Lynnfield 35, N. Reading 14: Pioneers succeed in avoiding letdown

NORTH READING ? Lynnfield’s football team will be heading into the post season on an extremely high note after handily defeating its arch-nemesis North Reading in their annual Thanksgiving game 35-14.”We wanted to be ready to go,” Pioneers coach Neal Weidman said. “We were a little bit nervous (of a letdown heading into the playoffs. But (that fear) ended once the game started. The kids weren’t looking past this game.”Click here to see a photo gallery from the North Reading/Lynnfield game.Lynnfield’s defense was running on all cylinders in the first half, and thanks in large part to two botched snaps on punts that led to two safeties, the Pioneers held North Reading to a staggering negative-63 yards of offense in the first half. The Hornets did finish the day with 101 yards of offense after senior quarterback John Brooks got hot late in the third quarter and into the fourth quarter against Lynnfield’s reserves.”Our defense played really well,” said Weidman. “We made some huge plays out there when we needed to. We knew that (Brooks) was good at scrambling and making big plays out of nothing, so we wanted to limit that as much as possible.”The Pioneers (10-1, 6-0) launched an all-out assault with their pass rush getting to Brooks for eight sacks, led by Dante Padovani’s three and Michael Pescione’s one-and-a-half.”Dante (Padovani) had a great game for us,” said Weidman. “He had three-or-four more tackles for a loss on top of the sacks.”It was hit-or-miss on the offensive side of the ball for Lynnfield who scored more touchdowns (four) than they picked up first downs (two). The Pioneers actually scored the first touchdown of the game on the second play of the game. Chris Grassi came in motion from the slot position and received the handoff from Quarterback Gino Cohee. He delivered a strike on the option pass to Pescione, who had no Hornet within 15 yards of him. It was a 41-yard touchdown pass.Pescione’s day wasn’t through though. Cohee hooked up with him on a 21-yard touchdown pass with a 1:43 remaining in the first quarter to give the Pioneers a 14-0 lead. He just missed adding a third receiving touchdown in the early in the second quarter. He was tripped up at the five-yard line – two plays later Joe Hennessey punched the ball in for a two-yard touchdown run.”Pescione did a great job catching the ball and getting into the endzone,” said Weidman.The two safties and a 35-yard field goal by Steve Ullian gave Lynnfield a 28-0 lead heading into halftime.The exclamation point and final touchdown of the game for the Pioneers came on first-and-10 with a 1:12 remaining in the third quarter. Cohee delivered a perfect pass to Grassi who ran a perfect post pattern to combine for a 69-yard touchdown to give Lynnfield a 35-0 lead heading into the fourth quarter.Cohee finished the day going 5-for-7 for 127 yards and the two touchdowns, while not throwing an interception.Outside of Hennessey’s touchdown, the Pioneers running game never got off of the ground. George Hennessey led the team with only 18 yards on eight carries. In a game full of bizarre moments and statistics perhaps the most bizarre statistic is that the Pioneers actually finished the day with negative-15 yards on the ground.Lynnfield will face off with Austin Prep in the playoffs next Tuesday on a site to be determined in the post season opener.uNOTES: Lynnfield recorded more wins this season than the previous five seasons combined ?Gino Cohee finished the season scoring 22 touchdowns, 14 came on the ground, seven came through the air and the Pioneers quarter back even caught one touchdown ? Cohee just missed eclipsing the 1,000-yard mark passing the ball on the season, as his 127-yards was good for 981 on the season. He had 1,777 all-purpose yards ? Both Chris Grassi and Cohee scored touchdowns rushing, passing and receiving ?In the previous 10 games Cohee had not only gotten at least one rushing attempt, he had scored a rushing touchdown. His only technical carry of the game