LYNNFIELD — Slow and steady may win the race, but it’s no way to win a football game against the Lynnfield Pioneers, who made big plays in bunches on both sides of the ball to defeat the Newburyport Clippers in the semifinals of the North Division 5 playoffs, 26-7, last night at Pioneer Stadium.
With the win, the No. 1 seeded Pioneers punched their ticket to a North championship game, which they’ll host next Friday against Watertown, which defeated Somerville, 21-20, at Dilboy Stadium last night.
The game was a marked contrast in styles with the Clippers sticking with their ground-and-pound running game, eating up chunks of clock in an attempt to keep the Pioneers off the field, while the Pioneers leveraged their quick strike attack.
While the Clippers held a more than two-to-one edge in time of possession and ran 57 plays to the Pioneers’ 40, it was the Pioneers who, once again this season, proved that they can put up points in a hurry.
The Pioneers’ defense also showed it could make plays.
Lynnfield quarterback Matt Mortellite completed 13-of-20 passes for 181 yards and one touchdown, while Nick Kinnon caught six passes for 91 yards, including an 8-yard strike from Mortellite with no time left on the clock in the first half, completing a 12-play 80-yard drive in just 1:29 to give the Pioneers a 13-7 lead at halftime.
But Kinnon wasn’t done yet, picking up where he left off on the first play of the second half. He took the Clippers’ kickoff on one bounce and raced 95 yards into the endzone to make it a 19-7 game.
“That was just a huge play to end the first half,” said Lynnfield coach Neal Weidman. “Newburyport had that long drive at the end of the first quarter and into the second to steal the momentum, and for us to score before the end of the half was huge. Then, of course, Nick runs the kickoff back on the very next play, so those two together were huge, and then our defense did a much better job in the second half keeping them off the field with some big plays when we needed them.”
Both teams had just two possessions in the first half. Lynnfield took a 7-0 lead on a 3-yard keeper by Mortellite and extra point by Kinnon with 3:30 left in the first quarter, the key play on the drive being a 26-yard catch by Peter Look (4 catches, 76 yards) on a fourth-and-24.
The Pioneers didn’t touch the ball again for more than 13 minutes as the Clippers methodically drove 80 yards in 24 plays, eating 12:56 off the clock to tie the game on a quarterback keeper by Owen Bradbury from three yards out.
After Kinnon’s fireworks to start the second half, Lynnfield’s defense took over. It forced a turnover on downs on the Clipper’s first possession in the second half, then after a pick by Newburyport’s Seamus Webster, Cooper Marengi returned the favor, picking off Bradbury after the Clippers had driven to the Pioneers’ 32.
The next time the Pioneers’ defense took the field (after a Lynnfield punt), senior Jack Razzaboni collected his first career interception with 6:17 left to play. After Tyler Murphy capped the scoring with a 10 yard scamper and Kinnon added the extra point, it was lights out for the Clippers (4-4).
