Lynnfield seeks to end a long drought

It has been five long years since the last time Lynnfield’s football team has been able to defeat North Reading in its annual Thanksgiving game.During this half-of-a-decade stretch, the Pioneers have been riddled with misfortune and held back by the lack of numbers in the small school. One theme that is definitely apparent though is change.For starters, during the past five years Lynnfield has switched from the I-formation as a base offense, to the spread formation, which has been a popular move by teams in the North Shore this decade. Another huge change just occurred this past season: Neil Weidman was named Bill Adams successor.”I think it’s a great tradition,” Weidman said. “Both sides have a lot of respect for each other. It can be difficult for smaller schools to compete, which is why I have so much respect for (North Reading).”Weidman, who had been the Pioneers offensive coordinator the past several seasons, took over a team that only featured six seniors, only one of which starting on the defense: outside linebacker Charlie Garlow.”We knew the Cape Ann League Small was going to be a tough division to compete,” said Weidman. “We’re going up against some older, mature teams.”The season did start off nicely for the Pioneers. Lynnfield handed Matignon a sizeable 28-7 defeat. Chris Grassi and Gino Cohee both had strong games running the ball, while the defense marred all but one of the Matignon’s offensive attack.However, the Pioneers found themselves outmatched for the next five games. Hamilton-Wenham’s powerful offense proved to be too much in week two, as it lost 40-21. The following week Georgetown shut out Lynnfield 14-0. Saugus had the best offensive day against the Pioneers, and won 49-28. Wilmington outlasted Lynnfield in a hard-fought 14-7 win. First-place Newburyport beat the Pioneers 24-14 the following week. Week seven featured the second time in the season that Lynnfield had been shut out, as it lost to Triton 22-0.The following week the Pioneers battled an Amesbury team that is among the elite in the CAL. Although Lynnfield did fall to the powerful Indians 13-12, the game was an absolute slugfest.”I think we did regain some confidence (after the Amesbury game),” said Weidman. “We dominated certain aspects of the game. We controlled the ball better than them. But they made the big plays.”In fact, the Pioneers held onto the ball for over 26 minutes, compared to Amesbury having only a few seconds less than 15 minutes of possession.Before the game, Weidman moved Cohee to quarterback and Grassi out to wide receiver. The move paid immediate dividends and is how the Pioneers will go into action against North Reading. Grassi has thrived as a receiver recording five catches for 77 yards in his first game , while Cohee solidified the running attack from the quarterback position.”We’re obviously doing better (since making the switch),” said Weidman. “We’re doing particularly better running the ball.”Lynnfield picked up its second win of the season against Ipswich in an action-packed 13-7 game that came right down to the final minutes.Last week’s game against Manchester featured the best offensive performance in two decades from a Lynnfield team. Lynnfield gained over 400 yards of offense, but lost to Manchester 35-21. A pair of fumbles inside the 10 yard line and a costly penalty on fourth-and-one on the 20-yard line proved to be difference in the game.Although Lynnfield is only 1-2 in its last three games, the significantly improved play is a good sign going into Turkey day. While Weidman acknowledged the positional swap between Cohee and Grassi as a major reason for the improvement he also acknowledged the improved play on the offensive line which features four juniors (Greg Banos, center; Doug Ullian, guard; Eric Inglese, guard; and John Leydon, tackle) and one senior (captain Chris Klove, tackle).According to Weidman, Captain Ben Salisbury also has picked up his game.”He’s running the ball a lot better,” said Weidman.