
They opened the year with a 33-12 win over Newburyport then lost a tough 12-8 contest to Danvers. They bounced back with wins over Amesbury (27-12) and Ipswich (30-0).
They followed that up with the first of two battles with Masco, losing 6-0. They came back the next week to hammer Hamilton -Wenham 26-6 and then got another shot at Masco.
According to Lamusta, with under a minute to play, the Chieftains scored on a reverse pass to take a 12-6 lead. On the following kickoff, sophomore linebacker Zack Huynh caught a pooch kick and returned it for the tying score. Unfortunately, the point after sailed wide by a foot resulting in a 12-12 final.
The JV's finished strong with a 28-0 whitewash of Triton and the win over the Hornets.
Lamusta lauded players on both the defense and offense for a great season.
Cooper Marengi picked up a ton of tackles and sacks from his outside linebacker position which was a position of strength for the Pioneers with Huynh, Paul Barrera, Anthony Murphy, Cam Lilley, and Nick Contardo.
E. J. Umlah anchored the defensive line from the nose with Kenny Babine, and Collins, providing a solid front wall. Alex Boustris, Ty Murphy, and Jared Lemieux were standouts in the defensive backfield.
Offensively, Lemieux, Boustris, Murphy, Jason Ndansi, and Peter Look comprised a solid receiving corps. Andrew DePalma, Nathan Drislane, and Anthony Murphy - all of whom saw significant varsity action - provided a formidable running game. Ysalguez was the primary quarterback with Razzaboni making significant contributions as well.
Babine, Huynh, and Umlah were standouts on the offensive line.
Congrats to coaches Lamusta and Calderone and to the entire JV squad.
The Meaning of (Football) Life
I again brought up the question of "meaningfulness" when it comes to Thanksgiving Day games in the new playoff era. As I've said, I disagree with those who say the new format takes away from the holiday games. Weidman agrees.
"There were only a few games in the state every year where it came down to winning meant a team moved on," Weidman said. "So I don't know if that's an issue. (All the games) mean something to the people that are involved. Standing out in the cold for practices for two and a half hours means something."
Adding in the juice of a rivalry game only adds to it.
20 Years Ago: Lynnfield vs. North Reading 1995
To illustrate the point of how important these games are to the participants, I decided to dial up the Wayback Machine and head back to 1995 and the 38th reenactment of the the holiday clash.
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| The Wayback Machine |
Neither team had any shot at a league championship in those days - a fact that was fairly obvious from the first day of practice. But that didn't deter the coaches or players who gave it their all despite the deck being stacked against them.
First year Pioneer head coach Scott Brennan, now the assistant principal and freshman football coach at Triton, welcomed a squad of 24 players (4 seniors, 7 juniors, 4 sophomores, and 9 freshman) to start the 1995 season.
"I tell Pat (Sheehan) all the time, you run the spread offense? We started the spread offense because that's what we had to do," Brennan told me when we talked earlier this week. "We had to play tag football. Half the time at practices the coaches were the look team."
Unfortunately the results in 1995 were fairly predictable. After losing on opening day, the Pioneers snapped a 14 game losing streak with a 29-20 win over Amesbury. They would go on to lose the next seven games heading into the Thanksgiving Day game at Arthur Kenney Field in North Reading.
North Reading had their own struggles, managing to beat winless Amesbury and squeaking by a two-win Pentucket team.
This game was not going to decide a title or playoff spot. It was battle for eighth place in the 11 team CAL.
Brennan pulled out all the stops in an attempt to get his team ready. He dedicated the game to Bill Rodan, his long time mentor and the winningest coach in LHS history with a record of 101-52-2. He also had Rodan speak to the team before the game.
"Bill is old school football," Brennan said. "Just like me."
"I always told the kids, nobody is perfect," Brennan said. "But we strive for perfection and always try to make yourself better. And when you all work together good things can happen. That's what happened that game.""Individual games are never easy to remember, but I remember this one," Charlie Shove, a freshmen who started on defense for the Pioneers and who I connected with this week told me. "It's never easy to strap up when there isn't much at stake, but this is football and we play because we love the game. You put the extra effort in because you love your town. I always took pride in defending Lynnfield's name. We have a reputation of being rich, little wussies. Not so!"
"We struggled that year and so did North Reading," says Woody Unger, one of four seniors on the squad and the team's only all star that year told me when we talked this week. "But this was it. This was our one game season right there."
"Before the game Scott told us we were playing for something bigger than our own record and our own season," Unger went on. "He told us to try and connect with some of the great Lynnfield teams of the past. Scott was trying to get us to deemphasize our record and push that you're not playing for the name on the back but for the name on the front. You're playing for the town. Toss the records out. This will be your last memory of high school football."
"I remember the game vividly," Brennan told me. "We kicked their butts. I was like, 'who is this team out there.' It was great. Talk about emotion."
The four Pioneer seniors, Co-Captains Shawn Egerton and Steve Rizzo, and Woody Unger and Mike Niarchos, led a fired-up Pioneer team that completely overpowered the Hornets. The 14-0 final score in no way reflected Lynnfield's dominance in the game. The Pioneers rolled to 254 yards on the ground, 100 more than their per game average in the previous nine contests.
Junior quarterback Jason Caggiano was 7 for 14 for 138 yards connecting with receivers Justin Haskell (5 for 59 yds), Egerton (1/67), and Vinny Reed (1/12). Egerton led the ground attack with 78 yards.
"Our defense was solid," recalls Shove who along with Rizzo, Unger, Caggiano, Niarchos, Jamie Saccardo, Peter Feeley, Lance Brown and the rest of the defensive unit held North Reading to 70 yards enroute to Lynnfield's first shutout in three years. The Hornets ran only six plays in Lynnfield territory, none in the first half.
"I remember that day our defense was just incredible," Brennan said. "I think it was the first hit of the game and all of a sudden our kids took off. Sometimes you look in kids eyes and they have the deer in the headlights look. This day it was the opposite. All of a sudden we got this confidence. We had kids yelling and screaming. It was awesome."
there. My uncle from Mansfield brought my three young nephews to the game. One of them told me that was the game that got him to play football. He went on to play on a Mansfield team that won back to back Super Bowls and he never lost a game."
The Pioneers dominated the first half but only took a 6-0 lead into the locker room at halftime. Their only score came on a five yard Reed run on their second possession of the game. The Pioneers drove inside the Hornet 15 yard line on their next two drives, but stalled on downs on the first one and had the second one end on an interception.
"The feeling of that game was like none other," recalls Shove who would go on to play at UMass-Amherst. "And that's including my four years at UMass playing in front of 60,000 fans. This game meant more."
The win proved to be a catalyst for an explosive start for the 1996 team that won its first three games before loosing four of its last seven to finish 6-4. It was the first winning season since 1991 and would be the last plus .500 campaign for Lynnfield until 2003.
Despite the 2-8 record, Brennan remains staunchly proud of his '95 team.
"We have a lot of kids who went on to be very successful because they played their hardest, they did what they could, and they had the grit," Brennan says. "They never thought they were better than they were. We had high academic ratings. They were good kids . They worked in the community. They may have lost on the football field but in life is where a lot of these kids won."
Unger dismisses the idea that the playoff format takes away from the Thanksgiving Day games.
"I couldn't disagree more," he said. "Maybe because I never got to play in a playoff game. But it doesn't matter. For a lot of people it's the last time you put the uniform on. Some kids have been playing football since fifth grade so as a 12th grader for the vast majority, this is it. This is the last time you're going to be with the guys you've been with for four years and in some cases for a ton of years. If that doesn't give you any sort of meaning, what will?"
Brennan also has some opinions about people who say the Thanksgiving Day rivalry games have been devalued by the new playoff format.
"I'm 58 years old and I remember every single Thanksgiving game," he says. "I remember as a kid I did not miss a game. It brings everyone together. Even in today's society there are two hours on Thanksgiving when people get together. They may not all watch the game, but every single kid that went to that school comes back. Tradition is huge. I think football is all about tradition."
"There's something special about Thanksgiving in Massachusetts," Unger summed up. "I don't care if they change the playoffs around or not, it will never be a meaningless game."
The Pioneers and Hornets will add to the legacy of the Lynnfield-North Reading rivalry Thursday. It promises to be a whale of a game.
That's it for now. Check back Sunday night for some Leftovers.
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