Around the CAL Baker: Week 3

By Tom Condardo

With Georgetown dropping out of the CAL (they are 3-0 by the way playing an independent schedule so that appears to have been a pretty good decision by them), and with Thanksgiving rivals not playing in the regular season, there are more non-league games being played than in the past. In fact the Lynnfield-Amesbury game was the only Baker League game on the slate.

We'll take a look at the three non league games as well as a look at the Division 3A playoff race which is beginning to take shape as we near the halfway point of the regular season. But first, the updated Baker standings.




Hamilton-Wenham broke into the win column and both Robin Tiro-Kinnon and I are wearing our Red and Black armbands since the Generals first victory came over our old home town team the Chelsea Red Devils. H-W torched the Devils (see what I did there) 34-0 as Billy Whelan threw for a touchdown and ran for two more. Andrew Riccio and Phil Durgin also ran in touchdowns and Cam Peach caught four passes for 75 yards and a touchdown in head coach Jim Pugh's first win as General's coach.

Manchester-Essex lost for the first time as former Pioneer defensive coordinator Greg Haberland's Essex Tech Hawks ran them over 28-14 with a devastating double wing ground game. The Hawks ground out 255 rushing yards and wore down the Hornets' thin roster.

Essex Tech went up 13-0 in the second quarter but a Robbie Samarian's two yard blast cut the lead to 13-7 at the half. The Hornets took the lead on a Dan Rodier four yard run to make it 14-13. It was pretty much Essex Tech from there as took the lead back 21-14 heading into the final quarter and then added another score to ice it.

Hamilton-Wenham and Manchester will tangle on Friday night in the CAL Baker opener for both teams.

And speaking of Lynnfield connections, former Pioneer offensive coordinator and captain Pat Sheehan took his powerhouse Vikings into Ipswich and caged the Tigers 28-0. The Viking defense held Ipswich to one first down until late in the game when the decision was no longer in doubt. The Tigers had only 20 yards of offense in the first half and only three in the second half while Triton's first team was on the field.

The Vikings scored on the very first play and never looked back.

The Tigers come to town Friday night to take on the Pioneers.

Division 3A Power Rankings



The Pioneers' win over Amesbury was good for 12 points and they also picked up an unexpected point when Newburyport upset Masco. Danvers lost to Marblehead and Amesbury is winless so the Pioneers didn't get any points there. The victory vaulted them into a playoff position, tied with Hamilton-Wenham for the seventh seed. If the season ended today, the Pioneers would be playing one of the two division powerhouses in St. Mary's or Stoneham.

The game with Ipswich this week has double importance not only for the CAL Baker race but for the D3A standings as well. The win will be worth 13 points for the victor - 10 own points and three points for the victory each team currently has.

There could be some significant movement in the rankings after this week. There are two other intra-division games with Greater Lawrence taking on Northeast and Shawsheen facing Whittier. St. Mary's and Stoneham can continue to separate from the pack as they both play 12 point games again this week. Winless Winthrop and Boston Latin can get back in the race with wins this week as both face 12 point opponents.