Offense explodes for 545 yards to overwhelm Indians
By TOM CONDARDO
UPSY DAISY. Drew Balestrieri (44) takes a different angle to bring down this Amesbury runner Friday night. (Tom Condardo Photo)
AMESBURY — Head coach Neal Weidman had two weeks to fine-tune his offense in preparation for the Pioneers’ Baker League opener in Amesbury last Friday night. When he rolled it out of the Essex Street garage and into beautiful Landry Stadium, it was ready to hit on all cylinders. He simply handed the keys to quarterback captain Danny Sullivan who took it from there, smoothly shifting between a punishing ground game and devastating air attack in driving the Pioneers past an overmatched Indians’ team 33-6.
“It’s a good start,” said Weidman who saw his team go to 3-0 on the season, 1-0 in the Baker League. “The only guarantee of getting in the playoffs is to win the league. So the league games are big.”
The offense exploded for 545 yards, the most since at least 1989, topping the 492 they amassed against the same Indians last year. The list of individual standouts starts with Sullivan, who completed 11 of 18 for 248 yards and two touchdowns, ran for another 20 and had a rushing touchdown called back on a penalty. Sullivan has been outstanding this year, completing 61% of his passes (25 for 41) with five touchdowns and no interceptions.
“We’ve asked him to do more this year and he’s done it,” Weidman said. “He was perfectly capable of doing more last year but we didn’t need him to. This year we’re trying to be more balanced with him and it helps the running game too. We really started to get some big chunks on the ground there.”
The balance was evident Friday night as the Pioneers ran for 297 yards and three TDs and passed for 248 yards and a pair of scores. Helping to fuel the explosion were captain Cam Rondeau (six receptions, 178 yards, 1 TD) and Jake Rourke (125 yards, 7.4 yards per carry, 2 TDs, one 2 pt. conversion). Hard-running Kevin Lee chipped in with 61 yards and a touchdown. Kyle Hawes also got in the scoring action with a seven-yard TD pass reception.
Meanwhile, the defense held the Indians to six points and 189 yards of offense. A big chunk of that came on Amesbury’s only score of the night when Doug Masi broke loose for a late 75-yard TD run. The Pioneers have allowed only 13 points in their first three games, the fewest since the 1991 team matched that feat.
Long bomb strikes again
As was the case in the first two games, the Pioneers ignited the blowout with a goal line stand followed by a home run ball. After the Pioneers’ only three and out of the night on their opening possession, a short punt gave the Indians great field position at the Lynnfield 45. They quickly drove to the four before the Pioneer defense stiffened, held on two short runs and forced two incomplete passes, and took over at the five. On the first play from scrimmage, Sullivan connected with Rondeau flying down the left sideline for a 95-yard TD connection. Dan Bronshvayg booted the point after and the Pioneers led 7-0.
“Obviously if they had punched it in there they would have had the momentum,” Weidman said of the Indians’ early threat. “They gave us fits in the beginning.”
The tide turned after the bomb with the Pioneers scoring on three of their next four possessions. From the big stop point until the Pioneer scoring drive to open the second half, Lynnfield outscored Amesbury 27-0, had more plays (36-14) and yardage (375-45), and forced an interception by captain Jon Knee and a fumble recovered by Lee.
Rourke made it 13-0 early in the second with a one yard blast to cap a 95-yard, 13-play drive. After a partially blocked punt, the Pioneers mounted a 46-yard drive topped with a seven yard pass from Sullivan to Hawes to make it 19-0 just before the half.
The Pioneers effectively ended the competitive portion of the contest with a 75-yard drive to open the third quarter. Rourke again did the honors barreling in from the 12 for the TD and then waltzing up the middle untouched for the two point conversion to make it 27-0. After Amesbury’s only touchdown early in the fourth, Lee answered with a two-yard TD run to account for the final score.
The carnage could have been worse if not for a hail of penalty flags that fell on the Pioneers. They were called for six penalties for 60 yards. Two of them nullified touchdowns and a third called back a Drew McCarthy 16-yard gain to the four-yard line. “We’ve got to fix the penalties,” Weidman said. “It wasn’t very clean.”
This Week: Manchester-Essex
The Pioneers travel to Manchester-by-the-Sea for their fourth straight road game this Friday night. Going back to the end of last year, this will be the sixth straight game away from Lynnfield for the Pioneers. They’ve won four of the previous five.
“The kids have done well. We’ve been traveling for practice down to the Middle School so we’ve been on the move every day since August 18,” Weidman said, referring to the ongoing construction at the high school. “We said it can’t be a distraction. We just have to adapt, adjust, and overcome.”
The Pioneers will be facing a winless Hornets team who has lost to Northeast Metro Tech 30-0, Greater Lawrence 22-6, and Georgetown 14-13. The loss to the Royals this past weekend was the toughest as Georgetown scored with nine seconds left in the game and then won it on a gutsy two-point conversion.
Game time in Manchester is 7 p.m.
