40 years ago, Hornets and Pioneers battle for the crown

Published November 21, 2018

By TOM CONDARDO

LYNNFIELD — It was my third Thanksgiving Day game between the Chestnut Street Rivals North Reading and Lynnfield. And although the first two – like all battles between the archrivals – were exciting, 1978 was special. The Pioneers and Hornets would be playing on the holiday morning with the winner taking the Cape Ann League crown.

Taking nothing away from the league titles the two schools have racked up in recent years, winning the CAL championship in the ‘70s was special. This was big boy football at its best. You had to beat out nine other squads including perennial powers of the day like North Andover, Newburyport and Hamilton-Wenham. But in 1978, it was North Reading and Lynnfield sitting atop the standings, and the winner on Thanksgiving Day would not only have traditional bragging rights but would also take home a championship.

It was definitely a surprise for both teams to be in the championship game. North Reading head coach Ed Sapienza was in the third year of rebuilding the program and was coming off a 5-5 year in 1977. The Pioneers, under head coach Bill Rodan, the winningest coach in LHS history, had won the CAL title in 1973, but had suffered a rare losing season at 3-7 in 1977. But both teams put it together in 1978.

Both squads dominate

First-place Lynnfield, led by captains Eric Hansen and Mark Owens, rolled into the game with a 7-1 league record (8-1 overall) riding a prolific offense that had scored 250 points in nine games. The Pioneers relied on a pounding ground game – 32 of its 36 TDs were runs – led by Eric Hansen, who set the single season scoring record with 128 points that still stands today. He was also the second leading scorer in Division 3 that year. Quarterback Scott Suleski and running back Owens also keyed the attack.

The Pioneers roared out of the gate winning their first seven games including a 56-0 beatdown of Masconomet and a 21-0 shutout over North Andover. They stumbled in a 19-16 loss to Hamilton-Wenham before bouncing back with a win over Ipswich heading into the big game .

The Hornets, one game behind the Pioneers at 6-1-1 in the league and 7-1-1 overall, were just as explosive, tallying 234 points coming into the game. North Reading, led by captains Dave Mangene, Richie Paul and Brian Proudy, was paced by a quartet of outstanding running backs in Bobby Gallahue (98 points), Jim Tremblay, Brian Mahoney and Billy Warnock. Quarterback Paul was at the controls of the high-powered offense.

North Reading enjoyed a scorching start as well, reeling off four straight wins and outscoring Northeast, Amesbury, North Andover and Hamilton-Wenham by a combined 128-19. Then Mother Nature happened. In a mudwrestling match at Arthur J. Kenney Field, the Hornets and Ipswich Tigers slipped and sloshed through four quarters and a tiebreaker to finish in a 0-0 tie. The Hornets picked things back up the next week, crushing Masco 47-7, then beating Newburyport and Pentucket to improve to 7-0-1. They hit their only speed bump of the year 10 days before Thanksgiving, as they were upset by Triton 15-12.

Defensively, both sides were stingy with North Reading slightly stronger. The Pioneers had allowed 106 points coming into the game while the Hornets had given up only 55. North Reading gave up more than one touchdown in only one game, their loss to Triton. The Pioneers had given up double-digit points in four of their games.

Tight early contest

An estimated crowd of 6,800 packed Pioneer Field behind the Middle School in Lynnfield on a chilly holiday morning. The Hornets sliced through the Pioneers on a 14-play, 78-yard opening drive capped by a two-yard TD by Paul to take an early 6-0 lead. Both team’s defenses took control from there as the squads went in a halftime with North Reading holding the slim six-point lead.

Then the home fans had something to cheer about at the start of the second half. The Pioneers’ defense forced the Hornets into punt formation on their opening drive but the snap from center sailed over punter Robert Livingston’s head and Lynnfield recovered at the North Reading eight-yard line. An overexuberant Pioneer drew an unnecessary roughness penalty with a late hit on Livingston, but the home team was still in good shape with a first down at the NR 22.

The Pioneers capitalized three plays later when Hansen broke three tackles, made a nice cut to the sideline and scampered 14 yards to tie the score. Suleski hit Rich Erb for the two points and despite being outplayed for most of the game the Pioneers led 8-6.

Hornets pull away

North Reading answered on their next possession with a long drive that Warnock capped with a 32-yard run. Paul found Kevin Jones for the two-point conversion to give the Hornets a 14-8 lead. North Reading sewed it up several possessions later after Jones picked off a Suleski pass in Pioneer territory and Mahoney cashed it in with a short TD run to make it 21-8. That wrapped up the win and gave North Reading its first CAL title.

The Hornets’ defense proved to be the deciding factor in the game. North Reading held the Pioneers’ offense to 77 yards and three first downs while the Hornets piled up 292 yards of offense. The Swarm, North Reading’s tenacious defense, shackled Hansen (59 yards) and Suleski (-1 yard) while Gallahue (136 yards) and Warnock (68 yards) paced the North Reading offense.

The Hornets finished in third place in the division and just missed making the Super Bowl, which at that time featured only the top two teams. They would finish the job a year later, going undefeated and earning a trip to BC’s Alumni Field for the Division 3 Super Bowl where they lost to Canton.

The Pioneers would go 7-3 in 1979 and come back for a championship rematch with the Hornets in 1980 where they would fall 7-6 to the three-time CAL champion Hornets.