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Lynnfield Pioneers Football '16

Thu, Nov 24, 2016 10:00 AM @ Lynnfield
Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
North Reading 3 0 7 11 21
Lynnfield 7 0 7 6 20

Hornets rally to beat Lynnfield

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Thursday, November, 24 By Mike McMahon

LYNNFIELD — The writing was on the wall for North Reading. 
With the Hornets trailing by four points, area rushing leader Matt McCarthy was lost to a left leg injury on the first play of the third quarter. 
The Hornets were forced to punt and on the ensuing drive, Lynnfield’s Matt Mortellite hit Louie Ellis on a 60-yard touchdown strike down the right sideline.
But the Hornets showed no quit, chipping away at the deficit. A Bob O’Donnell 39-yard field goal with about four minutes left, proved to be the difference in a 21-20 win for the Hornets.
On a day full of heroes, O’Donnell was perhaps the biggest, making the two field goals and finishing with 14 tackles, including one sack, as well as serving a critical role blocking on the right side of the offensive line when John Merullo went in for McCarthy.
“(O’Donnell) never comes off the field,” said North Reading coach Jeff Wall, whose club finished 9-2. “Sometimes he might come close to the sideline to get a water, but he never crosses that white line. He’s amazing, I don’t know how he does it.
“This is a really special group of players. They never quit.”
With McCarthy sidelined for the second half and the Hornets trailing by 11 points, North Reading put the ball in the hand of another senior, Merullo, who rushed for 100 yards on 16 carries, almost all of which came after McCarthy’s injury.
“It was tough seeing Matt go down,” Merullo said. “I just went in there and tried to do my best to win it for him. That’s what we were all trying to do, we were out there trying to win it for him.”
North Reading’s first touchdown came late in the third quarter. On fourth down, Kyle Bythrow scrambled to his right and avoided a sack before finding Jake Bedell, who broke off his route to get open. O’Donnell rushed for a two-point conversion to make it 14-11.
Bob Donohue blocked a punt on the first play of the fourth quarter, setting up a Merullo 3-yard touchdown run to give the Hornets an 18-14 lead.
North Reading forced Lynnfield to punt again on its next possession before storming down field 74 yards on eight plays. O’Donnell took the field on fourth and 10, kicking the 39-yarder.
“You have to block out the noise,” O’Donnell said. “I’ve kicked some like that in practice maybe, but that one was special.”
With four minutes left in the game, the Pioneers had what they thought was a game-tying touchdown with 2:39 remaining when Matt Mortellite hit Louie Ellis on a back-shoulder throw for 30 yards, but the PAT narrowly missed.
North Reading ran down the clock on its next possession, punting on fourth-and-1 with 1:52 remaining, but North Reading safety Ryan Edison sealed the win with an interception.

Game Statistics:

First Quarter

L — Anthony Murphy 1 run (Liam Fabbri kick), 7:04

NR — Bob O’Donnell 25 field goal, 0:12

Third Quarter

L — Louie Ellis 60 pass from Matt Mortellite (Fabbri kick), 6:14

NR — Jake Bedell 21 pass from Kyle Bythrow (O’Donnell run) 1:46

Fourth Quarter

NR — John Merullo 3 run (O’Donnell kick), 9:57

NR — O’Donnell 39 field goal, 4:26

L — Ellis 30 pass from Mortellite (kick missed), 2:39

 


INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING: NO. READING — John Merullo 16-100, Matt McCarthy 11-92, Kyle Bythrow 11-39; LYNNFIELD — Anthony Murphy 16-57, Matt Mortellite 4-51, Nick Kinnon 2-17, Tyler Murphy 1-3, Michael Palmer 1-1.

PASSING: NO. READING — Kyle Bythrow 3-11-0, 58; LYNNFIELD — Matt Mortellite 17-33-1, 244

RECEIVING: NO. READING — Michael Mikula 2-37, Jake Bedell 1-21; LYNNFIELD — Louie Ellis 9-175, Nick Kinnon 4-26, Kyle Hawes 3-20, Anthony Murphy 1-23

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