Turnovers too much for Lynnfield to overcome

LYNNFIELD – On paper, an undefeated team facing a two-win team usually signals the coming of a blowout. On Saturday, at Lynnfield Middle School, the Pioneers hosted Manchester Essex and gave their visitors everything they could handle. The 35-21 final score was in no way indicative of how Lynnfield lost.Two untimely turnovers proved to be too much for Lynnfield (3-7) to overcome against the undefeated Hornets (10-0). The Pioneers had drives of eight and nine plays end within the red zone because of fumbles, one in each half, which killed the long marches.”We got downhill on them offensively,” said Lynnfield coach Neal Weidman. “We managed to do what we wanted to do, but just couldn’t finish the drives off. Turnovers and penalties killed us.”The first half featured Lynnfield moving the ball downfield with short rushing plays and timely first downs. In contrast, Manchester featured a high-octane offense with long pass plays sprinkled into a tough ground game. Manchester scored two touchdowns on a Brian Ciccone rush and a Pat Orlando pass to Doug Kenerson. Lynnfield countered late in the first half after a Chris Grassi interception led to a Gino Cohee to Nick Roberts 19-yard touchdown.Heading into halftime, the Pioneers trailed 13-7 and had visions of an upset.”The game plan was to have long drives, limit their possessions and try to keep the ball out of their offense’s hands,” said Weidman. “Our plan was working at the beginning, but when you have that long drive, you have to score on them.”Right off the bat in the second half, the Hornets took a 21-7 lead on an Orlando to Kenerson 64-yard pass. After a long Lynnfield drive to get back into the game was halted at the 12 with a fumble, Manchester moved down the field to score a touchdown.Still fighting and not considering itself out of the game down 28-7, Lynnfield put together a 10-play drive featuring Cohee slinging the football to Roberts and A.J. Roberto. On the drive, Cohee completed six passes for 66 yards, culminating in a touchdown pass to senior captain Ryan Perkins.On the ensuing possession for Manchester, the Hornets tried to put the nail in the coffin by moving 59 yards in four plays to score. Orlando completed a 21-yard pass to Garin Sweet for the score. Orlando finished the game completing eight of 12 passes for 254 yards and four touchdowns.”Both teams drove the ball well. You just can’t have drives end on the five or the fifteen because of turnovers,” said Weidman. “That gave them a few extra possessions and then we were down. We wanted to be physical and drive the ball, which we were. You just have to finish off those drives, and that didn’t happen.”Down 35-14 with 2:17 remaining, Lynnfield still did not give up. Roberto completed a 64-yard pass for a touchdown to Grassi to bring the Pioneers within two scores at 35-21 and 1:40 remaining. Still, a failed onside kick dashed any hope of a comeback and left Lynnfield thinking about the upset that could have been.For the game, Cohee completed 13 passes for 185 yards and two touchdowns. Cohee added 105 yards rushing. Grassi hauled in 4 catches for 115 yards and Roberto had three receptions for 86 yards.”He (Cohee) played well. He had the one fumble, but he’s a sophomore and young players make some mistakes,” said Weidman. “He threw the ball well today and we need to add that dimension to our game.”