Lynnfield 8-23-18

AUGUST 23, 2018
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Sports
A new
sheriff
in town
New coach Pat Lamusta addresses the troops after the second day of practice for the upcoming football season.
PHOTO | ANNE MARIE TOBIN
Lamusta dives in as new football coach for the Pioneers
By Harold Rivera
LYNNFIELD — All summer long new Lynnfield
High School football coach Pat Lamusta has counted
down the days left until the start of the new season, his
first at the helm as head coach.
The big day finally came last Friday, but thanks to
Mother Nature, Lamasta had to wait one more day to
get out on the field at Pioneer Stadium.
“It was a real nightmare, first we plan to be outside,
then the lightning came in, so it was just back inside
and hope for the weather to improve,” Lamusta said.
“It was very disjointed but once Saturday came, I think
the guys were so excited to have nice weather so they
could go outside. They were really focused on football
and that’s what’s great about preseason. There are
no distractions, so they can focus only on football until
school starts.”
Lamusta is more than ready to get started in his new
role at Lynnfield.
“There’s a mood of excitement and anticipation,”
Lamusta said. “The players were in limbo in March and
April while they were doing the coaching search. There
was a bit of uncertainty. I’m seeing a cohesive group
on all levels. The sophomores are gelling with the seniors,
the freshmen are buying in. This group’s very
much together. They’re excited. We want to prove we
can continue the winning tradition despite the changes
in the coaching staff. Saturday we went longer than expected,
but I just got addicted once we started. This is
a group you would have to kick off the field to get them
to leave, so that helps set the tempo for the season.”
Lamusta was named the new Lynnfield head football
coach in May, taking over for former head coach Neal
Weidman who stepped down in March after 10 seasons
with the Pioneers. Prior to stepping into the coaching
realm, Lamusta played football at Lynnfield (2004-
2007) and Framingham State (2010-2013) as an outside
linebacker/fullback. He currently teaches history
at Lynnfield High. Lamusta spent four seasons (2014-
Clayton Marengi leads the charge during a drill at
practice.
2017) as an assistant on Weidman’s staff.
Lamusta credited Weidman for building a winning
culture within the program.
“There’s a winning culture, there’s a winning tradition,”
Lamusta said. “That’s much different from when
I played. The program was struggling when I played.
When I came back to coach, things had changed. Neal
did a great job building a strength and conditioning
program. The numbers were high. The kids were really
committed, even the multi-sport athletes were
committed to football. There’s a tradition of guys being
committed to football, even in the offseason.”
That tradition of offseason commitment has carried
over to this year. The Pioneers have prepared for the
upcoming fall season by taking part in a handful of 7v7
tournaments, and strength and conditioning programs.
“We have our regular workouts throughout the
summer and the turnout for the most part has been above
average,” Lamusta said. “We were in two 7v7 tournaments.
We went to one hosted by Endicott in June and
we went to one at St. John’s Prep in July. We were also
in a passing league Tuesday nights with tough teams
like Andover, Billerica. We had a good combination of
strength and conditioning and 7v7 leagues for the skill
position kids.”
Among those who’ve left a solid early impression on
Lamusta are seniors Hunter Allain, Cole Moretti and
Leo Quinn, and junior John Lee.
Lamusta said the administration aspect of being a
head coach has created a bit of learning curve for him
but the time he spent shadowing Weidman has helped
in making adjustments.
“I think as an assistant you don’t really see much of
the administrative side of being a head coach so that
was surprising,” Lamusta said. “But I worked closely
with Weidman so I was involved on the day-to-day
stuff and the offseason. I had an idea of what the time
commitment was like. Now it’s nice because I can take
that experience and put my own spin on it.”
Lamusta spent a week in mid-August directing a
youth clinic organized by the Lynnfield Pioneer Youth
Football and Cheer club.
“We met with LPYFC back in July and coordinated
our areas of mutual benefit and concern to put the 2-day
clinic together and we had 25 7th and 8th graders in
all who worked on offensive skills one day and defensive
skills the second day,” Lamusta said. “The kids on
the team were great, especially captains Hunter Allain,
Leo Quinn and Jaret Simpson along with seniors Brett
Cohee and Jeff Floramo and juniors Anthony Florama,
Jr. and Cory Castinetti. We really worked on team
building as it the big message we want to sent to youth
football is we all need to be on the same page.
“The month of August always moves fast, but once
August hit, we put it into overdrive.”