St. Mary’s gridders put on clinic in win over Lynnfield

LYNN – It was a clinical dissection of a defense that the St. Mary’s football team put on at Manning Field on Friday night against Lynnfield.The Spartans scored the first three times they had the ball and were never forced into a punt as both Cory Donahue and Todd Collier rushed for over 100 yards in a 40-16 win over the Pioneers.Click here for a photo gallery of last night’s game.”It was a great effort all around,” St. Mary’s coach Matt Durgin said. “The line did their job and the backs found their holes and ran hard. It was a great team win.”Facing the arguably the toughest team on its non-league schedule, the Spartans (4-0) responded to the challenge by shutting down Lynnfield’s high-powered spread offense until it was 24-0 late in the first half.”They are just so fast,” Lynnfield coach Neal Weidman said. “That’s probably the fastest team that were going to see all year. Our speed picked up at the end of the first half and its good for us to have to play at that speed.”The Spartan defense forced a three-and-out to begin the game, giving the ball to their powerhouse offense. The hard running of Collier and Donahue helped comprise a 13 play drive that took nearly seven minutes to complete when Collier went in from the two for an 8-0 lead.Lynnfield drove into St. Mary’s territory on its next possession but saw a Mike Karavetsos pass on fourth-and-three at the 44 fall incomplete.”We knew that we were going to have to score with them so you’re forced to go for it unless your deep in your own end,” Weidman said.It took less than three minutes for the Spartans to convert as Donahue ended a seven play drive with a nifty 15 yard run around left end. Collier’s conversion rush made it 16-0.”Cory did such a nice job in the offseason to get ready and he’s a nice complement to what Todd does,” Durgin said.In need of a rest, the Lynnfield defense didn’t get much of a blow as it was back on the field less than two minutes later. Collier and Donahue then embarked on another quick drive of 55 yards in seven plays for a 24-0 lead on Donahue’s 13-yard run and conversion catch.The Pioneers (2-2) finally got going offensively on the next series as a Karavetsos screen pass to A.J. Gallo gained 18 yards. Later in the drive, Lynnfield went back to the screen, this time to halfback Mike Thomas who turned it into a 30-yard touchdown that made it 24-8 at the half.”Our offense was a little slow to get going but we seemed to find something there at the end of the half,” Weidman said.The Spartans got the ball to begin the second half and again didn’t waste much time in scoring as Collier’s 28-yard run increased the lead to 32-8 with 8:39 left in the third.Lynnfield again fought back as a 30-yard pass to Alex Pascucci got the Pioneers close and a Karavetsos to Steve Yobaccio eight yard touchdown cut the lead to two scores again at 32-16.But St. Mary’s delivered the knockout blow via a trademark long drive. This march took nearly seven minutes and stretched into the fourth quarter before Collier’s five yard run and conversion rush capped the scoring.