Watertown Leftovers

by Tom Condardo

It's natural to be down following a tough defeat like the one Friday night. But you have to admit it was an exciting game, much like the Danvers contest. Yes the Pioneers came out on the wrong end on both but those two games were much more interesting than the six other blowout games the Pioneers played. 

Be proud and happy with the hard work the team and coaches put in to get them the opportunity. At the end of the day, that's the most anyone can expect. As Brooklyn Dodger pitcher Preacher Roe once said after being taken out in the second inning, sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you.

So time to shake off the loss and look forward. The season is far from over and the Pioneers have three super matchups on tap to come to close so there's reason to be excited. 

This weekend they take on an equally disappointed Pentucket team in West Newbury in a match between two teams that would like to atone for their early playoff exit. The Sachems are considered the best team in the CAL so it will be a great measuring stick for the Pioneers.

They follow that up with a home matchup against Pat Sheehan's Triton Vikings. Sheehan was a Pioneer captain and Offensive Coordinator under Weidman so it will be an interesting battle of wits between mentor and student. Here's hoping the Vikes can get healthy in the next couple of weeks so Sheehan can come in with his full arsenal.

Then comes the annual rivalry game with North Reading, a team that will either be smarting from playoff elimination themselves, or getting ready for the D4 Super Bowl. Either way it will provide the Pioneers with even more incentive to knock off the Hornets.

Foreshadowing

Heading into the playoff game, everyone, including me, felt that the key to the game was containing Deon Smith. Well the Pioneers did that, keeping the dynamic quarterback out of the endzone and holding him to 41 yards on 17 carries, a pedestrian 2.4 yards per carry. 

Pioneer head coach Neal Weidman knew better (no surprise there). When I asked him about Smith, he agreed he was a terrific athlete, but immediately began talking about the toughness and speed of fullback Zac Rimsa. He even called him "under rated." Unfortunately the coach turned out to be prescient.

Rimsa ended up being the key to the offense, lugging the ball 30 times and picking up 152 yards and a touchdown. No run was bigger than the backbreaking 40 yard fake punt that ultimately led to the game winning touchdown.

And as often the case in big games, an unknown popped up to help carry the day. With all the focus on Smith and Rimsa, who had accounted for 15 of the Raiders 18 points coming in, junior Vasken Kebabjian picked this game to score his first two touchdowns of the year. He score the go ahead and insurance TDs from two and three yards out.

Red Flags

Penalties have been an issue for the Pioneers nearly all season and they came back to bite them Friday night. They were flagged eight times for 63 yards and several of them extended Watertown drives or scuttled the Pioneer offensive momentum. The Raiders were called for only two penalties for 15 yards and one of those was a 5 yarder for an out of bounds kickoff.

For the year, the Pioneers have been flagged 35 times for 313 yards compared to opponents 19 penalties for 133 yards. To be fair, officials tend to keep their flags in their pocked when teams are getting blown out, which was the case in six of the Pioneers' eight games.

Another key stat often looked at in big games is third and fourth down conversions. The ability to sustain drives or get your defense off the field can impact the outcome of a close game. The numbers in this game bear that out again.

Watertown was 6 for 13 on third down and 3 for 5 on fourth down for a total of 9 for 18 or 50% on those crucial downs. The Pioneers were 3 for 9 on third down and 0 for 2 on fourth down for a total of 3 for 11 or 27%.

First Time

It took almost two years and ten games, but the Pioneers finally suffered defeat in their new home Friday night. Lynnfield had won nine straight at Pioneer Stadium heading into the playoff game. Their last home loss was at the Middle School Field in the 14-7 setback against Bedford in the 2013 D4N semi-finals.   

Streaking Soph

Sophomore Nick Kinnon has quietly put together a five game scoring streak. He has made the long distance strike his signature, sprinting for touchdowns against Ipswich (63 yds), Manchester-Essex (31 yard run, 82 yard kick return), Georgetown (25 yds), Hamilton-Wenham (63 yds), and Watertown (67 yards).

The streak has made him the leading Pioneer rusher with 445 yards topping captain Drew McCarthy's 420. Kinnon has done it on only 26 carries giving him an eye-popping 17.1 yards per carry average.

Another Milestone

Dan Bronshvayg reached another milestone Friday night. His second PAT was the 25th of the season and 100th of his career. The senior, who holds the single season and career PAT records, is closing in on the field goal marks as well. The 30 yarder against Watertown gives him three for the year tying him with Steve Ullian for most in a single season. It was his fourth of his career, two behind Ullian's career record of six.   

CAL Downer

It was a bad weekend for the Cape Ann League. The excitement of seeing the league capture five of the eight seeds in the Division Four North playoffs including the top four, wore off quickly when the four squads that took on non-CAL teams fell. 

In addition to the Pioneers (#3), top seeded Pentucket was stunned by Bedford 21-6 and and injury riddled Triton team was beaten by Stoneham 35-14. Only #2 seed North Reading, who as expected had an easy time of it with fellow CALer Ipswich 41-3, remain to care the league standard. The Hornets host Watertown Friday and will have their hands full with the tough, athletic Raiders.

The non-qualifying CAL teams didn't fare much better as Amesbury, Hamilton-Wenham, Newburyport, and Georgetown all went down to non league opponents. Only Manchester-Essex who beat 2-5 Lowell Catholic and Masco who drubbed 1-7 Somerville came away with non league wins.

This week's results mirror the season long pattern of CAL teams struggling outside the friendly league confines. The 11 team league has a 7-16 record against non-CAL teams with Lynnfield, Amesbury, Newburyport, Hamilton-Wenham, Georgetown, and Ipswich going a combined 0-9 outside the league. 

Part of the reason is a number of teams being in a down cycle, and also overall roster sizes are down. 

The playoff struggle is easier to explain. The teams that sprung the "upsets" - Watertown, Stoneham, and Bedford - may have been seeded lower then their CAL opponents, but a big reason is that all three teams play in leagues dominated by teams in higher divisions. 

Watertown came into Pioneer Stadium with a 4-3 record, but their losses came in Middlesex Freedom League games against Division Three Melrose, Wilmington, and Burlington. One of their wins was against D3 Wilmington.

Stoneham also plays in the Freedom League and they came into their contest with Triton 3-4. However they play basically a D3 schedule with their only D4 game against Watertown. They beat D3 Belmont, Arlington, and Belmont before losing three straight against D3 Burlington, Wakefield, and Melrose. The Spartans lost their fourth straight to Watertown but playing such a challenging schedule, they still accumulated enough points to finish with the fourth seed. 

Bedford plays in the Dual County League, another league made up of mostly D3 schools. The Buccaneers went into Pentucket with a 4-3 mark, but three of their wins came against D3 schools North Quincy, Medford, and Boston Latin, and two of their losses were against D3 schools Canton and Wayland. 

By contrast, the Pioneers played only one D3 team (Danvers), Pentucket played one (Masco), Triton played one (Masco) along with New Jersey Division I powerhouse Northern Valley. North Reading played two D3 schools (Masco and Somerville). It's clear that the teams that went through the fire of playing higher division teams were more battle tested and it showed in their playoff wins.

"But over the last two years we've actually done well," Weidman said of the CAL playoff performance as a whole. "Nothing was made of it. But now that we didn't do well this year something will be made of it."

Weidman is correct that this is the first year the CAL has struggled under the new playoff format. The league went 4-2 in each of the past two years against non-league opponents winning the division last year with the Pioneers and getting a team to the finals with Pentucket in 2013. And of the three teams that have made the playoffs all three seasons, two of them - Triton and Lynnfield - are CAL teams. These things go in cycles and 2015 just happens to be a tough year for the CAL

Things will change next year if the MIAA accepts the proposal to expand from six divisions to eight. Under that proposal, made to even out the enrollments between the schools, the Pioneers would likely be placed in the 12 team Division 3A. Moving up and out of the current D4 into a new Division 3 would be current D4 foes Watertown, Bedford, Triton, Pentucket, Saugus, and Weston. They would be replaced in the new D3A with Greater Lawrence and Matignon. 

The hope is that by spreading the enrollments, the divisions would be more equal both in the North and in the South.

That's it for now. Check back Thursday for my preview of the Pentucket game.