Lynnfield football clips the clippers

LYNNFIELD – Playing perhaps the biggest game the program has had in over a decade, the Lynnfield football team came out Saturday and made a statement at Pioneer Field.Led by its dynamic duo of Gino Cohee and Chris Grassi, the Pioneers jumped on Newburyport early to take a 27-14 win that in all actuality wasn’t that close.”I’ve said that Newburyport was the team to beat all year,” Lynnfield coach Neil Weidman said. “The kids came out and played physically and as hard as they could. That was probably the best game we’ve played all year.”It was a game of big plays for the Pioneers (7-1, 3-0 Cape Ann League/Small) as they hitched their wagons to their two stars.Cohee rushed for a pair of early touchdowns to stake Lynnfield to a 14-0 halftime lead before Grassi helped deliver the knockout blow in the third quarter by throwing a pair of touchdown passes on fourth down plays to make it 27-0.Grassi also caught two passes for 34 yards and played an even bigger role according to Weidman.”People forget that Chris started here for most of his first two years,” Weidman said. “And to come in and do that was huge. But even bigger was the fact that by lining up outside, he took their best player (Kyle LeBlanc) out of almost every play.”Lynnfield in an out of character move took the ball to start the game and made it pay off with a nine play, 74-yard drive for a touchdown. Cohee carried six times on the drive and hit Grassi for a 29-yard gain to the Clipper 15 before capping the march with a six yard run that made it 7-0 after one.”We’ve deferred to the second half a lot this year, but we wanted to take the ball and make a statement. We also didn’t want to kick to LeBlanc,” Weidman said.Midway through the second quarter, the Pioneers got the ball on a short field and made it pay off. Cohee again did the honors, capping an eight-play, 43-yard march with a four-yard touchdown and a 14-0 halftime lead.After forcing a punt to start the second half, Lynnfield took full control of the game, taking over six minutes off the clock.A 10-yard screen pass from Cohee to Freddie Shove kept the drive going. Grassi then came in on a fourth-and-14 at the Clipper 29 and threw a strike to a wide open Cohee to make it 20-0.A.J. Roberto’s interception on the next play helped set the Pioneers up for the kill.Once again it was the quarterback turned wide receiver who did the honors, finding Mike Peschione in the back of the endzone for a 24-yard strike and a 27-0 lead.The Clippers would add two late touchdowns in the fourth quarter.”Those first three quarters were as good as we can play,’ Weidman said.