THE PIONEER defense, including the pictured Walter Radulski (No. 72), Iain McCarthy (No. 7) and Alex Fleming (No. 62) was swarming in their shutout victory over Ipswich last week. The Pioneers will host Amesbury this Friday night at 6:30 p.m. for the home-opener. (File Photo)
After press time:
Lynnfield defeats Amesbury 28-12 (Oct. 4)
By JAMES CRANNEY
IPSWICH — “I felt coming off the bus we needed something to get the guys awake,” commented Lynnfield head coach Pat Lamusta going into last Friday night’s game against 0-2 Ipswich.
Going on the road for the third week in a row, the 1-1 Pioneers got everyone’s attention when they began the game with a surprise onside kick. While the attempt was recovered by Ipswich, it certainly accomplished the goal of waking up the Lynnfield players on their way to a dominant 42-0 win.
The Tigers began their first offensive possession at their own 48-yard line. Running their traditional Wing-T offense, Ipswich was able to pick up one first down that drive. It would be their last first down for the foreseeable future.
After a swarm of white jerseys engulfed Tiger quarterback Vin Winter on a 4th down stop, the lively Pioneer offense took the field ready to attack.
Senior captain and quarterback Tyler Adamo (10-11, 223 passing yards, 3 passing touchdowns) led Lynnfield down the field with passes to senior receiver Madux Iovinelli (4 catches, 122 yards, 1 touchdown) and junior receiver Dan Lemieux (3 catches, 42 yards).
MADUX IOVINELLI racked up 122 yards and a TD on 4 catches in Lynnfield’s win over Ipswich on Friday. (File Photo)
Once at the Ipswich 2-yard line, the Pioneer offensive line opened a hole for senior captain Jared Bernabei (6 carries, 50 rushing yards, 2 rushing touchdowns) who barreled his way over the goal line. Following the 2-yard touchdown run, senior kicker Massimo LoGrasso’s (6/6 PAT’s) successful extra point attempt gave Lynnfield a 7-0 lead.
The Pioneers’ suffocating defense came back onto the field and continued to deny Ipswich’s rushing attack. After the three-and-out, Lynnfield’s offense returned to the field and continued their dominance.
On just the second play of the drive, Adamo placed a 45-yard bomb right into the bread basket of senior captain Jesse Dorman (4 catches, 90 receiving yards, 2 receiving touchdowns) who waltzed into the end zone untouched.
Lynnfield was in the driver’s seat up 14-0, and was far from finished.
After forcing another three-and-out on defense, the Pioneer offense returned for another helping of points. They needed two plays to score on the previous drive. This time, it took three plays. Proceeding a 15-yard pass to Iovinelli, Adamo threw a quick pass in space to Dorman. The receiver made one miss then took it to the house for a 9-yard score.
“We’re very blessed with athletic players,” stated coach Lamusta on his offense’s performance against the Tigers. “Madux [Iovinelli] will find grass, Daniel Lemieux will find open grass, Jared Bernabei at running back will find open grass, Spencer D’Augusta, Luke DiSilvio, there’s like six or seven guys there that are hard to catch in open space. So, we’re very lucky and we just try and get them the ball.”
Late in the 2nd quarter, Ipswich finally found some offensive footing getting the ball to the cusp of Lynnfield’s 20-yard line. That was as far as the Tigers would go as a 4th and 10 pass from Winter fell incomplete.
Leading 21-0 with 3:53 left before halftime, Lynnfield went for the jugular.
On the first snap of the series, Adamo heaved a bomb down the right sideline for Iovinelli — 82-yards later, the Pioneers were celebrating a four-touchdown lead in the end zone. With the long touchdown pass, Adamo not only put the game out of reach for the Tigers, but for the second week in a row, entered his name into the Lynnfield history books.
Last week, Adamo broke Clayton Marengi’s 39 career passing touchdown record. With the 82-yard touchdown pass, Adamo surpassed Matt Mortellite’s school record of 3,609 career passing yards.
Lynnfield’s defense continued to stifle Ipswich’s rushing game in the second half, and the game was never in doubt. Following another Jared Bernabei touchdown run along with a 45-yard rushing touchdown from sophomore Lucas Deraps, the Pioneers moved to 2-1 with a 42-0 drumming over their first CAL Baker opponent of the year. As good as Lynnfield looked last Friday night though, there is always room for improvement.
The Pioneers finished the game with four penalties and turned the ball over twice with fumbles. The team knows the competition will only get stiffer from here. If there are any hopes of playing deep into the postseason this year, Lynnfield must find a way to diminish these mistakes. Perhaps no one knows that more than their team leader.
“Obviously a win is great and I’m proud of the boys, but that’s not as clean as we could have played,” said Adamo after the win. “When it comes down to teams like Triton, Amesbury, Manchester-Essex and all those good teams we’re playing coming up, we have to clean that up.”
Next Friday night at 6:30 p.m., the Pioneers will finally get to come home taking on another CAL Baker opponent. The familiar 2-1 Amesbury Red Hawks come to town for Lynnfield’s home opener and will look to avenge last season’s 24-14 loss to the Pioneers.
“They’re always tough to play,” said Lamusta on the upcoming matchup. “We just have to get back to playing our base defense, sticking to the gameplan, not having everyone try and make the big play and everyone does their job. If we can get back to that, we’ll be in good shape for Amesbury.”
