Football Friday: Lyons’ Performance One for the Record Books

What’s the first order of business for a .500 Manchester-Essex football squad as it gets set to welcome the undefeated Hamilton-Wenham Generals (5-0) in both teams' league openers Friday night? Well, finding some way to slow down Generals quarterback Trevor Lyons.

The junior signal caller was simply unstoppable in rushing for nearly 300 yards (287), and, get this – five first half touchdowns.

Just like everyone else, Hamilton-Wenham coach Andrew Morency was bowled over by the gaudy numbers, but not by the guy who posted them.

“Last year he was our ‘Mr. Everything’ as a sophomore on our championship run,” lauded the coach of Lyons, who broke TD runs of 10, 29, 40, 68 and 70 yards. “He took it to another level. I mean we’re talking about breakaways where he was so smooth and fast and quick in making the right cuts that he was untouched. It was certainly a performance for the ages.”

As good as Lyons was, the other key component in his blockbuster outing was Hamilton-Wenham’s veteran offensive line.

“It’s a very prideful group and four of the five guys are seniors,” said Morency. “These are guys who have been in every kind of battle you can imagine. Some of them were starting as sophomores when we were down, so they appreciate the good times and they know about hard work. I am very grateful to have such a cohesive unit.”

Manchester-Essex (3-3) comes into this one with three wins, but those victories came over three teams – Saugus (23-19), North Shore Tech (28-7) and Austin Prep (21-18) who have a combined three wins between them. The Hornets were handled, 26-7, last week by a strong Northeast Regional club (4-1), which held Manchester-Essex to just 85 yards of total offense.

“They are a very aggressive program that plays very hard,” said Morency. “They’re a scrappy group with a veteran offensive line and they have an outstanding quarterback in Cody Burnham and a strong running back in Jake Fitzgerald.

“The kids are just so hungry to get it started and they know what’s at stake,” Morency added of the CAL/NEC Tier 4 opener for both clubs. “The kids are definitely ready to roll."

, Friday 7 p.m.

The Pick: H-W, 35-7. Command performance by Generals in conference opener.

Red-Hot Chieftains Pose Powerful Test for Peabody

Last week’s huge win by Masconomet over Beverly only further cemented the respect Scott Wlasuk already had for the 3-3 Chieftains who entertain 3-2 Peabody Friday night in West Boxford in a huge NEC/CAL Tier 1 tilt. Initially, that respect was instilled in the Peabody coach by simply turning on his DVD player.

“When I put the game tape in I thought I made a mistake and put in an ESPN college game, because I saw this big kid for them making plays on both sides of the ball,” said Wlasuk with a chuckle, speaking of the Chieftains’ 6-foot-3, 230-pound fullback and linebacker Kurt Hunziker, who headlines a large and physical Chieftains squad.

“They have some good size and you can tell that they are tough, aggressive kids,” said Wlasuk, who is also very wary of the rest of the Masconomet backfield, which includes rugged 6-foot-3 signal caller Ben Panuzio and shifty tailback Mike Tivinis.

“I’m very impressed with (Tivinis) and Panuzio is another guy who looks like a college player out there."

After starting out 1-3, the Chieftains have won their last two, beating Gloucester, 20-15, before last week’s 24-7 upset of Beverly.

“For them to win on the road at Beverly was pretty impressive," said Wlasuk. "I know they will have a lot of momentum going into Friday night.”

Through three quarters last Saturday in Revere, the Tanners also looked like they would take plenty of momentum into the contest. The Tanners held a seemingly commanding 17-0 lead over the hosts in both teams’ league opener only to watch it unravel in a horrific haze of onside kick recoveries (2), muffed punt returns and a slew of other haunting mishaps. that even horror film maven Wes Craven couldn’t have scripted.

With low numbers anyway, Peabody was severely hamstrung last Saturday due to the loss of seven players, including five starters, due to an off-field incident the weekend before. Pursuant to MIAA guidelines that mandate suspensions for a third of the season for the first offense, all seven will miss the next two games as well.

For Wlasuk, who unfailingly signs off with a reminder to his players not to do “anything stupid" over the weekend that might jeopardize the entire team each Friday night, it was a crushing blow. What the coach took plenty of solace in, however, was the character that his undermanned and resilient squad showed as they played what he thought was probably the Tanners' best football game for three quarters, as they dominated a 4-1 Patriots club.

“For what they did -- going over to Revere undermanned like that and taking on a Revere team that was really rolling -- I was very proud of them,” said Wlasuk. “I think we may have got a little worn down there in the end, but they all played their hearts out. I had kids in positions they had never played, but they all left it on the field.”

Peabody at Masconomet, Friday 7 p.m.

The Pick: Peabody, 24-22. The Tanners’ season can go either north or south Friday in West Boxford. “North” is the choice here if the Tanners can win the battle in the trenches.

Panthers pose huge test for Falcons in league opener

Suffice it to say there will be no easing into conference play this week for Sean Rogers’ Danvers football team as the Falcons host defending Division 3 Super Bowl champion Beverly.

A year after posting their historic postseason run, many feel that this year's Panthers squad could be potentially even stronger. The good news for Falcons fans is that the Panthers (4-2) displayed a rare chink in their armor last week as Beverly was upset by Masconomet, 24-7, at home.

Rogers, for one, is not taking too much stock in that result, however.

“Even in that loss you could see that they are still a very powerful team; they just had some things that didn’t go their way,” said the coach. “It easily could have been a different outcome, but the ball wasn’t bouncing their way.”

One of the big keys to stopping Beverly is finding a way to contain its well-oiled Wing-T attack that is predicated on misdirection and ball fakes. It's an offense run to perfection by offensive coordinator Roger Day, who ran the same set for many years with Danvers.

“Roger runs it in such a complex way with all his shifting that it’s tough to mirror in practice,” said Rogers, who coached with Day in Danvers on head coach John Sullivan’s staff in his first two season in Danvers.

Beverly has a slew of backs led by Brendan Flaherty, Kenny Pierce, Dom Abate and Nick Theriault, all capable of putting up big numbers behind a very active offensive line.

There were few positives to be gleaned for Danvers from last week’s 34-8 thrashing at the hands of Triton, which saw the Vikings (4-2) amass more than 300 yards of offense in the first half alone and never look back from there. Nick Valles (96 yards rushing) posted the lone Danvers score on a 14-yard scoring strike from QB Paul Nicolo.

“They were as good as advertised and I thought our kids were outplayed in situations where they really should have not been. I though they outcoached us as well,” said Rogers candidly.

Things start anew Friday, however, as the Falcons finally get into conference play in what looks to be a very competitive NEC/CAL Tier 2 division.

“I expect it is going to come down to Thanksgiving to see who is going to win the division,” said Rogers.

Beverly at Danvers, Friday 7 p.m.

The Pick: Beverly, 28-21. Falcons will be ready for this one, but it's hard to see Panthers dropping two in a row.

Swampscott looking to cast spell on Witches in league opener

Trailing Malden, 16-6, Friday night midway through the second quarter, Swampscott coach Steve Dembowski got the very rare opportunity to go home, get some dinner, a little sleep, and figure out a way to come back and erase the deficit the following night in Malden.

That was the bizarre scenario the Big Blue coach and his players found themselves in last weekend as their game was halted due to lightning in the second quarter and completed the following evening with the .

“We did some very small tweaks (between days), but there’s not a lot you can do without practicing,” said Dembowski of the unusual situation. "You have to give Malden a lot of credit, especially on the second day of the game. They had some match-up advantages on us whom they really exploited and their running back (O’Shane McCreath, 221 rushing yards) did a real good job of breaking some tackles.”

One bright spot in the loss was the play of A.J. Baker, who did just about everything both days for Swampscott other than thwart the lightning Friday night. The senior was not only on the receiving end of all three Swampscott scores, but also hauled in a pair of Malden passes on defense to go along with nine tackles and a fumble recovery.

The loss was the first of the year for Swampscott (5-1), which equaled its non-conference mark from a year ago.

“It’s always difficult to lose your first game and everyone always has the dream of going undefeated,” said Dembowski. “In all reality though we have to schedule these teams like Malden because schools are own size won’t play us and that was our only alternative.”

There will be no ducking Swampscott the rest of the way as the Big Blue open up their NEC/CAL Tier 2 slate Friday night in Salem. The Witches come in at 1-5 and have lost their last three, but have some major weapons starting with junior quarterback Christian Dunston.

“Dunston reminds me of a young Tyllor MacDonald,” Dembowski said in reference to the former two-way threat at QB for Lynn English. “He’s two dimensional and very quick and explosive.  I like their running backs and they have a big offensive line; I just think they have not been able to put it all together for a whole game.”

Swampscott at Salem, Friday 7 p.m.

The Pick: Swampscott, 35-14. Big win for Big Blue in league opener.