Pioneers Adjust to Downsizing

by Tom Condardo

For anyone who has followed the Pioneers for the past few years, looking at the team huddle before the Masco scrimmage was a bit jarring. Something was definitely different. And then it hit me: the tallest person in the gathering was head coach Neal Weidman. Not that the coach isn't big, but in recent seasons, you'd be hard pressed to find Weidman in the shadows of some of the enormous redwoods that regularly populated the Pioneer squad.

Every year when the Pioneers marched in to a visiting venue or when a team came to play at Pioneer Stadium, opposing coaches and fans would inevitably express some variation of the question "What are they putting in the water in Lynnfield?"

The size difference between the Pioneers and their opponents was usually that striking. For the past five years or so, Lynnfield has trotted out a line (and many linebackers) that averaged 6'2 or 6'3 and 220+ pounds and thanks to the DeGeorge boys (Cam and D.J.) they would also sprinkle in a few 6'5 250+ bodies. It was a clear advantage for the Pioneers and led to some of the most lopsided wins in LHS football history.

However, size intimidation won't be in the toolbox for the 2016 Pioneers. It is a return to a squad with sizes more normal for a Division 3-4 high school team. This will obviously present new challenges for Weidman and his staff in general and for line coach Gino Fodera in particular.

"It's a bit difficult without size but we have speed which is something you don't really have when you have a lot of size. Size makes it really hard to have a lot of speed," Fodera told me. "We'll hit the holes quicker. Moving people off the line of scrimmage is going to be the hard part. But these kids are tough and they worked hard in the weight room this off season. They showed their dedication when they came in the first day and we're going to just have to keep working."

Lack of experience of equal concern
But the lack of a size advantage is not Fodera's primary concern. It's the lack of experience in his linemen.

"It's a little different when you don't have the likes of Cam DeGeorge and Spencer Balian and kids that have experience," he said. "Besides (captain) Mike Stellato, there are no starters from last year on this year's offensive line. These are kids that literally played JV last year. We'll have a lot of juniors playing offensive line and they didn't get the kinds of looks they're getting now. Even in practice, I'd take the ones and twos (first and second team) and I'd strictly work with them. And these kids weren't even the ones and twos last year.

"So it's a whole different approach," Fodera continued. "Even practice is different. Getting used to the way I coach with these kids is something totally new - something they haven't seen before. We work really hard at practice. I think as the season progresses these guys are going to get better and better. The ultimate goal is obviously to be just one unit and work together in tandem and we'll see what happens. They're good kids and they want to work hard. They come every day and we'll continue to improve."

The Pioneers are also devoting more time to teaching this year.

"Coach Weidman is doing a great job this year with just slowing down the pace a little bit," Fodera explained. "In years past it's been go, go, go. Neal's really taken the time out to correct things right away. Instead of doing it on the fly he's actually taken a little bit of time to make sure everyone knows what they're doing which is great."

Uneven start
Fodera got his first look at his new charges in action against a big, experienced, talented Masco team this past Saturday.

"I would have to honestly say some things looked good and some things looked bad," he said to me after the scrimmage. "It's hard in a game scrimmage like this to see because there's so many things going on. After we watch the film we'll determine what was good and what was bad. We made a lot of mistakes but we did some good things as well.

The Pioneers made some changes in anticipation of the revamped line they would be featuring this year.

"This past summer coach Weidman changed up the pass protection a little bit," Fodera said. "And I though they picked that up pretty well within only seven practices so far. I think they did a good job with that. We're going to try and get some pressure off the quarterback. As you could tell, there was some pressure and some things we need to clean up."

The Pioneer offense did well against Masco, picking up 132 yards on the ground and 138 yards in the air and scored 42 points in 40 plays.

"Once we get down to the final 11 that are going to play the games, we'll figure out what best suits us," Fodera summed up. "It's really hard when you have the first string offensive line and maybe a fourth group running back. Once we get everything settled, things will come together."

The Pioneers will get to fine tune things even more in scrimmages against Salem on Tuesday, August 30 and Melrose on Friday, September 2, before their regular season opener against Newburyport on September 9. And although you can't coach size, the Pioneer staff will certainly make sure the squad is prepared. In football, that's what really matters.