The 1973 CAL Champion Pioneers: Poking the Eye of the Tiger

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the first Pioneer team to play in the Cape Ann League, I am taking a week by week look back at the 1973 season.

Wayback Wednesday: The 1973
CAL Champion Pioneers

October 3, 1973 - In a season of firsts, the Pioneers notched another one in Ipswich when they earned their first road win in the CAL in a bare knuckle brawl with the Tigers.

The hard hitting contests resulted in 10 total turnovers, four for Lynnfield and six for Ipswich, and resulted in the loss of two key Pioneers due to injury.

Once again it was the Pioneer defense that got things going. Lynnfield recovered an Ipswich fumble at midfield and the Pioneers quickly took advantage. On first down, quarterback Steve Olsen connected with Lindsey Ross on a 47 yard TD pass, according to the account by Steve Farrar in the Wakefield Item. The Villager's Geof Simons reported that Alan Harrington came on to attempt the extra point but there was a miscue on the snap and the ball ended up in Olsen's hands. After a quick scramble, he hit Ross in the endzone and the Pioneers led 8-0.

The Tigers answered right back on their next possession on a four play scoring drive capped by a 40 yard TD run by Dave Player. Ipswich tried a run for the two point conversion but the Pioneer defense stuffed the play and held on to an 8-6 lead until halftime.

The Tigers took the lead in the third quarter on a Peter Amaro to Jack Palis 18 yard touchdown pass. Once again, Ipswich tried to run in the conversion but again the Pioneer defense held to keep the deficit to 12-8. As Simons said in his report, "the defense on these rush attempts proved to be the key to the victory."

The Pioneers took the lead for good early in the fourth quarter on a score set up by special teams. This time it was Ross, who returned three kicks for 95 yards, who did the damage returning a punt from the Lynnfield 25 to the Tiger 37 yard line.

Olsen hit Larry Mitkus for a first down at the 15 and then carried it himself to the three yard line "behind Jeff Silva, John Callahan and John Imbrescia" according to Farrar's report. Brian Rea than bulldozed to the one foot line and Olsen snuck it in for the go head score.

Harrington came on to boot the extra point and the Pioneers led 15-12 with over six minutes to play.

"The last four minutes was like watching all-star football," head coach Bill Rodan told Simons.

Ipswich had two drives left to try and take the lead but Brian McMahon snuffed out the first one with a fumble recovery and in the closing minutes, Harrington intercepted a pass to seal the victory.

The win was costly as the Pioneers lost Gary Wolfe for the season with a serious leg injury and would be without Dave DiFillipo for several games with a shoulder injury.

Olsen threw for 81 yards, 76 of those to Ross, and Rea did most of the heavy load running the ball.

The win lifted the Pioneers to 2-0 in their new league, the first time Lynnfield started the season 2-0 since 1963 when the Pioneers defeated Weston and Westwood in their first two contests.

Next: The Pioneers host winless Masconomet

1973 Flashback

In a controversial decision, the Planning Board approved a nine house Todd Lane subdivision off Summer Street. Many area residents were in opposition citing "increased congestion on an already busy street that will result from added housing." They were also concerned because of the subdivision's proximity to the Summer Street School, noting that the new street would be almost directly opposite the entrance to the school.

If you wanted to enjoy entertainment at home, you could always run down to Grant City in North Reading and pick up a new "big screen portable color TV."

"Big Value! Big 18" diagonally measured screen!" The set featured "twin antenna's and a handle" for only $278.

If you played on or were involved with the 1973 Pioneers and would like to share a memory, please pass it on to me at tcondardo@gmail.com.

  

Around the CAL/NEC 4: Week 4

Well the Pioneers may have had the week off, but the rest of the league was in action all in non-league games. But first, let's take a look at the updated standings.

The North Reading Single Wing Express continues to roll, cementing their place as league front runner. Last Saturday the Hornets travelled just a few miles south to Reading to take on Austin Prep, and if you just caught the final score of 12-0, you would think that NR struggled with the 1-3 Cougars.

Not so much.

The Hornet offense was in high gear as usual, rolling for 326 total yards, 284 of those on the ground. Tailback Carl Lipani led the way as usual with a pair of touchdowns and 220 yards rushing. The game was never really in doubt as the potent Hornet offense had 60 offensive plays in the game. Then why only a two score win?

"Penalties and a turnovers killed three drives and time ran out on us killing a fourth drive before the half," explained North Reading Offensive Coordinator Ed Melanson. "We had to settle for a field goal attempt with one second to go and it fell a little short. We also let the clock run out to end the game when we were at the three yard line going in."

Despite the win, Melanson is still not fully satisfied with his offense.

"I'm not making excuses, they played tough," Melanson said. "We're trying to clean things up but it seems that when we put together long drives we shoot ourselves in the foot too often. The game never felt in doubt but allowing any team to hang around because of miscues is never a good thing. The defense again came up huge as Austin Prep never really threatened."

That could be the thing that should concern CAL/NEC 4 opponents. As dangerous as the offense is, the Hornet defense looks to be just as good. They are allowing only 9.0 points per game and they have been playing without their defensive leader in Mike Moscaritolo. The two way starter has been out since preseason and is expected back in two weeks.

"He's kind of the Lipani of the defense, so it will be nice to get him back for the league schedule," Melanson said.

File that one under "the rich get richer" department.

The Hornets will get perhaps their biggest challenge Friday night in one of the most interesting games of the week. If you like seeing good running backs, take a trip over to North Reading when the Hornets host Pentucket. You will get to see two of the premier backs on the North Shore, and maybe Eastern Mass in Lipani and the Sachems' Cody Rothwell.

The outstanding tailbacks are ranked five and six in Division 3A scoring as Lipani has nine TD's and Rothwell is right behind him with seven. That pair should burn up the Fieldturf at Arthur Kenney Field.

"Pentucket is very, very good," said Melanson. "A little undersized but extremely quick and have been on a roll. Cody Rothwell is as good a running back as I've seen this year and their defense flies around and hits. I really believe this game will tell us just how good we are."

Defending league champion Hamilton-Wenham ran into a speed bump in Amesbury Saturday, as the Indians' running game rolled through the Generals for over 300 yards in a 37-24 win. Amesbury trailed by a touchdown twice in the first half before exploding to pull away from the visitors.

Despite the loss, the Generals again showed their impressive passing game as Trevor Lyons was 18 for 31 for 309 yards and a pair of TD's.  He also ran for 53 yards. Lyons and 6'3" receiver Jimmy Campbell connected for their third TD of the year to open the scoring, but the Indians came back to tie it at 8-8. Lyons found Christian Ecker for a 10 yard scoring strike to put the Generals up 16-8 but Amesbury again knotted the score on a Matt Talbot to Pat Scanlon 22 yard TD.

The Indians took over from there scoring late in the first half to go up 22-16 and again in the third to take a 30-16 lead. Lyons cut the lead to 30-24, on a 68 yard pass to freshman Cameron Macri, but Perry Mroz iced it for the Indians with a 15 yard run late in the game to account for the 37-24 final.

The Generals will be looking to avoid falling below .500 when they travel to Peabody Friday night to take on Bishop Fenwick in another interesting game featuring two dynamic players in Lyons and Crusader tailback Rufus Rushins.

Manchester-Essex finally broke into the win column with a dramatic come-from-behind 21-20 win over Pope John of Everett at Chelsea Memorial Stadium.

Pope John took an early lead on a 94 yard run but the Hornets cut the lead to 8-7 on a Cory Burnham 11 yard run. The Tigers increased the lead to 14-7 in the second quarter but another Burnham run, this one from 17 yards out tied it at 14-14. Pope John answered right back on a long drive to score just before the half to make it 20-14 at the break.

The two teams battled a sloppy field for a period and a half with neither squad able to get into the endzone. The Hornets' Mike Davis recovered a fumble on the PJ 21 yard line with just over four minutes to play, giving M/E the break they needed. But they turned it right back over and it appeared their hopes for a victory slipped away along with the fumble.

But the Hornets forced Pope John to punt and they got the ball back on the Tiger 21 yard line. Burnham then found John Beardsley with the TD pass that tied the score and Beardsley nailed the PAT to put them up 21-20 with a minute and a half to play.

The Tigers threatened late, but the Hornet defense held to nail down win number one.

The Hornets hope to continue their winning ways when they host Austin Prep this Friday.

Georgetown continues to score but still lost their third in a row, this one 32-20 to Bishop Fenwick. Of more concern to the Royals is an injury suffered by quarterback Niko Edwards, the driving force behind the revived Georgetown offense. The senior signal caller, who had over 400 yards passing and 5 TD passes on the year, apparently suffered a knee injury and was helped off the field and taken to the hospital for tests. His loss would be a big blow to the Royals, who have already surpassed last year's point total.

The Royals took a 20-6 lead on two TD passes by Edwards, one to Thomas Zargaj and another to Colby Ingraham, and a four yard run by the quarterback. But after that, it was pretty much all Crusaders. BF cut the lead to 20-14 with no time left on the clock in the first half and exploded for three unanswered scores in the second half to win going away. Meanwhile the Crusader defense shut down Georgetown completely in the second half to cement the win.

The Royals have another tough one this week when they travel to Saugus to take on the 3-1 Sachems.

Ipswich fell to 1-3 with a hard fought 14-0 loss to Pentucket at Jack Welch Field. The Tigers got a healthy dose of Rothwell who ran for 130 yards and both Sachem touchdowns. He also had a pair of interceptions.

The Tigers contained Rothwell and Pentucket for most of the first half but the standout back broke a 70 yard TD run late in the first half to break the scoreless tie. He added his second score on a two yard blast in the third quarter. The Ipswich offense could never solve the Sachem defense in the loss.

The Tigers host Amesbury this weekend.

That's it for now. Check back Wednesday for my next installment of the 1973 Pioneers.