First off, it’s yet another stellar weekend on the gridiron. And boom, baby, I pick up two games on Dave Dyer.
An inside for the unfunny E-T staffer, who chooses to mock me, accuse me of not counting my losses correctly then tee-heeing from his little corner desk about the blog: Dave had four losers (Pinkerton, Londonderry, Andover and Lawrence) and I had two (Central and Lynn Tech).
The lead is now 6, even if you choose to ridicule my selections big fella. Have a little class and enjoy the competition like Duffy does instead of going on the attack.
Random thoughts, before we hit the football field hard:
The Christmas Tournament is moving to Lawrence High School from North Andover. At first gasp, I like it. Show off the $120 million monument to education. Bring people in. Now, it’s time for LHS to shine. Tim Finn’s crew did itself proud last year, hosting the Lowell-Everett state tourney showdown. Take advantage of what Lawrence now has to offer, I like it.
CC coach Rick Nault reports the big time programs continue to flow into the city to look at Carson Desrosiers. Michigan and LSU are expected this week.
Some tough news on the Raider alum front where a fractured foot will keep Jonathan Cruz out of action until late December at Quinnipiac.
Wow!!!! That was Andover’s Brendan Smith, turning the Big-10 on its ear with a stirring interception return for a TD lifting Northwestern over Top-25 foe Minnesota. You have to love it. Ataboy Brendan.
Speaking of Andover products, did anyone catch Buddy Farnham’s Saturday work for Brown on the nationally-televised game on Versus? I only saw the first TD for Buddy, who finished with a pair of scores, 6 catches in all for 120 yards in the big win over Penn. Nice job.
One non-sports observation. What has happened to the folks at Peter Paul. My son Ollie hit an area relatively the size of some small Texas towns for Halloween, raking in an amazing haul of KitKats, Crunch’s and Milky Ways. But there wasn’t a Mounds, Almond Joy or York Peppermint Patty in the pillow case.
What’s going on here? I can’t make it through a Halloween season without my Almond Joy.
I don’t give out stock tips often, but sell your shares in the company before this quarterly report hits.
No Almond Joys, unbelievable!
By the way, folks in my hood. Enough with the Dum Dums pops and Smarties. Step it up a little.
Touching on pro sports: I know it’s like the regular season hockey, it means so little, but I always have and still take great pleasure in watching the Celtics every second I can.
That said, I find it nearly impossible to watch any other regular season game that doesn’t involve the Cs. Hey Doc, 30 minutes a night for the big 3, please!!!!
You don’t need 66 wins. 55 will do. Don’t beat them up. Thanks.
Are we about to witness the end of Peyton Manning’s Era. He looks as bad right now, at 32, as Brett Favre does with the Jets, at 62. (I know Favre isn’t 62, it’s sarcasm folks!) Don’t you get the feeling Bill Belichick is readying to reveal that ugly fact about Manning to the nation Sunday night?
Turned on the Bruins for 30 seconds Saturday night. There was a third-period melee in process. Even my 8-year-old wasn’t interested. Hockey in HD is great. Regular-season hockey in HD still prompts yawns from this corner, especially with Jack Edwards’ part play-by-play/part salesman work on NESN. He actually queried out loud, in the first period of the scoreless tie at Edmonton this week, “And we get paid to watch this?” Wow.
Now to the high school gridiron:
Great to see a little life in the Methuen-Central rivalry again. Somewhere Larry Klimas is smiling, although I’m not sure he’d be such a staunch backer in Pat Graham’s spread offense.
A couple thoughts on the Ranger win.
My lasting image of Friday night is watching Central linebacker Jimmy Haddad, who clearly has some physical issues, somehow getting back into coverage 30 yards downfield, laying out with a backwards dive, and thwarting a sure Ranger TD pass.
Central coach Marc Pelletier was right by me, and said, “He’s not getting up,” from the incredible play, yet Haddad somehow scrapes himself back to the turf and gingerly walks back to the sideline.
Coach Chuck Adamopoulos asks him, you all right? Haddad, a warrior in the truest sense, nods affirmatively, gritting through the pain, and jogs out to the offensive huddle.
What a moment! You know the kid was in agony but he just had to compete.
Just awesome, Jimmy.
And people ask me why I watch these games from the sidelines.
If you get to one of the final three Methuen games, watch, or I should say, listen, to Ranger punter Justin Marsan. The thud of his foot crunching the football, is almost a yelp from the pigskin getting punished. It sounds like a bigtime kick. The kid is a pure athlete.
Seen the Rangers twice now, and that’s a team with a bunch of playmakers. Both Bartletts steal the show on offense, but Joenrry Acosta and Pat Phillion rival any two receiving tandems out there, and you folks know how good I feel Lawrence’s Demetri Brown and Mike Calzetta are.
Up front on defense, Josue Henriquez and Pat O’Leary always seem to be around the football.
Put O’leary in that pound-for-pound contest with anyone. Could the Rangers make it interesting on Turkey Day? Still have to get through Haverhill and Andover first.
Graham showed me a lot after the game with his thoughts on his two-platoon system. The second-year coach raised some eyebrows in the City known as the Town of Methuen when he chose to use his players on just one side of the football this fall.
Some Ranger folks grumbled.
But it clearly has paid dividends, even Friday night.
“Central was tired, you could see it,” said Graham afterward. That wasn’t the part that got me.
It’s the fact that Graham is willing to adjust, adapt and improvise, depending on his situation.
He’s not married to it.
“It’s not something, unless we get the numbers up, that we could do every year,” said Graham, “but right now it’s working for us. We have a lot of seniors.”
Graham hopes to be able to do it in the future, but he’s realistic. And that matters most for coaches.
On a serious note, best wishes go out to Eric Guinto, who suffered what looked like, according to our reports, a bad knee injury Saturday against Manchester Central.
Without Guinto in the mix, Division 1 goes from a Pinkerton coronation to a wild four-team playoff shootout. If Pinkerton pulls it off, it’s one of the great victories in a long line of them for Brian O’Reilly’s crew.
Every time I walk on the field at Pentucket to watch the Sachems, I’m amazed by how much Steve Hayden extracts out of his players.
Clearly, these kids believe in the system, the wing-T offense, and their staff.
Pentucket might be the best technical team I’ve seen this year on both sides of the ball, and that says a lot, because I didn’t think anyone could execute like Amesbury did.
That was a major victory against Lawrence Saturday.
Matt Fiore gave the Lancers fits all day up front, and the Sachems took care of business.
All of a sudden, maybe it’s not a cakewalk in the CAL large as expected for Masco.
Friday night could be a good one at Roberts Field.
OK, finally, one man’s top 10, updated and early for once:
1. Timberlane (6-2) … I’ll stand by the assertion that this is the best team in the Granite State right now.
2. Pelham (8-0) … Another gritty win without Vieira, what’s not to like?
3. Georgetown (7-0) … Don’t look now, boys, but Newburyport is gaining on you.
4. Pinkerton (6-3) … No one-liners here. The sure-to-be No. 1 seeds are really hurting as the Division 1 playoffs loom.
5. Londonderry (6-3) … There is clearly work to do if a playoff run is in order.
6. Amesbury (7-1) … A business-like effort on Friday night.
7. Methuen (4-4) … Coach Graham set this club’s goal this week at 7-4. Friday night was a big step in that direction.
8. Whittier Tech (6-2) … Yeah, the CAC is down, but the wins keep coming for KB’s Cats.
9. Central (4-4) … There’s something to be said for slugging it out week after week in the MVC.
10. Pentucket (5-3) … The musical chairs game continues here in the bottom spot.
