Pioneers pull away in second half, 30-13

AMESBURY – If the Lynnfield High football team successfully defends its Cape Ann Small championship and returns to the post-season, it may look back at last night’s second-half performance against Amesbury as the launch point.Trailing 13-7 at the half after the 2008 Super Bowl champions punched them in the mouth, the undefeated Pioneers (2-0, 7-0) responded with 23 unanswered second-half points to maintain control of their own destiny with a 30-13 win at Landry Memorial Stadium.Lynnfield30Amesbury13 Lynnfield’s near-perfect second half featured dominant line play on both sides. After tying the game on their first second-half possession, the Pioneers converted interceptions by Steve Ullian and AJ Roberto into 10 points to take control for good.”Amesbury was ready to play and it would’ve been easy for us to pack it in when we were trailing at the half,” said Lynnfield coach Neal Weidman, adding the host Indians’ (1-1, 2-5) tougher early-season schedule contributed to the Pioneers’ sputtering first half.”They’ve been more tested than us and we had to combat the speed and physicality they played with. We hadn’t seen that ? We made a couple of minor adjustments on defense for the second half but mostly it was just about execution,” he said.The Pioneers grabbed the lead less than a minute into the game. Two plays after Roberto hooked up with Ullian for 47 yards to the Amesbury 29 on a flanker reverse pass on the game’s first snap, quarterback Gino Cohee (15 carries, 150 yards, 2 TDs) rumbled up the middle for a 16-yard score and Ullian’s PAT made it 7-0 with 59 seconds expired.Amesbury countered with a 50-yard march that died on 4th-and-2 at the Lynnfield three, but led directly to the Indians taking the lead. On third down from his own five, Cohee covered a poor snap in the end zone for a safety, cutting Lynnfield’s lead to 7-2. Following Ullian’s free kick, Amesbury set up at the Lynnfield 41 and covered that distance in five plays. Stephan Deas swept the right side from 12 yards for the TD and CJ Collin punched in the conversion for a 10-7 Amesbury lead late in the first quarter.Nick Croce’s 31-yard field goal stretched it to 13-7 with 2:26 left in the first half and it remained that way at the break when Ullian’s 28-yard field goal attempt caught the crossbar flush on the final play of the half.Lynnfield tied it at 13-all on its first possession of the second half with Cohee rolling in from 22 yards. Ullian’s interception at his own 27 late in the third quarter set up the go-ahead 11-play, 57-yard drive that he capped with a 32-yard field goal for a 16-13 lead with 7:31 left.Less than two minutes later, on the first play after Roberto’s interception, junior Mike Thomas (10 carries, 91 yards, 2 TDs) burst 41 untouched yards up the middle for the touchdown. He would add another on a six-yard run with 3:47 left and Ullian’s PATs after each score accounted for the final. Thomas got the call when senior Jeff Gannon left the game in the first half with a left leg injury.The Pioneers take their next step next Friday at Newburyport (7).