Published November 27, 2019

By TOM CONDARDO

LYNNFIELD — Long hair and long gas lines. Forced busing in Boston and a forced resignation of the president. Hammerin’ Hank Aaron caught the Babe, but the Ford pardon let Nixon get away. The Sting, Happy Days and the Plastic Ono Band. And Sweet Sixteen for the Lynnfield Pioneers and the North Reading Hornets.

The main course on Thanksgiving Day 1974 was the 16th holiday battle between the Pioneers and the Hornets and on paper, the contest appeared to be a mismatch. Lynnfield, only one year removed from a Cape Ann League championship in 1973, piled up a 6-0 record to start the season and came into the big game with a 7-2 mark.

“We weren’t picked to do anything that year,” recalls Dave DiFillippo, the Pioneers’ co-captain and CAL All-Star linebacker. “The year before we were champs and we graduated a terrific senior class. In 1974, there were no real superstars, but we played like a team.”

The Hornets came into the game with a 2-7 record, having lost five of their last six before beating Triton 20-6 in their pre-Turkey Day game. They hoped to carry that momentum into the big game against Lynnfield.

Lynnfield had dominated the first 15 games of the rivalry, winning the first seven games and holding a 12-3 edge in the series. The Pioneers had whipped the Hornets in 1973 and 1972 by scores of 30-14 and 38-8, and 1974 promised to be more of the same.

The Pioneers prepped for the game in interesting fashion. “It snowed heavily the week of Thanksgiving,” DiFillippo said, “and they got us out of school early on Tuesday or Wednesday to shovel off the field.” The huge crowd that ringed the Middle School field on the windy, bitterly cold holiday morning stood in small banks of snow.

The Lynnfield defense needed to warm up in a hurry. Hornet captain Rick Ward recovered a fumble on Lynnfield’s first possession and North Reading drove to the Pioneer nine-yard line behind Ward’s punishing running. A gutsy Pioneer defense finally stopped the drive, holding the Hornets on four plays to end the early threat.

“They were a tough team,” said DiFillippo. “They had some good runners but we did well in the first half.”

The Pioneers broke the ice late in the second quarter. Missing their second leading scorer in Glenn Dolbeare, who had been injured the week before against Newburyport, the Pioneers relied on CAL All-Star senior Steve Celata and Frank Guarino to move the ball to the Hornet 44-yard line.

Quarterback Jim Nelson then hit Celata in the flat and the senior broke tackles and hurdled a Hornet defender to rumble all the way for the score with just under three minutes to play in the second period. The point after was no good, but the Pioneers took a 6-0 lead into the locker room at halftime.

The Pioneers had a couple of great scoring chances early in the third period beginning with the second half kickoff, which Bob Olsen nearly broke. He was tripped up on the NR 48 in a touchdown-saving tackle. The Pioneers drove to the one-foot line but coughed it up on a tremendous hit by Hornet Mark Zurawel. George Doig recovered for North Reading on the seven.

The play seemed to turn things the Hornets’ way. With Ward and Peter Mastro powering a devastating running attack, the Hornets rolled 93 yards for the score. Scott Orlosk added the extra point and North Reading led 7-6 with under a minute to play in the third quarter.

“They just pounded us on that drive,” DiFillippo said. “We couldn’t do anything against them.”

The Pioneers came right back on Nelson passes to Olsen for 19 yards and to CAL All-Star Alan Harrington for 42 yards, giving them a first down on the Hornet two-yard line as the third quarter ended. North Reading held again, stopping the Pioneers on four plays to preserve the one-point lead with six minutes to play.

Two possessions later, the Pioneers’ Craig Franklin recovered a Hornet fumble at the Lynnfield 27. On the first play after the turnover, Nelson lateraled to Harrington who went deep and found Olsen at the Hornet 42-yard line. The Hornets felt Olsen never had possession when Bill Canavan knocked him out of bounds. A heated dispute arose surrounding the play and as a result, North Reading was hit with a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty and Ward was ejected from the game.

“He was so upset that he pulled the penalty flag out of the referee’s pocket and threw it on the ground,” DiFillippo remembers. “That changed the entire momentum of the game.”

Celata, who led the Pioneers with eight rushing touchdowns, ripped off 18 yards to the Hornet nine-yard line. On third and goal, Nelson found Olsen in the end zone for the touchdown to give the Pioneers a 12-7 lead with 2:41 left in the game. 

North Reading would get two more chances but both ended in turnovers. Mark Stone recovered a fumble and Olsen picked off an interception to seal Lynnfield’s 13th win of the series.

“I don’t think we took them for granted,” DiFillippo said of the Pioneers’ surprising struggle. “This game was a big thing for us. There was a lot of Lynnfield pride then. Coach (Rodan) instilled that in us. But this was one of the toughest games we played all year. We just pounded on each other.”

Other seniors on the 1974 team were co-captain and CAL All-Star Gary Wolfe, Mike Carmody, David Pevear, Dave Valkevich and Dan Moore.

“For a bunch of guys who weren’t supposed to do anything, we did alright,” summed up DiFillippo.