Manchester-Essex Game Preview: A Few Good Men

by Tom Condardo

The scene could be a little jarring Friday night at Pioneer Stadium when Manchester-Essex comes calling for the game against the Pioneers. When the teams line up for the National Anthem, the Pioneers will have almost three times as many players on the home side as the Hornets will on the visitors side. In last week's 43-20 loss to Hamilton-Wenham, M/E suited up 21 players. The week before against Essex Tech, they had 20 players in uniform.

The Hornets knew they would be undermanned from a numbers standpoint this year as they started with a roster of 25 including two ninth graders.

Fortunately for the Hornets, each team can only put 11 on the field at a time. Unfortunately for the Hornets, the 11 they trot out will rarely leave the field, having to play both ways.

But don't be fooled by the lack of depth. The Hornets could be a tough team to handle.

"They're playing well and scoring a lot of points," Pioneer head coach Neal Weidman told me. "They don't have a lot of kids, but the kids they do have are good players."

M/E runs a wing T offense and they have three quality weapons. Running backs junior Robbie Sarmanian (6 TD's) and sophomore Dan Rodier (5 TD's) have done the most damage but quarterback Charlie Otterbein ( 2 TD's) is also dangerous.

The Hornets also have some size with TE/DE Evan Pennoyer and OT/DT Andrew Hantzopoulos anchoring the line. Noah Rawson, Jackson Rice, Evan Williams, and Nick Barnett add size and experience to a physical line that has been opening up holes for the backs.

M/E had a small roster last year as well and many of these year's starters saw significant action last season.

Defensively the Hornets are solid on the front seven but have an entirely new defensive secondary.

Quick Start
The Hornets came out of the gate fast dropping a tough Northeast team 21-12 and then jumping up two divisions to take down Saugus 41-22. They've stalled the last two weeks falling to a strong Essex Tech team 28-14 and last week to Hamilton-Wenham 43-20.

Northeast, Saugus, and Essex Tech are all primarily running teams, but the Generals exploited the young Hornet secondary through the air with three passing TD's, and at the edges with speed.

That bodes well for the Pioneers since both of those are their strengths. Look for the home team to play up tempo to try and wear down the Hornets as the game progresses.

The Pioneer defense needs to shut down the wing-T and play with the same intensity they displayed last week against Ipswich.

Game time at Pioneer Stadium is 7 pm and the current forecast calls for clear skies, a pleasant change from the past two weeks.