LYNNFIELD — On one of the coldest Thanksgiving Days ever, the Lynnfield football team’s hopes to close out the fall with a victory were gone with the wind at frigid Pioneer Stadium Thursday as visiting North Reading handed the Pioneers their worst loss of the season, 32-0.
The only thing colder than the temperature and wind chill was the Lynnfield’s offense, which made only two trips into North Reading territory and struggled to find any rhythm.
“North Reading has a very, very sound defense and it was tough for us to get any kind of offensive drives going,” said first-year Lynnfield coach Pat Lamusta. “We needed a few big plays, but the bottom line is it was tough for us throwing the ball, running the ball and catching the ball today.
“We kept telling the kids to block out the cold, but we just didn’t have it today,” he said. “At the end of the day, you have to win the battle of the trenches and we just gave them too much room to run and with two solid running backs who run hard, we just had our hands full and couldn’t stop them.”
The two backs referred to by Lamusta were senior captain Alex D’Ambrosio and junior Jack Keller who combined for nearly 200 rushing yards. D’Ambrosio was a one-man show in the first half, picking up 118 yards on 14 carries in the first half before finishing with a total of 139 yards on 23 carries. Keller was a two-way threat, picking up 57 yards on seven carries and also caught two passes for 16 yards.
Keller’s second catch was a game-changer, coming with just 10 seconds left in the half on a hook-and-ladder to break the game wide open and send the Hornets into halftime with a 20-0 lead. Quarterback Matthew Solecki hit Keller near the right sideline about five yards from the line of scrimmage, then Keller tossed the ball to senior captain Michael Sheridan, who sprinted six yards into the end zone.
“That hook-and-ladder was good execution,” Lamusta said. “You know when it comes to Thanksgiving Day games, there are always going to be trick plays tossed at you, and we had a couple up our own sleeves, too, but they just caught us on that trick play.”
Going into a stiff breeze, the Pioneers dug a hole for themselves in the first quarter. A three-and-out on the opening drive of the game, resulted in Pioneer short punt that netted only three yards, handing the ball to North Reading at the Pioneer 29. Solecki needed only four plays to find the end zone on a quarterback keeper from 12 yards out (D’Ambrosio kick) to make it 7-0.
After another Pioneer punt, North Reading drove 58 yards in four plays, capped by a 2-yard sprint by Solecki, to make it 13-0.
After a scoreless third quarter, Lynnfield made its deepest trip into Hornet territory after a 30-yard strike from Clayton Marengi (4-of-12, 49 yards) to Jack Ford (two catches, 39 yards) set the Pioneers up with 1st down at the Hornet 22 only to turn the ball over on downs after Marengi’s pass intended for John Lee (six carries, 29 yards) in the end zone was incomplete.
Three plays later Solecki hit Michael Mikula from 74 yards out to bump the lead to 26-0 with about 10 minutes to go.
Three minutes later, Keller capped the scoring with a 46-yard burst.
“I have to give credit to the team for fighting hard to the end, especially the seniors who were awesome this year,” Lamusta said.
Lynnfield ends its season at 3-8. The Pioneers still lead the overall rivalry, begun in 1959, 54-21.
