If you told me that I’d be going to three football games this weekend, Lawrence-Amesbury, Tewksbury-Methuen and Londonderry-Pinkerton, and one would be a nail-biter, the Rangers and Redmen would have been choice No. 3.
That said, it was an afternoon war in Tewks, won by the upset-minded Rangers, while the other two turned into blowouts.
Ten observations from the week:
1. This is for everyone who puts on a helmet and shoulder pads, Friday nights and Saturday afternoons around here. Fellas, SHUT the HECK UP! I repeat, SHUT UP!!!
Trash-talking has reached epic proportions, especially in Massachusetts, where the coaches have the officials in such a state of fear, that they are afraid to throw a flag.
In NH, it’s legislated, and the players are forced to shut up. Don’t believe me.
Let’s go to Friday night at Amesbury, where as one of my readers noted it got a little ugly, or a lot ugly: The talk is rampant back and forth.
I’m going to tell it like it is here. Two Lawrence losses and two fourth-quarter scuffles. It’s not coincidence. Now I’m not sure if anyone got officially tossed as the Indian followers said. I think, with the game out of reach, the official just threw a flag and told the Lawrence coaches to take the kid out of the game.
I spent the night on the Lancer sideline, as I do in every non-weather game.
For three quarters, an unnamed Lawrence player, in a jersey and street clothes, yapped and yapped and yapped at the opposition. I’ve seen three games, he’s done it in all three.
The kid is screaming at the Amesbury d-backs, going as far as repeatedly calling them “bitches.”
The official 10 feet away ignored. And it took the coaches three quarters until one assistant finally told the kid to “Shut the h%$% up!”
No flags, no warnings, a giant problem.
Let’s fast forward to Saturday night at Londonderry. These two teams are pounding each other, big hits all over the field. Great football. It’s nearly over in the fourth, a Pinkerton kid goes near the Londonderry sideline and someone says something after a big stick. The Astro fires back, “Check out the scoreboard, baby, WOOOOO!!!” and draws a 15-yard flag and a chewing out by his coach, Brian O’Reilly. Problem averted.
The kids know better in NH, under federation rules. In Mass., it just continues to get uglier.
2. Back to Friday night for a second. This is not to single out Lawrence either. Kids at every game I’ve been to imitate the loudmouth NFLers and yap at the opposition. Every team I’ve seen has done it. And nobody says anything.
It’s not every kid, either. It’s a few bad apples. Lawrence’s bigtime players, Harvey Blanco, Ramon Heredia, Devin Montanez, Demetri Brown, Mike Calzetta, Aaron Blanco and so many others are fantastic kids, quiet athletes who play the game hard and silently. They are some of the most respectful teen-agers I’ve dealt with in 20 years on this job.
Mike Yameen runs a high-class, commendable program. Nobody’s backed Mike and this program more than me, because I respect the work he and his kids put in. The bad apples, though, will only give this program a bad name.
And that’s not right for the kids pouring their hearts in it every day of the week.
3. Amesbury High’s now 4-0 folks! My first look at Thom Connors’ club, and I’ll walk away with this assessment. This might be the best under-200-pound football team I’ve seen in high school ball.
Amesbury executes as well or better than any team in the region.
They’re small but they hit hard on both sides.
And they have a nifty QB at the controls of an offense that is tough to defend when they run it so well.
Simple formula, very tough team.
4. Gigantic props to Methuen for the win at Tewksbury on Saturday. Just a giant effort. A huge goal-line stand, some intricate well run offense and some vintage Larry Klimas Era hard-nosed defense, equal a huge victory for the program.
5. You have to feel for the Haverhill Hillies, who had Goliath Chelmsford on the ropes in the first half only to let them slip away. Coach Tim Briggs admitted that he’s got to find a way to teach his kids how to play to win games, not to play tough and come up short. You wonder what might have happened if the Hillies had their ace back Noel Figuereo. In a freak accident, Figuereo got hurt, tripping on a sprinkler head during the week. You can only hope he’s back soon.
6. You know, we can agree to disagree with the run-oriented offenses like the Salem straight-T or double wing, the Whittier bulldozer of a couple years back, the Londonderry single-win, etc. Personally, I’m not a fan. But you can’t dispute the need for some kind of alternative so when a team is down 10 points in the fourth, it can throw to get back in it. And that doesn’t mean play-action out of those sets. All those waggle/play-action passes do in that situation is give the pass rushers more time to get to the QB while he’s executing the fakes.
That said, any “spread” offensive team that doesn’t have some kind of I-formation to pound it and run clock is just as unacceptable.
7. This one comes courtesy of Salem High Statistician Emeritus Bernard Campbell, who notes that the Blue Devils 7-0 loss to Nashua South was the first time Salem had been blanked since the 2005 title game, a 7-0 defeat at the hands of Pinkerton Academy. Salem hadn’t been shut out at home since November of 2002, a 9-0 loss to Concord.
The loss to South puts a serious cramp in the Blue Devils’ playoff plans. It’s basically win out or finish up early for Salem now.
8. Gritty win of the week goes to the Timberlane Owls, who survived a visit, 13-12, against a tough flock of Keene Blackbirds.
With the Birds all over Derek Furey, it was Timberlane QB Erik Hatton who came up money with his third and fourth TD passes of the year. This one is huge as it pertains to playoff implications. Just a bigtime effort.
9. All of a sudden, the Pinkerton matchup with Brockton takes on a new luster with the Boxers knocking off EMass No. 1 St. John’s Prep this week. Three days rest just was not enough for the Eagles.
10. We will welcome Amesbury and the rest of the Port area clubs back to the rankings, now that they are on Rally North again. Both myself and scribe Dave Dyer never accepted it when the E-T chose to stop covering Amesbury. That said, I welcome you Indians to our top 10. Here are this week’s rankings:
OK, the updated Longo Top 10:
1. Pinkerton (4-1) … The best performance by the Astros in the last two years solidies the ranking.
2. Pelham (4-0) … A win without the Boss is a big, big win.
3. Amesbury (4-0) … Welcome back, boys.
4. Londonderry (4-1) … We’ll call it a bad night, and see you guys in mid-November, this time at Derry.
5. Georgetown (4-0) … The game of their lives looms Saturday.
6. Central Catholic (2-2) … Run the table, get some help and win the title. It’s the best the Raiders can hope for now.
7. Timberlane (3-2) … Hatton’s Heroes take giant step forward.
8. Pentucket (3-1) … The last time someone scored against the Sachems, Sarah Palin was known only to her neighbors in Russia.
9. North Reading (3-1) … Everybody’s allowed one bad day.
10. Methuen (2-3) … Hey Walt, can I get my seat on the bandwagon back?
Oh yeah, I got buried again in the weekend picks, I think, because as “Randy” whined last week, Dave Dyer’s picks aren’t available on line.
Memo to Randy: The paper comes out every morning. Duffy’s picks are in Thursday. It costs 75 cents, big guy. Get the medium decaf instead of the large at Dunkins and grab yourself a copy of the Trib.
That said, I will assure Dyer’s picks get on the site from here on. Randy, while an angry sort, is right.
My 9-9 is laughable, embarrassing. It had to be smothered by Dyer. Yikes.
Time to start the concession speech.
