A Fond Farewell

By Tom Condardo

Tomorrow afternoon the Pat Lamusta Era of Lynnfield football will begin. The energetic new head coach of the Pioneers will kick off the first practice of the season at 4 pm at Pioneer Stadium.

And for the first time in nearly three decades, I won't be there.

As some of you know from the article in the Villager in April, for the first time since 1989, I won't be roaming the sidelines covering Pioneer football this fall. It's not really a retirement since it's always been a part time gig and I've never been busier with my freelance commercial copywriting business. But it's time to bid adieu to my "hobby."

Your Faithful Scribe

Little did I know that when I took a gut course (do they say that anymore?) my senior year at Suffolk University called Theory and Practice of Athletics taught by Athletic Director Charlie Law, that I would learn something that I would use for more than half my life: how to chart a football game.

For 11 seasons (1976-1986) covering North Reading for the Transcript and for the past 29 season following the Pioneers for the Villager, I have spent my fall Saturdays and Friday nights prowling hundreds of high school field sidelines charting my little heart out.

I have a two and half year old grandson and a granddaughter due literally any day now in western Mass so I will be spending more time out there. I just can no longer devote the time that's needed to cover the games, compile all the stats, write my newspaper article, and compose my blog posts the way I feel they should be done.

When I started as a wide-eyed cub reporter/advertising rep/layout man/paper deliverer/go-pick-up-subs-for-supper-guy for those late nights putting the papers together, I was using a manual typewriter and a Minolta SLR 200 with no autofocus or auto-advance functions.

My Actual Desk with My Actual Typewriter
at the Transcript Office 1976

I would get a roll of film with 12 shots, shoot what I could get, and hope for the best. I got some pretty good shots. For example this 1977 action photo of a certain Lynnfield selectmen with the initials "Phil Crawford" back in his Hornet days.

My first game was in September of 1976, North Reading at Hamilton-Wenham. Being a city boy from Chelsea, I didn't know Wenham from Mars so in those pre-GPS days I asked Hornet Head Coach Ed Sapienza if I could ride up on the bus. He agreed and that was the first and last time I did that. I went out and purchased a map book the next day.

The final result that day was a 20-0 North Reading win over the Generals and I was off and running all the way to Thanksgiving Day 2017 - fittingly in North Reading - an appropriate ending bookend to my 419 game football writing career.

Lots of Thanks
There are a number of people I want to thank for helping me on this more-than-semi-lifelong journey. First the coaches that I worked with over the years. In North Reading, Sapienza, now a retired Peabody High School principal, and I started our journey together. I was the wet-behind-the-ears reporter and he was a brand spanking new North Reading head coach. He took over a Hornet program that had struggled for years and turned it into a CAL powerhouse winning league titles in 1978-79-80 and going to the Super Bowl in 1979. That was a fun run.

He was succeeded by Gary Sverker who went on to enjoy much success at Lynn Tech. He was followed by Jim Nangle and then Walt Miller. I took a two year hiatus after 1986 but in 1989 my wife and I bought a house in Lynnfield and Al Sylvia Jr. contacted me and said "Great, now you can cover Lynnfield." And that was that.

In Lynnfield I had the pleasure of working with a trio of classy gentlemen in Bill Adams, Scott Brennan, and Neal Weidman. Adams had two tours of duty during my time and he always amazed me with his total recall of specific plays in specific games played years ago.

During some games when the Pioneers would need a boost, the big bear of a man would call them over, huff and puff and stomp around screaming his displeasure, throwing his hat on the ground for the final exclamation point. He would then send his team back out on the field, pick up his hat and saunter by me on the sideline and wink. "Sometimes you have to put on a show," he would tell me.

I covered coach Adams for 146 games and he had a tradition where he would come over to me and shake my hand before the national anthem. We did that 146 times. On days when the sun was shining in your face on the Lynnfield sideline at the old Middle School field, I would have to go on the opposing team sideline so I could get pictures that weren't washed out. But I would have to wait until we did our handshake before I could scurry over there.

Bill struggled through a difficult time in the program when the Pioneers were caught in a perfect storm. Lynnfield's numbers were down but the Pioneers were still playing a full-sized CAL schedule against the likes of North Andover, Masco and the regionals schools like Triton and Pentucket who were big at the time. Suiting up 20-25 kids was not uncommon for the Pioneers. I remember one game in the mid 90's where Lynnfield had 17 kids in uniform.

When Bill left after the 1994 season, he was replaced by Scott Brennan, a young enthusiastic motivator. Think a high school version of Pete Carroll. Always up, always positive, always teaching. Scott is now an Assistant Principal at Triton My son Kevin was on his squads his sophomore and junior years and I couldn't have been more pleased to have my son play for him.

There's something Scott used to say that I still quote today when talking about kids who make the commitment to play football. "You play baseball and basketball, but you are a football player."

Adams returned in 2000 - my son's senior year - and stayed on until 2007 when he turned the program over to his offensive coordinator Neal Weidman. What followed was a wildly successful decade that saw the Pioneers become a juggernaut, winning almost 70% of their games in compiling a 78-34 record.

The Pioneers captured their league title seven of the ten years Weidman was coach including a still alive six championships in row streak. They also won a division title and made it to Gillette Stadium for the school's second Super Bowl.

Neal was great to cover, always cooperative, always available whenever I needed some information or a late quote to finish a story. His wife Jen was always gracious to me as well never mentioning my interruptions over the years. Though I remember one conversation Neal and I had while he was driving on vacation that must have pushed her patience to the limit. No matter the situation, win or lose, he was always right there to face the reporters, many times consisting of just me.

A New Beginning
Weidman announced in March he would be moving on and his assistant Pat Lamusta was named head coach a couple of months later. I first met Pat as a ferocious linebacker who cracked the Pioneers' starting linebacker as a freshman in 2004. Pat was a never-quit dynamo on some struggling Pioneer squads in the mid-2000's but he was always a bright spot during some dark fall days.

I expect Pat to bring that same enthusiasm as head coach. When he was still playing for Framingham State I asked him what he planned to do and he said his long term goal was to be the head coach at Lynnfield. I told him at the time that I had no doubt he would reach that goal. He is someone that is smart, driven and has his priorities in order. One thing is for sure, he won't be outworked.

He has some big shoes to fill and a number of roster holes to plug as he takes over a squad that lost 21 of 22 starters to graduation. But give him a chance and I'm confident he will find a way to continue the winning tradition that has been established.

Thanks also to you for continuing to read my weekly drivel and for passing on the kinds words whenever we met.

So that's it. I'm moving on. I will definitely miss it. It has been a huge part of my life but there is always a time when it has to end and this is it for me. I want to thank all the coaches, players, and parents for making it an enjoyable run. Thanks to the Sylvia family for getting me started and to Glen Dolbeare, publisher of the Villager, for letting me continue. Most importantly, thanks to my wife Noreen who has been a high school football widow for too many fall weekends.

That's all folks. Go Pioneers!

End of an Era

by Tom Condardo

By now you all know that Neal Weidman is stepping down as head coach of the Pioneers after an amazing ten year run - one of the most successful stretch in school history.

Former Pioneer Head Coach Neal Weidman

Lynnfield football has been fortunate to have some illustrious periods in its 60 seasons.

Steve Sobieck started the program in 1958 and went 2-5-1 his first year with a team without any seniors. But beginning in 1959, he reeled off six successful seasons going 41-9-3 (.775 winning percentage including three Dual County League titles and a 1960 team that went 9-0 and still stands as the only undefeated team in LHS history.

Bill Rodan, the winningest coach in LHS history with 101 victories, had a particularly stellar six year run from 1978-83 going 43-16-1 (.716) and a CAL championship.

Bill Adams' teams went 25-6 (.806) from 1985-87 including a CAL title and the school's first trip to a Super Bowl.

The run of Weidman's teams deservers to be elevated to that pantheon. He finished 78-34 (.696). Excluding his first year in 2008 when the Pioneers went 3-8, Weidman's final nine year record was 75-26 (.742) with seven league championships, two division titles, 15 playoff games, three division title games, and a trip to the Super Bowl.

After speaking to him the day he made his announcement, it was obvious to me that his decision to step down was not an easy one.

"It's tough. I don't feel great that's for sure," the coach told me of his feelings the day he told his coaches and players and sent out his email notice to the Pioneer football community. "There's a few different reasons for my decision. I'm at a crossroads with a few different things and because I was unsure I figured if I was unsure than I probably shouldn't be doing it.

"It was ridiculously hard decision," he continued. "I've been tormented over it. I've given it a ton of thought. I'm not a hundred percent sure if I'm making the right decision but I don't know how you can ask a group of people to be all in if you're not sure that you can be all in."

It was also clear that this was a decision a long time in the making.

"I've given this thought for years," Weidman said. "Deciding when would be the right time? It was something that I never really wanted to think about but every year I had to think about it a little bit more. I've come to the realization that there's never going to be a good time. There's always going to be a group of seniors. There's always going to an underclass group that you're gonna like that's coming up through. There's always good kids and always good players so there was never going to be a perfect time. I'm sure I'm going to regret it come the fall when the first day rolls around. Not sure how I'm going to get through school that day."

Weidman has no plans to do anything in coaching this fall.

"The plan is to not do anything," he said. "I haven't looked for anything and no one has reached out to me. I don't know if that will change once people find out but I will not be actively seeking anything else.

"Head coaching is a big commitment and I've always prioritized it," he continued. "Maybe even at times when it shouldn't have been the top priority. But that's the only way you can do it because its pretty demanding."

"I'm not sure where things are going to go but I'm just trying to reprioritize," he summed up. "Hopefully I'll get another opportunity if I want one some day. There's no guarantees because that's  just the way it is."

I'm guessing that with his track record, getting that next opportunity won't be a problem.

For the time being however, I'm sure Jen, Hudson, Cal, and Tripp will enjoy having husband and dad around this fall.

Coaches Kudos
Weidman's departure also means the breakup of one of the best and most dedicated coaching staffs on the North Shore. The core group of John O'Brien, Gino Fodera, Chris Sakelakos, Fern Lavoie, Pat Lamusta and Jeff Gannon have been together for years and the results on the field show it. The Pioneers have had great talent over the years, but the staff always made sure the players were in the best position to take advantage of their skill sets. From what I understand, those marathon Sunday night coaching sessions were epic, but the results speak for themselves.

A look back
So as the Weidman Decade prepares to pass into the LHS football history books, I thought it would be a good time to take a look back do a recap of the past ten seasons.

2008

2008 Pioneers

Weidman took over a Pioneer team that had gone 5-38 from 2004-2007, three of those wins coming in 2007. They would go into battle with only six seniors including captains Ryan Perkins, Chris Klove, and Ben Salisbury.

"Our main goal is to improve every single week," Weidman told me before the season. "We're happy with the kids. They want to get better and they want to win so we're working for that common goal for all of us."

The Weidman Era began with a bang, as the Pioneers blasted Matignon 28-6 on opening night in Somerville. Salisbury, Gino Cohee, and Chris Grassi led a rushing attack that exploded for 264 yards and four TD's. The Pioneers led 21-6 at the half and cruised in from there.

The Pioneers would then lose seven straight, being outscored 176-82. They nipped Ipswich 13-7 in week nine. The turning point for the program began in week ten in a 35-21 loss to Super Bowl bound Manchester Essex. The Hornet head coach told Weidman that the Pioneers had given them their toughest battle of the year.

Hope for the future began to emerge on Thanksgiving Morning when the Pioneers shut out North Reading 21-0 at the Middle School Field setting the stage for an optimistic offseason.

"It's something to build on going into next year," Weidman told me after the game. "Going into next year we're going to have to pick it up a notch and take that next step."

Final Record: 3-8

2009

2009 Pioneers

And take the next step they did.

Led by captains George and Joe Hennessey, Eric Inglese, and John Leydon, nearly 50 players including 18 seniors turned out for preseason practices. One prescient prognosticating sportswriter (okay, me) knowingly began his preview article in the Villager this way: "There's really no other way to say it: The 2009 Lynnfield football team is loaded."

Spoilers: It was.

"None of that matters," Weidman told me. "The only thing that matters is that each week you prepare and continue to improve."

The Pioneers roared out of gate with two lopsided wins over Matignon and Georgetown by a combined 66-13 score. They then were forced to swallow a heaping helping of humble pie in a 28-7 loss to CAL Large Wilmington.

The Wildcats ripped off a TD return on the opening kick and then turned a Lynnfield fumble into another TD.

"We got outplayed," Weidman said after the game.

The Pioneers bounced back with wins over Cathedral and Danvers - the latter another turning point game against a tough non-league opponent. Gino Cohee rolled for 183 yards in the first half in the rain in Danvers to help build a 14-0 lead. Nick Roberts picked off a fourth down pass to seal the win with less than a minute to play.

"I think it's a great win for the program," Weidman said. "For us to not only win, but to be able to win a close game is big.

The win gave the Pioneers a 4-1 record, and their first four win season since 2003. They ripped off four more victories over Triton - 21-19 thriller on 22 yard Steve Ullian field goal with nine seconds left- Amesbury, Newburyport, and Ipswich to set up a potential championship clinching game against Hamilton Wenham.

Rushing touchdowns by George Hennesy and Cohee, and a Chris Grassi to Tyler Surette TD pass, gave the Pioneers a 21-3 win and clinched the first league title and post season berth for the Pioneers in 23 years.

The Pioneers disposed of North Reading 35-14 on Thanksgiving day in a play-for-pride game and took on Austin Prep on the following Tuesday at Reading High School for the right to go to the Division 3A Super Bowl.

They came up a yard and a half short. The two teams battled to a 20-20 tie in regulation and the Cougars scored on their set of downs to start the overtime. The Pioneers faced a fourth and goal from the one and half but Cohee was stopped short ending the Cinderella season with a 26-20 loss.

 "I'm proud of them," Weidman said of his team. "We won our league. We went a long way."

Final record: 10-2, CAL Small Champs

2010

2010 Pioneers

Led by captains Gino Cohee, A. J. Roberto, Steven Ullian, and Jeff Gannon, the Pioneers bolted out of the gate and rolled over their first seven opponents by a combined score of 252-58.

Then Newburyport happened.

Playing in their personal House of Horrors at World War Memorial Stadium, the Pioneers wilted under the bright lights of Fox25 who had selected the matchup as their game of the week. The Clippers came in with a 3-4 record, but a Lynnfield team hadn't won in Newburyport since 1986 - 11 straight losses. That should have been an omen.

The Pioneers were totally dominated as the Clippers had three times as many offensive yards and built leads of 7-0 and 14-0 before closing it out at 24-7.

"We got outplayed right from the start," Weidman said after the disappointing loss. "It obviously wasn't our best game."

The Pioneers bounced back with a 41-0 Senior Day thrashing of Ipswich to improve to 8-1 and set up must win showdown at Hamilton-Wenham to keep their title hopes alive.

But it was not to be. The Generals' co-captain James Brao kicked his first ever field goal from 25 yards out with 18 seconds to play to upend the Pioneers and snuff out their hopes of repeating as league champs.

The Pioneers returned home to beat North Reading 21-6 on Thanksgiving day to end a strong season.

"Ending the season on a win is huge," summed up Weidman. "It gives you a good feeling going into the offseason."

Final record: 9-2

2011

2011 Pioneer Seniors

Captains Jon Roberto, John Gaff, and Mike Thomas led a group of 63 players who showed up for preseason practice, and Weidman and staff were going to need to cull through all of them to replace 15 seniors lost to graduation.

The Pioneers got off to an inauspicious start with a 27-14 loss to Newburyport, but bounced back with wins over Amesbury and Bishop Fenwick before getting hammered by St. Mary's of Lynn 40-16 and losing to Danvers in a 42-35 shootout. After beating Pentucket 21-14, the Pioneers sat at 3-3 heading into the CAL/NEC 4 league schedule.

They beat Ipswich 13-6 setting up another huge league game against H-W who would come to town with a perfect 6-0 record. But in a game that epitomized the star-crossed 2011 Pioneers, the Generals escaped the Middle School Field with a 22-14 overtime victory in a contest they had no business winning.

Lynnfield led 14-6 with a minute to play. The lead should have been even larger but two Pioneer touchdowns in the second half were negated - one on a bad call on a simultaneous catch in the end zone by Nico Varano and a General defender that was ruled an interception and the second when a 22 yard TD run by Mike Karavetsos was called back on a questionable holding penalty.

The Generals, who would go on to play in the Super Bowl, took advantage, scoring a touchdown and two point conversion with 37 seconds left to force the overtime. H-W scored on fourth down of the overtime and the Pioneers couldn't answer and left with a disheartening loss.

"We had them and then we lost then," Weidman said of the lost opportunity. "It's too bad. The kids deserved better. They deserved to win the game."

After beating Georgetown 35-7, the Pioneers came out flat on Senior Day and fell to Manchester Essex 7-6.

Already hurt by the loss of running back Thomas and outside linebacker/backup QB Alex Roper, the Pioneers suffered a fatal blow when Karavetsos was knocked out of the Thanksgiving Game with an apparent concussion. Lynnfield was forced to go with sophomore Matt Kramich and freshman Danny Sullivan at quarterback and fell to the Hornets 37-18 to end the year.

"We had to fight through a lot of adversity and hung in there as long as we could," Weidman said of the effort against North Reading, although in truth, he could have been talking about the 2011 season as a whole.

Final record: 5-6

2012

2012 Pioneers

Captains Mike Karavetsos, Andrew Kibarian, D.J. DeGeorge, Alex Pascucci, and Tyler Palumbo led an experienced group of 65 players including 17 seniors and 13 regulars who were determined to rebound from a down 2011.

"It's a good group," Weidman said in what would prove to be the understatement of the year.

The Pioneers opened with the obligatory loss to Newburyport, this one a 7-6 heartbreaker, and finished the non-league portion of the schedule with a 3-2 mark.

They then reeled off four straight league wins including a payback 25-14 win over Hamilton Wenham to set up a winner-take all defacto CAL/NEC 4 championship game on Thanksgiving morning against North Reading, who was still in the same league as the Pioneers that year. The stakes were high since under the playoff format at the time, only the league champs went to the postseason.

Both teams came into the game with 4-0 league records in a matchup that featured the Pioneers wide open spread offense against the Hornets ground and pound single wing attack. Over 3000 people jammed the Middle School field for what would turn out to be the final Thanksgiving Day game played at old Pioneer Field.

The game lived up to the billing. The Pioneers dominating defense held the potent Hornet offense to 145 yards, 40 in the second half.

Lynnfield opened the scoring on a 13 yard run by Kyle McGah and PAT by Alex Roper. North Reading tied it up when Carl Lipani barely edged into the end zone on a one yard run. The Pioneers notched the winning score midway in the third when Karavetsos broke loose for a 65 yard run to the Hornet eight yard line and three plays later bootlegged in from the five for the score.

The win set up a playoff matchup with CAL/NEC Champ Amesbury five nights later for the right to go to Gillette Stadium for the Division 3A Super Bowl. The Pioneers had beaten the Indians 31-27 earlier in the year but had to dig out of a 21-0 hole to do it.

Not to worry. Playing on a neutral field at Cawley Stadium in Lowell, the Pioneers dominated from start to finish in a 35-14 win. McGah led the offensive onslaught with four rushing TDs, equalling the four he scored in the earlier matchup with the Indians.

The other half of the story was the Pioneer's bruising defense led by a front wall of Kibarian, D. J. DeGeorge, and Mike Soden, and an active linebacking corps of Palumbo, McGah, Roper, Anthony Costa, and A. J. Gallo.

It was off to Gillette for Lynnfield's first appearance in the Super Bowl since 1986.

Unfortunately the Pioneers had to take on powerhouse Bishop Feehan, winners of eight state championships and participants in seven of the last 12 Super Bowls.

The Shamrocks jumped out to a 14-0 lead on their first two possessions and things looked bleak. The Pioneers would cut the lead to 14-7 on a two yard burst by McGah before the half. But the Feehan defense would never bend again and added a third quarter TD to build a cushion they would not relinquish in a 21-7 win.

Asked after the game what he would have said if had been told during the summer that his season would end on the field at Gillette, Weidman told me, "I would have taken it in August. But now when you get here, you want to win it.

"I'm proud as heck of the kids," the coach summed up. "They played hard. They gave great effort all year. It's too bad it had to end this way for them. I just want to say thank you to the entire team this year for a great season."

Final Record: 9-3, CAL/NEC 4 Champs, Division 3 North Champs, Super Bowl Finalist

2013

2013 Pioneers
(Tracy Karavetsos photo)

Under the leadership of captains Kyle McGah, Matt Kramich, Anthony Costa, and Dom Costa, the Pioneers picked up right where they left off in 2012, rolling to a perfect 7-0 record and outscoring their opposition 248-48. Sixty-eight players turned out including 19 seniors, ad the Pioneers dominated in the pre-playoff portion of the season.

Under the first ever MIAA playoff format, the first seven weeks of the season were used to establish playoff seedings. The CAL/NEC merger was dissolved so the Pioneers were back in the CAL Small, now named the Baker Division. To earn an automatic playoff spot, you had to win your league or finish second or get an at large bid using a strength of schedule formula.

The Pioneers' fast start took the making-the-playoff suspense out quickly and they captured the league crown with a 34-0 smashing of Hamilton Wenham. The Pioneers earned the second seed in Division Four North and handled seventh seed Stoneham 34-12 at the Middle School field.

The next matchup for the undefeated Pioneers was third seed Bedford. In a hard hitting defensive battle, the Pioneers led 7-0 after three quarters but ran out of gas and allowed two fourth quarter Bedford TDs, the last coming with nine seconds to play handing the Pioneers their first loss of the year.

Lynnfield finished the year with an exciting 21-20 comeback win over Watertown (spoilers: that name will come up again.)

Defense took Thanksgiving Day off as the teams combined for 675 yards and 77 points as the Pioneers fell to the Hornets 42-35. Missing starting linebackers David Adams, C. J. Finn, and Kevin Lee all out with injuries, the Pioneers had no answer for North Reading's C. J. McCarthy who rolled for 271 yards and four TDs in the Hornet single wing offense. Just to add insult to injury, McCarthy had a pick-six with under six minutes to play to seal the deal.

 "Losing the last one always hurts but it was a great season," Weidman told me after the game. "We'll miss all the seniors. For the younger guys, they need to be positive and move forward and try to make their mark next year."

Final Record: 9-2, CAL Baker Champs, Division Four North Playoff Semi-finalist

2014

2014 Pioneers
(Tracy Karavetsos photo)

Close to 70 candidates, including 21 seniors led by captains Cam Rondeau, Jon Knee, and Danny Sullivan turned out for the first day of practice.

Despite having to play their first four games on the road due to the construction of the new Pioneer Stadium at the high school, the Pioneers rolled through their pre-playoff schedule, going 7-0 and sweeping to their third straight league championship. Lynnfield celebrated the opening of their new stadium with a 42-0 whitewashing of Georgetown on October 10.

They also took care of one of the few remaining pieces of unfinished business in the Weidman Era in week two when they rolled into Newburyport and snapped the long standing curse. The Pioneers routed the Clippers 32-0 for Lynnfield's first win in Newburyport since 1986, ending a 13 game losing streak at War Memorial Stadium.

"The kids wanted to take some pride in being the team that stopped the streak," Weidman said. "I wanted it to be over as well. 1986 was a long time ago."

Paced by an explosive offense, let by Sullivan, Knee, and Rondeau, and the running of Jake Rourke, the Pioneers averaged 37 points a game in their first seven games. The defense was just as impressive holding opponents to only 20 points and posting four shutouts. The D was strong on all three levels with a massive front wall of Cam DeGeorge, Stephen White, and Al Maclachlan, an attacking linebacking corps of David Adams, CJ Finn, Jake Rouke, Kevin Lee, Rob Debonis, and Chad Martin, and a ball hawking secondary of interception-machine Rondeau, Knee, and Dan Bronshvayg.

The Pioneers continued their dominance in the playoffs rolling over Saugus in the rain 42-6 and handling Swampscott 35-7 to punch their ticket to the Division Four North final against Winthrop. Both teams came into the game at frigid Miller Field in Winthrop undefeated at 10-0 but the Pioneers took home the title in a contest that was much closer than the 35-14 score would indicate.

With Lynnfield leading 28-14, the game turned on probably the most exciting play of the Weidman Era. The Vikings faced a fourth and half yard and looked ready to punch in a TD that would make it a one score game, but DeGeorge drove the Winthrop center into quarterback Dylan Driscoll, blowing up an attempted quarterback sneak. The ball fell to the ground amidst a pile of 21 players but an alert Rondeau stepped into the pile, picked up the ball and raced 99 yards the other way for a Lynnfield score.

"I didn't even know what was going on," Weidman told me after the game. "I saw (Rondeau) running down the field with no whistles and the refs chasing him and I said 'thank God.'"

The win gave the Pioneers the Division Four North Division Championship and lifted them into the division state semi-finals.

However, the Pioneers saw their hopes for another trip to the Super Bowl dashed at Cawley Stadium the following Saturday when a fast, aggressive Holliston team dominated in a 26-0 win. It was only would mark the third and final time the Pioneers would be shut out in the 112 games of the Weidman Era, the other two coming in 2008.

"We were chasing it the whole game," Weidman said. "We were never in a favorable position to get any of our matchups because they were so fast. Their overall team speed was the deciding factor.

"There's a lot of positives for the year," the coach summed up. "We won the North and won our first 10 games and no Lynnfield team has ever done that. But the kids wanted more than that. It just was not our day today. Not at all. Sometimes that's the way it is."

The Pioneers exacted a measure of revenge for the 2013 Thanksgiving Day loss by stifling the Hornets 35-0 in a couple of inches of snow at Pioneer Stadium on the holiday to finish the only 11 win season in the history of Lynnfield High football.

Final Record: 11-1, CAL Baker Champs, Division Four North Champs, Division Four State Semi-finalist.

2015

2015 Pioneers
(Tracy Karavetsos photo)

An amazing 82 players turned out for the first practices including captains Cam DeGeorge, CJ Finn, Drew McCarthy, Spencer Balian, and Drew Balestrieri.

The Pioneers split their two non-league games to start the season then rolled through their CAL Baker schedule with five straight wins to clinch their fourth consecutive league title. They nailed down the third seed in the Division Four North playoff and hosted Watertown in the first round.

Plagued by turnovers and penalties, the Pioneers fell to the Raiders 25-17 at Pioneer Stadium. The Pioneers led 17-12 in the third but after an impressive goal line stand, fumbled at the goal line and the Raiders recovered at the two. They would score one play later and then add a another TD to nail it down.

"We're disappointed obviously," said Weidman who saw his team lose for the first time in ten games at Pioneer Stadium. "Sometimes in games like that you need a couple of things to go your way and they didn't."

The Pioneers lost a 28-27 heartbreaker to Pentucket the following week in a game they led 21-0 at halftime. They bounced back to beat Triton 36-7 and North Reading 32-12  in a game Weidman called "our best game of the year" to finish the season on a high note. Senior quarterback Jake McHugh led the way against the Hornets with a pair of touchdown runs.

"It was a great year," Weidman said of the season. "We had a bunch of great kids. I'm very proud of the senior class. I'm glad they finished as strong as they did. You never want to send them off with a bad feeling so I'm just happy for them."

Final Record: 8-3, CAL Baker Champs

2016

2016 Pioneers

Captains Louis Ellis, Mike Stellato, Kyle Hawes, and Alex Boustris led a group of 70 players who turned out for preseason practice. However, as opposed to recent years when the Pioneers featured around 20 seniors, this year's edition only had a dozen. With only those the four captains being regulars in 2015, Weidman knew there would be a lot more teaching with his inexperienced group.

"We just have to go slower than in the past," he said after the first practice. "We have to do some things differently. The seniors have worked hard and they're ready for their senior year, but there just aren't a lot of them."

To no great surprise, the Pioneers lost their first two non-league games to Newburyport and Danvers but they righted the ship and rolled through an undefeated 4-0 CAL Baker schedule to capture their fifth straight league title.

"We just wanted to come in and prove everyone wrong," said Stellato of winning another championship. "They said we were undersized and we weren't good enough because everyone left. But as captains, we decided to take control of the team and lead everyone and make everyone better day in and day out and this is the product of it."

Lynnfield had no trouble in the opening round of the D3A playoffs pasting Northeast Metro 34-14. Unfortunately, in round two they ran into one of the best teams in the state in undefeated St. Mary's of Lynn. The big, fast, physical, athletic, and smart Spartans rushed for 366 yards enroute to a 44-24 win.

The Pioneers closed to 16-8 early in the third period, and forced St. Mary's to play their starters the entire game, something they hadn't had to do the entire year.

"It doesn't feel any better when you give them a great game and lose," Weidman said after the game at Manning Field. "But the kids played hard. The effort was there and we were pretty physical which is all we could ask for."

The following week, the Pioneers survived a sleepy first half to pull away from Greater Lawrence 34-14 behind four TD passes from Matt Mortellite.

Lynnfield then finished the season with a heartbreaking 21-20 squeaker loss to North Reading at Pioneer Stadium. The Pioneers led 14-3 early in the second half, but the Hornets roared back with 18 unanswered points to take an 21-14 lead. The Pioneers came back to score to make it 21-20 but the point after try was wide and the Hornets held on for the win.

"We had a good year," Weidman said. "After those first two games we kind of put it together. I just think we improved a lot throughout the year."

Final Record: 6-4, CAL Baker Champs, Division 3A North Semi-finalists.

2017

2017 Pioneers

A very different scenario from 2016 faced the 2017 Pioneers when captains Nick Kinnon, Nathan Drislane, Harry Collins, Cooper Marengi, and Anthony Murphy led 70 players onto the practice field for the team's first workout. Gone was the inexperienced squad that needed to take things slow in the early going. With 13 returning starters and 18 seniors and 21 juniors, the Pioneers were ready to hit the ground running.

"It's obvious that the junior and seniors who were here last year know what's going on," Weidman said following the squad's first practice. "We did twice as much on this day this year than we were able to do last yer. Our expectations are definitely higher this year. I told them I'm not going to be patient this year."

The experience showed as the Pioneers rocketed out to six straight wins to start the season. The most exciting pre-playoff game was a 28-26 overtime win over Wayland in week two. Lynnfield led 20-6 at halftime but the Warriors took control of the second half scoring twice to knot the score at 20-20 late in the fourth quarter.

Wayland scored on their first possession in overtime but the Warrior receiver who was wide open on the two point conversion inexplicably dropped the pass to keep the Wayland lead at 26-20. The Pioneers couldn't score on their four downs but a Warrior defensive back mauled Kinnon on fourth down and was called for pass interference giving Lynnfield new life.

Anthony Murphy bulldozed in from the one yard line on second down to tie the score at 26-26 then took a perfect pitch from Matt Mortellite on a read option and plowed into the end zone for the two point conversion and a 28-26 win.

"I had it in my mind that I was getting in and there was no one that was going to stop me," Murphy told me after the game.

The Pioneers faced Hamilton-Wenham in week seven with a chance to clinch their sixth straight league title. But the wheels came off early and often and the General stunned Lynnfield at Pioneer Stadium 35-7 handing them their first loss of the season. The Pioneers committed five penalties and turned the ball over twice, most in crucial situations.

"Right off the bat we started shooting ourselves in the foot and when you play a good team, you can't recover from that stuff," Weidman said.

The loss apparently dashed the hopes of another league title as the Pioneers fell to 3-1 in league play while the Generals stood at 3-0. They only needed to beat Ipswich who was 2-1 in league play, to take the crown. Fortunately for Lynnfield, the Tigers had other ideas and upset the Generals 22-20 so all three teams finished 3-1 and shared the CAL Baker crown.

Despite the loss to H-W, the Pioneers held on to the top seed in the Division Five North rankings and hosted the number eight seed Bedford in the opening round of the playoffs. They cruised past the Buccaneers 34-6 to move to the semi-finals against Newburyport.

The Clippers battled the Pioneers to a 7-7 stalemate late in the first half, but Lynnfield scored with no time left on the clock when Mortellite threw a dart to Kinnon to make it 13-7 at the half. Kinnon stretched the lead to 19-7 when he returned the second half kickoff 94 yards for a score. The Pioneers were never threatened again and the 26-7 win gave Lynnfield the satisfaction of beating their nemesis twice in the same season.

The win set up a showdown matchup in the D5N finals against pain-in-the-tailpad Watertown. The Warriors, who play in the tough Middlesex League against higher division teams, always get into the playoffs as a lower seed then dominate in the post season. Such was the case this year as sixth-seeded Watertown upended second seed Somerville and third seed Swampscott and were now coming after the top seed to make it a 1-2-3 sweep.

On a bitterly cold night more suited to ice fishing than football, the Pioneers and Warriors staged an epic contest for the ages. How cold was it? Game time temperature was 27 but a persistent wind made it feel like single numbers. It was so cold, I had to retreat to the press box for the second half because the ink in my pen was freezing and I couldn't take notes in my familiar spot along the sidelines.

The two teams combined for over 700 yards of offense despite the conditions and things looked good for the Pioneers when Tyler Murphy scooted 29 yards into the end zone to give Lynnfield what looked like a comfortable 34-24 lead with 2:55 left to play.

But Watertown, who had staged two miracle comebacks for last minute wins in their first two playoff games did it again at Pioneer Stadium. They exploded for two touchdowns, the last with 11 seconds left in the game to steal a 38-34 win from the shocked Pioneers.

The Warriors would go on to get crushed by Dennis Yarmouth 41-3 in the state semifinals, but the bitter loss was hard to take for Lynnfield.

"We could have won that one," said Weidman after the game. "We played fairly well the whole game but unfortunately we couldn't get the ball back to run the clock out at the end."

The Pioneers finished the season on a sour note with a 27-13 loss at North Reading on Thanksgiving morning. Despite missing five players who covered eight starting positions and then losing quarterback Mortellite to an apparent concussion in the closing minute of the first half, the Pioneers fought hard. They trailed 20-13 with 5:35 left in the game and were inside the NR 20 driving for the tying score when Hornet lineman Michael Luciana scooped up a fumbled bad snap and raced 77 yards for a crushing touchdown to seal the win for the home team.

Lynnfield was forced to play without Anthony Murphy who suffered a broken leg against Watertown and three other starters who were suspended due to disciplinary reasons.

"We talk about adversity all the time," Weidman said after the game. "We played tough against a pretty good team. The score looked like a 14 point difference but it was probably a bit closer than that."

"We were right there all year," the coach said in what would be his final post game session as Pioneer head coach. "Unfortunately we had some adverse circumstances. The Hamilton-Wenham game they outplayed us. That's the only game I can really say was a little bit disappointing. Other than that, Watertown we played tough in some tough circumstances with the weather and then again today we played tough through some rough circumstances. I really can't complain."

That's it. Ten years of mostly dominance. 78 wins in 112 games. Over that ten year stretch, the Pioneers outscored their opponents 2,968-1,529 and except for a seven game losing streak in Weidman's first year, never lost more than two games in a row in a single season.

A outstanding decade of excellence by a class individual and superior football coach. He will be missed.

A Heartfelt Thanks

The Coach and the Scribe

On a personal note, I want to extend my thanks to Coach Weidman for his cooperation through out the ten years I have had the pleasure of covering him. Regardless of the outcome of the games, he was always there following the action to politely answer every question I had. Although most of the time it was to discuss big victories, there were many bitter defeats, but he maintained the same cordial demeanor regardless.

I also want to thank Jen for putting up with the instances I know I interrupted their family time with phone calls - one family road trip comes immediately to mind. Her patience was also greatly appreciated. I wish Coach Weidman and his family the best in the future.

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The Pioneer Gridblog Report - Final Edition

by Tom Condardo

North Reading Leftovers

The short-staffed Pioneers had no business being in this game. Yet there they were with 5:35 to go in the game, playing with a backup quarterback and backup running backs driving for what could have been the go-ahead touchdown.

"If we had gotten that in, we were definitely going for two," Pioneer head coach Neal Weidman told me after the game.

But then came the back-breaking, game-ending bad snap/fumble and North Reading turned what might have been a 21-20 Lynnfield lead into a 27-13 heart-breaking loss. But in defeat, this game told you more about this year's team than all the blowout wins over Newburyport, Amesbury, Winthrop, Manchester-Essex, and Bedford ever could: The 2017 Pioneers had heart and guts.

This 60th game between the rivals could have gotten ugly in a hurry and it looked like we were headed that way early. The explosive Hornets gashed the Pioneers on their first two drives gobbling up 134 of their 311 rushing yards and jumping out to a 14-0 lead.

But the Pioneer defense stiffened and held the Hornets offense to only one more TD. The Lynnfield defense, on the arms and legs of Matt Mortellite, then got in gear to cut the lead to 14-6 just before the quarterback's day ended on a spinning tackle right before the half.

But the resilient Pioneers kept at it. Junior Brett Cohee showed his mastery of the spread run game making the right reads and picking up 87 rushing yards including a 35 yard scamper that made it 20-13 after captain Nick Kinnon's PAT. With a quarter and a half to go, the Pioneers were in business.

However, it was not to be on this holiday morning, but it wasn't for lack of effort or determination.

Much of grit was the result of the stellar leadership of captains Kinnon, Cooper Marengi, Nathan Drislane, Harry Collins, and Anthony Murphy (whose absence in the game due to a broken leg suffered against Watertown was huge). Coupled with the loss of Mortellite for the second half and the loss of several other key players due to disciplinary reasons, and the Pioneers faced a mountain just too steep to climb.

"We have definitely had to deal with adversity all year," Drislane told me after the game. "It's been kind of a common theme. It was again today, especially when our quarterback went down. I'm proud of what we did today with so many things fighting against us."

"For all these young guys to step up in what we consider one of the biggest games of our career is huge," added Marengi. "We just told the guys to be confident in what they were doing. We told them they are in that position for a reason and we trust them to make the plays and they ended up doing pretty well."

"We did alright," Weidman summed up. "The kids we asked to hop in did a nice job and the kids that have been there all year really played hard. We were really close to pulling this one out."

Champs Again
Lost in the disappointment was the fact that 20 miles to the north, the Ipswich Tigers were in the process of helping to secure the Pioneers' sixth straight CAL championship. Ipswich upset Hamilton-Wenham 22-20 in overtime leaving the three teams in a tie with 3-1 league records.

"It wasn't really an up and down year," said Weidman. "Hamilton-Wenham outplayed us. That's the only game I can say was a real disappointment. But give credit to them. They outplayed us that day in every way and I would have like to see a little better performance that night but other than that we were right there. Watertown we played tough in some tough circumstances with the weather and then today we played through some tough circumstances as well but I can't complain. I really can't."

Deja Vu 
Thursday morning's game brought back some bad memories of the 2011 Thanksgiving game on the same field when another short-handed Pioneer squad fell to the Hornets 37-18. Like this year, the Pioneers went into the game without their starting running back. That year is was Mike Thomas who was out with a collarbone and outside linebacker/placekicker/backup quarterback Alex Roper.

And again like last week, they lost their quarterback to concussion symptoms in the second quarter when starter Mike Karavetsos took a hit to the head on a nine yard run. With Roper unavailable, Weidman was forced to jump start the career of Danny Sullivan.

The freshman, alternating with sophomore Matt Kramich, hung in there - all 5'6" 135 lbs of him - and picked up the first of his eventual 29 career TD passes. On the Pioneers' first play of the second half from their own 20, Sullivan reared back and drilled a perfect pass to a streaking Alex Pascucci who got behind the Hornet defense and raced all the way in for the score. It gave Lynnfield a short-lived 18-16 lead, but the depleted Pioneers couldn't hold off the Hornets' devastating running game.

Still Ahead
Despite the loss, the Pioneers still lead the series with the Hornets 35-25. They hold a 1013-824 scoring edge. It was the second loss in a row to North Reading, the only time the Pioneers have suffered consecutive losses to their rivals in the past 10 years.

Unlucky 13
It was only the second time this season the Pioneers have scored 13 points or less, the other being the seven they tallied against H-W and both resulted in losses. In the past ten years of the Weidman Era, the Pioneers are 2-15 in such games and five of those came in the coach's first season in 2008. The two wins both came against Ipswich, 13-7 in 2008 and 13-6 in in 2011.

Top Gun
The unceremonious end of Mortellite's day at Arthur Kenney Field brought to a conclusion a stellar career that puts him in the company of all time great Pioneer passers. Mortellite's two year career numbers puts him in the conversation with Danny Sullivan and Gino Cohee, two other elite passers of the past three decades.

Mortellite's 38 career touchdown passes shattered the previous mark of 30 set by Cohee from 2007 to 2010. His 21 TD passes last season tied him with Sullivan (2014) for the most in a single season. He also tied the record for most career two-point conversion passes with 10, a 45-year old record set by Steve Mucica from 1960-62.

Mortellite's 1,878 yards passing this year is the best ever for a single season since at least 1989 (and probably all time considering how offenses were run before the advent of the spread offense), topping Sullivan's 1,741 in 2014. Mortellite's 68.1% completion percentage this year is second only to Sullivan's 69.1% in 2013. Mortellite's two-year total of 3,609 yards is almost 700 yards more than Sullivan's second most 2,954 career total.

Mortellite's NFL passer rating this season was 128.8 a tenth of a point behind Sullivan's 128.98 in 2014. His two year passer rating was 118.1.

Not bad for someone who stepped into a brand new offense when he transferred in from Malden Catholic as a junior last year. He struggled in his first game against Newburyport throwing three interceptions and no TD's in the 32-12 loss. It would be the last game in which he ever played that he DIDN't throw a touchdown pass. He would go on to throw TD passes in 20 straight game culminating in the 24 yard beauty he tossed to Jason Ndansi in the second quarter Thursday morning. Even more impressive, after three picks in game one, he was intercepted only eight more times in the next 20 games.

Truly an outstanding career.

Catching a Record
Captain Nick Kinnon caught 7 TD passes this year and 8 last year to set a career touchdown reception mark of 15, edging Jon Knee who caught 14 in 2013-14. Kinnon also scored 68 points giving him 178 for his career placing him 6th on the all time scoring list. Captain Anthony Murphy finished with 108 career points good enough for 16th on the all time list.

Data Points
- The 60 year Lynnfield record now stands at 317-275-11, an all time winning percentage of .526,
- The 337 points the Pioneers scored this season placed them fifth on the all time single season points scored list. Seven of the top ten teams on the list are from the Weidman Era.
- The 188 points against - a 17.1 ppg average - places them 40th on the all time points allowed list.
- It was the 16th Pioneer team to reach at least eight wins in a season. Six of those have come in the last 10 years.

That's it from here. Congrats to the Pioneers for another great season.

The Pioneer Gridblog Report - Thanksgiving Edition

by Tom Condardo

The Big Game Preview

The Pioneers and Hornets will meet on Thanksgiving Day for the 59th time on Thursday (actually its the 58th time on the holiday and 60th time overall. I'll explain the discrepancy in a bit) and both teams are hankering for more than just turkey.

The Pioneers are coming off a devastating 38-34 loss to Watertown in the D5 North Final (and the Raiders went on to get smushed by Dennis Yarmouth 41-3 last Friday) while the Hornets suffered a one point loss to Melrose (who is going to be playing for the D4 State Championship a week from Saturday). North Reading followed that up with a 21-7 loss to a tough, 8-2 Wilmington team last week.

So combined the rivals are 0-3 coming into the big game.

It normally takes a while to shake off the affects of a playoff game loss which may have been the case with the Hornets. The Pioneers struggled in the first halves against Watertown in 2013 and Greater Lawrence last year before clearing the cobwebs and coming back for wins. The Pioneers need to avoid a first half letdown or they will find themselves in a deep hole to a strong Hornet team at Arthur Kenney Field in North Reading.

"Sometimes having a game to get it out of your system is better but we're not in that situation," Pioneer head coach Neal Weidman told me. "So we need to find a way to be ready to go."

North Reading Battle Tested
The Hornets come into the game with a 6-4 record, but that is very deceptive. Their four losses have come at the hands of Melrose, Wilmington, Hamilton-Wenham, and Lynn English, teams that currently sport a combined 36-4 record. They swept the CAL Kinney beating Masco, Newburyport, Pentucket and Triton to capture the league title for the second straight year.

"They played some tough teams," said Weidman. "They're physical and very sound defensively."

Offensively, they will look to run the ball, nothing unusual sine the Hornets have a TOTAL of 54 yards passing in the past five Thanksgiving Day games combined. They will unleash a stable of talented runners led by Jake Bedell who does most of the heavy lifting. Alex D'Ambrosio and Ryan Edison, will also get some carries.

Quarterback Kyle Bythrow, who returned for the Melrose playoff game after missing five games in the middle of the season, is also a dangerous runner. He will also throw the ball as he did last year picking up 58 yards and a touchdown in the Hornets' 21-20 win in Lynnfield.

Pioneers Feature Dangerous Offense
The Pioneers will have to overcome the loss of leading rusher and starting inside linebacker captain Anthony Murphy, who suffered a broken leg against Watertown. Murphy (535 yards, 4.9 yards per carry, 10 touchdowns) was the thunder to Tyler Murphy's lighting (469 yards, 10 TD's), giving the Pioneers a change of pace one-two punch.

Tyler Murphy and quarterback Matt Mortellite (358 yards rushing, 5 TD's) will have to pick up the slack in the running game. But with the forecast calling for a clear day, look for Mortellite and the Pioneers' combustible receiving corps to fill the North Reading sky with footballs tomorrow morning.

Mortellite has passes for 1,778 yards and 16 TD's this year as he keeps adding to his career TD passes record which now stands at 37. He has plenty of targets in captain Nick Kinnon (698 yards, 7 TD's), Jason Ndansi (337 yards and 4 TD's), and Peter Look (402 yards, 2 TDs). Murphy is also dangerous out of the backfield with 113 yards and a TD.

Common Opponents
The Pioneers and Hornets have only three common opponents this year. Both beat Newburyport: the Hornets 32-14, the Pioneers twice 32-0 and 26-7. Both beat Wayland, NR 17-14 and the Pioneers 28-26 in OT. Both lost to Hamilton Wenham, NR 28-14 and the Pioneers 35-7.

The game should be evenly matched and offer a delectable appetizer for everyone's Thanksgiving Dinner to come.

What's the Number?
So earlier I noted that this is officially the 59th Thanksgiving Day game. However, the 1989 game was actually played on the Saturday following Thanksgiving due to a snowstorm. It was also the day then Pioneer head coach Bill Adams was getting married so he had to hightail it from North Reading to get to his wedding.

Unfortunately, the Hornets were killjoys scoring two fourth quarter touchdowns to erase a 14-13 Lynnfield lead to upend the Pioneers 28-14.

And this will be the 60th meeting between the schools, but the first game was played the last week of October in 1958 so is not officially recognized, which has always been a pet peeve of mine. Officially the Pioneers lead the series 35-23, but the Hornet won that first game 26-12 so Lynnfield really holds a 35-24 edge.

Let There Be Light
This will be the one and only day game the Pioneers will play all season. They haven't played in daylight since last Thanksgiving. Since Pioneer Stadium's opening in 2014, the Pioneers have played 39 total games, only eight in the daytime. The Pioneers are 5-3 in those games with the only losses coming to Holliston 26-0 in 2014, Pentucket 28-27 in 2015 and North Reading 21-20 last year.

My Top Five Thanksgiving Day Games
Tomorrow I will be covering my 42nd Lynnfield/North Reading game. Yikes. My first came in 1976 when I was a cub reporter/advertising sales/paper delivery person for the North Reading Transcript, fresh out of Suffolk University with my brand new journalism degree.

Back in the day, the games usually ended up as mudfests as the Middle School and Arthur Kenney Field melted as the temps rose through the morning.

There were plenty of exciting Thanksgiving Day games before I came on the scene - the 1960 classic between two undefeated powerhouses is probably the all time number one - but this list is made up of only games I have witnessed personally.


So as we get ready for the 60th meeting between the Chestnut Street Rivals, it's time to fire up the LHS Football Wayback Machine. Here in reverse order is my personal Top Five Most Exciting North Reading-Lynnfield games.

Number 5: 2002 - Stung at the Buzzer 13-12

The excitement for the 2002 game started when Mother Nature dumped an early season snow storm just before Thanksgiving. The DPW along with the football team and other volunteers worked all day Wednesday to clear the field for the holiday morning game.

Their efforts were not in vain as the large crowd that turned out at the Middle School field were treated to a real nailbiter.

The Hornets were running a double wing in 2002 and they took the opening kick and drove 78 yards over the snow covered field to take a 6-0 lead. Jamie Solomon and Chris Bryant helped the Pioneers get in gear late in the first half. Quarterback Mike Parizale connected with Andy Poor and Jared Polansky to get the Pioneers to the NR three yard line. But the Hornets stuffed Polansky at the one to preserve their 6-0 lead.

The Pioneers broke through on the opening drive of the second half when Chris Stivers took a reverse handoff and sprinted 53 yards for the score. The PAT try was wide but the score was now tied at 6-6.

Lynnfield took the lead in the fourth quarter on a clock eating drive capped by a six yard Bryant run to give the Pioneers a 12-6 lead with three minutes to play.

The Hornets began their final drive at their own 39 and methodically moved down the field. They got to the Lynnfield two yard line with 20 seconds left. Quarterback Steve Labo took the snap, tried to find a receiver, could not, tucked it under his arm and plowed into the endzone for what appeared to be the tying touchdown. However, the Hornets were flagged for illegal motion which nullified the score and pushed them back to the seven yard line with seven seconds left in the game.

The final play of the game was one of the most bizarre in North Reading-Lynnfield history. Labo took the snap and handed off to John Murphy who was immediately grabbed by Matt Talis for what appeared to be the game winning tackle.

In desperation, Murphy shoveled the ball to Labo who was just standing at the three yard line watching Murphy getting stopped. Finding the ball in his hands, he turned and stumbled into the endzone with no time remaining to tie the score. Labo then drilled the extra point for the 13-12 win over the stunned Pioneers.

Number 4: 1981 - Another Stunning Comeback Defeat 20-15

The Pioneers were heavily favored in this one, coming into the game 6-3 to North Reading's 3-6. The game was billed as a defensive struggle, but the Hornets came out fired up and scored first. Mark Tremblay bulled in from the two and Brian Jones added the PAT and NR led 7-0.

The Hornets made it 14-0 midway in the second when Les Montford hit Jeff Hull with a ten yard scoring strike. The Pioneers got on the board late in the half when Andy Nekoroski plowed in from the two yard line. Nekoroski added the two point conversion and Lynnfield trailed 14-8 at the half.

The Pioneers appeared to right the ship with under three minutes to play when quarterback Scott Sanborn tossed a screen pass to Nekoroski who zigged and zagged his way to a 62 yard touchdown. Joe Krieger added the PAT to take a 15-14 lead with only 2:57 left in the game.

But the Hornets were not done. Billy Germano returned the kick to the 38 and a late hit call on the Pioneers gave NR the ball at midfield. On the next play, Montford found David Lee down the right sideline for a 51 yard strike to get the Hornets to the Lynnfield two yard line. Two plays later, Montford slashed into the endzone for the score. Jones missed the PAT but the Hornets led 20-15 with less than a minute to play.

The Pioneers did not quit. Sanborn hit Jeff Perkins for 28 yards and a head slap penalty on the Hornets moved the ball to the NR 29 yard line with less than 30 seconds to play. But the Pioneers could get no further and Sanborn was sacked on the final play of the game to seal the Hornet victory.

Number 3: 2000 - Veinot leads the way 29-23

This was one of the highest scoring Lynnfield-North Reading games and get my vote as the second mod exciting in the past 35 years.

Tailback Danny Veinot was the story in this one as the outstanding runner finished with 277 yards and scored all four Lynnfield touchdowns and 27 of the Pioneers' 29 points.

Veinot got the Pioneers on the board on their first drive with a four yard run. He booted the PAT and Lynnfield led 7-0. The Hornets answered when quarterback Tom Tone hit A. J. Richardson for a 43 yard TD to tie the score at 7-7.

On the first play following the NR touchdown, Veinot responded with a 63 yard run and PAT to give the Pioneers the lead at 14-7.

The Pioneers appeared to be taking control but quarterback Jimmy Motzkin turned an ankle and had to leave the game. But Veinot was hitting on all cylinders and scooted 38 yards for another TD. Backup QB Mike Parziale hit Brian McBride with the two point conversion and the Pioneers appeared to be in control 22-7.

The Pioneers cut into the lead when Tone his Matt Cecchini for a 22 yard TD pass to make it 22-13 at the half. The Hornets then began to stop the Pioneer offense and crept closer in the third when Drew Canan scored from the three to make it 22-20.

The Hornets were driving again, but Veinot went to work on the other side of the ball and picked off a Tone pass to end the threat. At this point, Motzkin reentered the game and seemed to energize the Pioneers.

Motzkin hit Drew Barraford and McBride on consecutive passes to get the Pioneers to the NR 14 yard line. Veinot took it in from there to give the Pioneers some breathing room at 29-20.

The Hornets nailed a field goal on their next possession to make it 29-23. But the Hornets would not go away quietly. They got the ball back with 1:57 left in the game and marched to the Pioneer 21 yard line. On fourth down, with 23 second left, Tone attempted one last pass into the endzone. It was picked off by...guess who...Dan Veinot to preserve the win.

Number 2: 1980 - For All the Marbles 7-6

This was the most exciting Pioneer-Hornet game I have witnessed not only because of the play on the field, but also because of the stakes involved.

The Hornets came into the game as the two time defending CAL Champs with a 7-1 league record (8-1 overall). The Pioneers were 6-1-1 in the CAL and 6-2-1 overall. If they beat the Hornets and Amesbury could knock off Newburyport, the Pioneers would take the crown.

So this was in affect a CAL championship game.

The two teams battled through a scoreless tie as the day started cold then warmed up turning the Middle School field into a quagmire. With 1:14 left in the game, Andy Nekoroski plowed in from the three to give the Pioneers a 6-0 lead.

Playing like the champs they were, the Hornets came back. Warren McNeill hit Jeff Hull on two post patterns to get the ball to the Lynnfield three yard line. With only 23 seconds to play in the game, Billy Welch bulled in from the one to tie the score. Marco Vittozzi nailed the PAT to seal the win and sew up a third straight CAL Championship for the Hornets.

If it makes anyone feel better, the Clippers beat Amesbury 26-6 so even if the Pioneers had held on, they would not have earned a piece of the title.

Number 1: 2012 - Playoff Bound 14-7
This was the final year before the current playoff format was adopted and getting to the post season was a lot more difficult. The only way to earn a shot at the Super Bowl was to win your league title. The Pioneers (7-2) and Hornets (8-1) faced off at the Middle School field in a battle for the league championship. The winner would move on to the Super Bowl semi-finals and the loser would go have some turkey dinner.

The game was billed as a battle of contrasting styles with the Pioneers "sideline to sideline, spread 'em and shred 'em" attack vs. the Hornets "toe-to-toe, pack 'em in, throwback single wing" ground game.

The Pioneers came out on top in both style and substance. They held the dangerous single wing and super back Carl Lipani to only 145 total yards. The Lynnfield Spread meanwhile exploded for 319 total yards, 275 of it on the ground led by junior Kyle McGah.

McGah carried four times for 55 yards on a 63 yard Pioneer scoring drive late in the opening quarter including the final nine for his 13th TD of the year. Alex Roper nailed the PAT and the Pioneers led 7-0.

The Hornets knotted the score midway in the second with Lipani edging into the endzone to make it 7-7.

Midway in the third quarter, captain quarterback Mike Karavetsos broke loose for a 65 yard run to the eight yard line. Three plays later he bootlegged around the right side for a five yard TD that turned out to be a the winning score.

The Hornets answered by marching to the Lynnfield 30, but on fourth and three, Anthony Costa knifed through and cut down Lipani short of the first down. North Reading would not threaten again.

The Pioneers went on to defeat Amesbury for the second time, this one in a playoff at Lowell's Cawley Stadium, earning them a trip to the Super Bowl against Bishop Feehan.

So there it is. My top five.

Who knows. Maybe 2017 can crack the list on Thursday.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The Pioneer Gridblog Report Week 10

by Tom Condardo

Watertown Leftovers

Well now we know how the Atlanta Falcons fans felt last February. Just as they thought a 28-3 lead with a quarter and a half to play was enough to get them a Lombardi Trophy, most Pioneer fans believed a 34-24 lead with 2:55 to play was enough for the Pioneers to punch their ticket to the Division 5 State Semi-finals.

But just as someone forget to tell the Patriots the game was over, Watertown was just as forgetful, pulling out a dramatic, heartbreaking 38-34 win with 11 seconds to play.

Instead of folding after Tyler Murphy galloped in for a 29 yard touchdown, the Raiders went to work. They moved quickly going 56 yards in eight plays in just over a minute and a half. Nick McDermott hit big John Korte with a six yard TD pass and the lead was cut to 34-31 with 1:15 to play.

"We just couldn't make them use enough time on the drive," head coach Neal Weidman told me after the game.

Watertown still needed to get the ball back and they did so by executing a perfect onside kick. Conor "Superfoot" Kennelly bounced it to the left side where Korte came down with it right on the 50 yard line. An inch less and the play would have been called back, but every break seemed to be going Watertown's way at this point.

"They got a perfect hop and it hopped up to a 6' 5" kid," said Weidman.

After two McDermott incompletions, the Raiders faced a 3rd and 10 from the 50. They converted on a backbreaking completion from McDermott to Kennelly to the 13 yard line. Kennelly pulled down the pass with Peter Look draped all over him. He couldn't have defended it any better but the 6'1" Kennelly took advantage of a couple of inch height advantage to make an incredible catch.

Two plays later McDermott swept in from the six for the winning score.

The Watertown comeback should not have come as a surprise. It was the third straight playoff game on the road that they have crawled out of the grave to pull out a win. In the opening round, they overcame 21-7 Swampscott lead in the first half and a 27-24 lead at the end of three quarters. But McDermott hit Korte on an 86 yard bomb with just over five minutes to play to win 31-27.

They cut it closer the following week when McDermott hit Kennelly for a 26 yard TD pass with 12 seconds to play to upend Somerville 21-20. Then came the 11 second stake in the heart of the Pioneers.

Something tells me Dennis-Yarmouth may want to pay attention Friday night, especially if they have a lead on the Raiders late in the game.

And also, now that you have some empathy for the Falcon Faithful, you may want to think twice before pulling on one of those 28-3 tee shirts,.

Long Distance
Watertown's Kennelly has a big foot, but Raider coach John Cacace may have been pushing it when he had the senior attempt a 48 yard field goal midway in the fourth period. Kennelly had earlier boomed a 37 yarder easily into the win at the school side of the field and this one was with the wind at his back. The ball landed in the end zone to the left of the goal post and the Pioneers still led 28-24.

Rare Occurence
Friday night was only the third time in school history the Pioneers failed to win when scoring 34 or more points. Going into the game, their record when scoring 34 or more was 76-2. The only losses came on Thanksgiving Day 2011 and in 2013 against Danvers both by the score of 42-35.

It was so cold....
So how cold was it? It was 27 degrees at kickoff with a howling wind from the north making it feel like single digits.

I've covered over 400 high school football games and I can count on both hands the number of games I've done from the press box. I prefer to be on the sideline because a) I have to take photos for the Villager and b) I always felt I got a much better feel for the game, listening to the players, coaches, and referees interact.

For example, in the Newburyport playoff game, the Clipper score was widely reported as a touchdown by quarterback Owen Bradbury who appeared to sneak into the end zone. That wasn't the case. Bradbury fumbled at the goal line and a scramble ensued with Newburyport's Thomas Murphy recovering it in the end zone.

The only way I know that was because I was standing on the goal line, saw the action and realized something was up. When the official trotted over to the sideline for the extra point, I asked him if it was a fumble. He answered "Yep it was a fumble and #10 recovered it in the end zone."

Anyway, I prefer to be down where the action is and that was my plan Friday night. So I underarmoured up, heavy winter coat, couple of fleeces and assumed my regular post on the sideline. Unfortunately, I neglected to take into account that my trusty Bic 4 Color pen contains ink made mostly of water.....so at 27 degrees, guess what? Ink freezes. So as the first half wore on, my pen began to malfunction. So at halftime, I had to hightail it up to the heated press box so I could chart the second half.

In terms of cold games, the only ones I can remember that came close was the division championship game in Winthrop in 2014 but according to the Weather Underground web site, it was only 34 degrees that night.

But the coldest was probably Thanksgiving Day 2002. Lynnfield was hit with four inches of heavy wet snow the day before and a frigid cold front came in right behind it. The Middle School Field was a frozen tundra ringed with snowbanks and the game time temperature was 25. The difference, however, was that the temperature rose throughout the game to about 30 by the end and the game was played in sunshine. Friday night the temp dropped throughout the game landing at around 23 by the bitter end.

Ironically, that 2002 game also resulted in a stunning, last second Pioneer defeat. With 20 seconds left in the game, the Pioneers led 12-6. But the Hornets had the ball on the Lynnfield two yard line. NR quarterback Steve Labo took the snap from center, looked to pass, found no receiver, tucked the ball under his arm and spun into the end zone for what appeared to be the game tying touchdown.

Fortunately for the Pioneers, a motion penalty on North Reading wiped out the score and pushed the ball back to the Lynnfield seven yard line with seven seconds left on the clock. On the game's final play, Labo handed off to Hornet running back John Murphy who was quickly grabbed by Matt Talis behind the line of scrimmage.

Bottled up by Talis, Murphy shoveled the ball forward to Labo who was standing at the three yard line where he gathered it in and stumbled into the end zone to tie the score with all zeroes showing on the clock. Labo calmly booted the extra point as the frozen Pioneer faithful watched in stunned disbelief at a victory that got away.

The good news? Early forecasts for next Thursday calls for a partly sunny morning with temps in the upper 30's.

The Pioneer Gridblog Report Week 9

by Tom Condardo

Newburyport Leftovers, Watertown D5N Final Preview

Newburyport Leftovers
Keepaway was always a fun game to play when you were a kid. Two or more players would pass around a ball while another player in the middle would try to intercept it. Lots of fun except for the poor kid in the middle who could never get his or her hands on the ball.

Lynnfield opponents try to play a similar game when they face the Pioneers, figuring the best way to stop Lynnfield's high octane offense is to prevent them from getting the ball. It's a classic football approach to teams that can seemingly score at will.

When I mentioned that it seemed like keepaway was Newburyport's plan in last Friday's game, Pioneer head coach Neal Weidman responded, "I think that's a lot of teams' plans."

And for the most part, opponents have been successful at it. The "keeping away" part. Turning that into wins? Not so much.

For the season, Pioneer opponents have held the ball for 228 minutes to only 167 for Lynnfield. That's a 62 minute difference - equivalent to almost six full quarters of time of possession (TOP) advantage for Pioneer foes. There have been only two games this season where the Lynnfield has won the TOP battle: Amesbury (24:48-19:12) and Bedford (24:27-19:33).

The extended possession time hasn't translated into points or wins, however. That has a lot to do with what the teams have done with the ball when they have it. The Pioneers have scored 290 points or an average of one point for every 35 seconds of game time they have had the ball. On the other hand, it has taken Lynnfield opponents 112 seconds of game time for every point they have scored.

In Friday night's game, that ratio worked out just about perfectly for the Pioneers as they scored 26 points in 14 minutes of game time - one point every 32 seconds. That included the incredible end of first half in which the Pioneers raced 80 yards in 1:29 to score the go ahead TD with no time on the clock. That effort worked out to one point every 15 seconds.

For the night, the Pioneers had scoring drives of 4:26, 1:29, 0:15, and 0:06.

On their lone touchdown, the math worked out perfectly for Newburyport as well they consumed 13 minutes of clock and came away with 7 points, a point for every 111 seconds. Things didn't work out as well for the game in total. Despite holding the ball for more than twice as long as the Pioneers (29:56-14:04), they managed only that lone score. Their overall time to points ratio was one point for every 257 seconds of possession.

The moral of the story? It's not how long you hold the ball, it's what you do with it while you have it.

Conversion Time
One of the reasons the Clippers were able to control the clock, especially in the first half, was their ability to convert on third and especially fourth down. Newburyport was only 5 for 13 on third down but they were a backbreaking 4 for 5 on fourth down. The Pioneers were 4 for 7 on third down and 1 for 2 on fourth down.

Air Tight (Addendum)
All year I've been touting the stellar work of the Pioneer's defensive backs in shutting down opposing air attacks. I've neglected to give a little love to the defense's next level - the linebacking corps of captains Cooper Marengi and Anthony Murphy, Jack Razzaboni, Leo Quinn, and Hunter Allain,

That group stepped to the front again Friday accounting for both Pioneer interceptions. Marengi's pick halted a Clipper drive in the fourth quarter. Razzaboni made an athletic play midway in the final quarter not only blocking Owen Bradbury's pass at the Clipper 10 yard line but picking it off before it hit the ground. That set up Tyler Murphy's 10 yard score on the next play.

The bottom line is the entire defense is working together to make throwing the ball against the Pioneers' difficult. They are going to have to go to another level Friday against pass-happy Watertown, but more on that later.

Leading Man
The Pioneers picked up 242 yards of total offense, 175 of it passing. They managed only 67 yards on the ground. The Pioneers leading rusher? Junior Jaret Simpson with 26 yards on four carries, a solid 6.5 per carry average. Although all of it came on the Pioneers's final drive as time was running out, the lack of a Clipper bench meant he was still running against some Newburyport regulars.

Reversing the Curse
Although many (okay me) obsess over the Clippers dominance over the Pioneers over the years, the fact is Lynnfield has now beaten Newburyport in five of their last six meetings. That includes twice this year by a combined score of 58-7.

Happy Returns
Captain Nick Kinnon's TD kickoff return was the first for the Pioneers since 2015 when he did it against Manchester-Essex in game five. The last time someone did the trick at home was by Cam Rondeau in 2014, also against M/E. It was the 28th kickoff return for a touchdown in school history. The career record is 3 held by Matt Kramich (2012-13) and Shawn Egerton (1994-95).

Watertown D5N Final Preview
The Pioneers face their toughest test of the year Friday night when they host the powerful Watertown Raiders. That's the way it should be when you're playing for the Division Five North Championship and the right to move on to the state semi-finals.

The Raiders come in flying after impressive come-from-behind road wins over Swampscott and Somerville in the first two rounds of the playoffs.

Raider coach John Cacace is playing up his sixth seeded squad as an overachieving, underdog Cinderella team but that is so much locker room, pep talk balderdash. He was even quoted in the local paper as Watertown being the "smallest school in the division."

Anyone paying attention realizes that Watertown is always one of the top two or three teams in the division. And - Fake News Alert - they are the fifth LARGEST school in the division with 352 boys grades 9 through 12. The Pioneers with 320 are the smallest.

The only reason the Raiders fell to sixth place in the playoff rankings is because of their brutal schedule. They play in the tough Middlesex League made up of mostly strong D4 schools.

They finished the regular season 3-4 but their four losses were against Melrose 28-14 (playing in the D4 Finals), Wilmington 32-17 (lost in the D4 semi-finals), Stoneham 27-23 (playing in the D6 Finals) and Wakefield 21-14 (didn't make the D4 playoffs, sorry Tom Waisnor). The Raiders's three wins came against Arlington Catholic 50-28 (lost in the D6 semi-finals), Plymouth South 48-29 (didn't make D4 playoffs) and Burlington 35-20 (didn't make the D4 playoffs).

So coming into the playoffs, they were as battled tested as any team in the division and it has showed. In round one, they trailed third seeded Swampscott 21-7 early, then cut the lead to 21-17 before halftime with a TD and 25 yard field goal in the final 39 seconds of the second quarter. The Raiders took a 24-21 lead late in the third quarter but the Big Blue jumped back out front 27-24 at the end of three. Watertown took the lead for good midway in the fourth to advance with a 31-27 win.

Last week against Somerville, dressing only 27 players, the Raiders took a 14-0 lead in the first quarter only to see the Highlanders score twice to knot the game 14-14 at halftime. With less then four minutes to go in the game, Somerville scored to take a 20-14 lead. They missed the PAT which would prove fatal.

The Raiders moved down field and with 12 seconds left, quarterback Nick McDermott found Conor Kennelly with a 26 yard TD pass. Kennelly then kicked the PAT for the 21-20 win, punching their ticket for a trip to Lynnfield for the division championship.

Watertown may have a thin roster, but they are heavy with talent. McDermott is a gifted passer and runner and will be the best QB the Pioneers have faced all season. He has two superb targets in big John Korte (6'3, 200 lbs) and Kennelly. They also can do serious damage on the ground with Mange Camara who ran for 104 yards against Somerville, and Matt Muldrew.

"Watertown looks like Watertown," Weidman told me. "They're the same tough team. They grind."

This will be the third game in five years between the schools. Their first every meeting came in 2013 after both squads were bounced in the division semi-finals. The Pioneers shook off a sleepy first half to climb out of a 14-0 hole and win a thriller 21-20.

Two years later, the teams met in the opening round in Lynnfield and the Raiders upset the Pioneers 25-17. That is the only loss in seven playoff games for Lynnfield at Pioneer Stadium.

The forecast for Friday night is brutal, below freezing cold with winds approaching 20 mph. So despite the fact that both teams love to throw, this one could come down to a ground battle.

Game time at frigid Pioneer Stadium is 7 pm. Dress warm.