Lynnfield 09-21-2017

10 WEEKLYNEWS.NET - 978-532-5880 SEPTEMBER 21, 2017
Pioneer football wins overtime thriller
By Anne Marie Tobin
LYNNFIELD — It may have been 20 years since the
Lynnfield and Wayland football teams last played each other,
but last Friday, at Pioneer Stadium, the wait was worth it —
especially for the Pioneers, who eked out an overtime thriller
over the Warriors, 28-26.
Tied at 20-20, Lynnfield won the overtime coin toss but
elected to defend. Wayland needed just two plays to put six on
the board on an 8-yard run by Wellington Pereira. Per agreement
of the head coaches, both teams had to go for two after a
touchdown. Sean Devlin was hit on the numbers but dropped
the ball on the conversion attempt.
Now it was Lynnfield’s turn. Senior quarterback Matt
Mortellite hit senior captain Anthony Murphy for a 3-yard
pickup to the get to the 7, but Mortellite’s next two attempts
were incomplete. Mortellite dropped back to pass on the
next play, looking for Nick Kinnon in the left corner of the
end zone, but Kinnon was held by Warriors’ defensive back
Duncan Stephenson, giving the Pioneers new life with a a firstand-goal
at the 1.
“I give those guys (the referees) credit as a lot of times they
won’t call that in that setting,” said Lynnfield coach Neal
Weidman.
Murphy was stuffed on his first attempt, but made good on
the second to pull the Pioneers into a 26-26 tie.
“He was able to lean forward on the linebacker and everyone
did what they were supposed to do,” said Weidman.
With Kinnon in motion right, Mortellite, rolling to his left,
pitched to Murphy on the left, who willed his way into the end
zone.
“That was a front side read by Matt,” said Weidman. “The
play is for Kinnon to go in motion right. If nobody runs with
him, then the play is to him, but if they do, then it’s up to Matt
to make the play on the other side, and that’s what he did.”
The game was a roller coaster ride for both teams, with
Lynnfield dominating the scoreboard in the first half with a
20-6 lead despite being out-possessed by nearly 10 minutes.
The second half, however, was a different story for Wayland,
which grinded it out with two clock-eating drives on its first
two possessions to pull into a 20-20 tie on a 1-yard plunge by
Pereira with about two minutes to play.
The final two minutes of regulation were nerve-wracking.
Senior Peter Look returned the ensuing kickoff to the Pioneers’
By Anne Marie Tobin
The Lynnfield cross country
teams had a split week with the
girls team going 1-1 and the boys
team going 0-2.
On Monday, both teams went
down to defeat in the rain at
Pentucket with the boys losing
15-50 and the girls losing 19-40,
while at home on Sept 12, the
girls picked up a 21-36 win over
Amesbury and the boys team lost,
19-44.
Against Pentucket, Lynnfield’s
top runner was Ryan Iapicca who
placed eighth in 17:59. Stephen
Dwyer came in 12th in 19:17
while freshman John Astrofsky
was 13th in 19:21.
“Joe Fabrizio was right behind
John in 19:30 and some of our
boys (Colin Lamusta and Sam
Pifko) are showing progress,
but we need to get our weekly
mileage up,” said Lynnfield
coach Joe DiBiase.
In the girls race, Brie
Passatempo paced the Pioneers
with a third place finish in 21:56.
Sophomore Elizabeth St. Andre
finished sixth in 23:11 and senior
captain Eliza Brooks finished
ninth overall in 23:40.
Annie Olsen rounded out the top
Lynnfield finishers with a 10th
PHOTOS | KRISTINE MARENGI
Celebrating the game tying touchdown are Peter Look
(21) Anthony Murphy and Zachary Huynh
Nate Drislan (45) brings down Wayland quarterback
Mason Boliver.
Cross country boys, girls teams have a split week
place finish in 24:00.
Cass Shone, rebounding from an
ankle injury placed 13th in 24:26.
“We were actually winning at
the 2-mile mark, but the home
course advantage took over I
think,” said DiBiase. “Brie ran
another great race, and first year
runners Keira Rothwell and Lucy
Madden are improving greatly.”
In the girls race against
Amesbury, Passatempo lapped
the field and took first in 19:50,
beating her previous best time from
last year by almost three minutes.
32, but the offense stalled, leaving the Pioneers facing a
fourth-and-13 from its own 30 with 1:17 left. Weidman went
to his bag of tricks and called a fake punt, but the pass from junior
Salvatore Marotta intended for sophomore John Lee was
incomplete, giving the Warriors a short field at the Pioneers’
30. The Warriors drove to the 22, but, with fourth-and-2 and
only 7.8 seconds left, Warriors’ quarterback Mason Bolivar
spiked the ball, to send the game into overtime.
Weidman said the Pioneers had ample chances to put the
game in the vault in the second half in spite of the fact the
Pioneers had only three possessions.
“We bent a little but did not break in the first half, then fortunately
in the second half there was a lot of yards but not a lot
of points,” said Weidman. “ We had a long drive to start and
drove all the way down the field to get to the one and don’t
score, but we had only two real possessions and the one we
took a knee, so they really held the ball on their second half
drives and had to use a lot of time off the clock. We really
needed to just finish one of those two drives and the game was
ours.”
Wayland took an early 6-0 lead after driving 72 yards in 12
plays. After that, it was all Lynnfield with taking a 20-6 lead
after putting up three unanswered scores to close out the half.
On its first possession, Lynnfield went 85 yards in eight
plays, the final a 1-yard plunge into the end zone by Murphy.
Senior captain Cooper Marengi added the point after to make
it 7-6.
Wayland’s next drive was cut short in just nine seconds
on senior Jason Ndansi’s interception. Senior Tyler Murphy
capped the 72-yard, 5-play drive with a touchdown to make
it 13-6. After Wayland turned the ball over on downs at its
35, on its next possession, Mortellite found a wide open Look
streaking downfield for a touchdown pass from 44 yards out.
Weidman said he was pleased the way the team hung tough.
“I just liked the fact that when they tied it up they didn’t pack
it in,” he said. “And also after the decision to punt, they didn’t
let down, and they made that big stop. All I can say is they
really saved my butt tonight.”
Marengi had a different take following the thrilling finish.
“That was one of the of the craziest games if not the craziest
games ever,” he said. “We lucked out real good especially
with the kid dropping the 2-point conversion. It was a tough
week of practice just trying to comprehend all this stuff, but
when it comes to this game we were up to the pressure and
now at 2-0 , it’s a very promising start now that we roll into
our league games.”
Lynnfield hosts Amesbury next Friday.
Brooks was the second Pioneer to
cross the finish line. She placed
fourth in 21:45, while sophomore
St. Andre was right behind
in fifth place in 21:52. Rounding
out the top four Lynnfield runners
were senior Sarah Bartolatta who
placed 10th overall in 22:59. Also
running well were newcomers
Lucy Madden, Rothwell and
Sarah Deschenes.
“Brie ran great and was just
way out in front especially with
Cass Shone out with a rolled ankle
from yesterday’s practice,” said
DiBiase. “Her summer training
has obviously paid off and she is
positioning herself as one of the
top runners in the league.”
Against Amesbury, the top
runner for the boys team was senior
captain Ryan Iapicca, who
finished second overall with a time
of 16:48. Next was Lamusta, in
his first race on Lynnfield’s home
course, who was eighth overall in
17:57. Dwyer was ninth overall
with a personal best of 18:05 while
Fabrizio, also with a personal best
of 18:06, finished 10th.
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