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Clippers open CAL Small chase against H-W

Friday, October, 05 By John Shimer
Staff writer

Five seconds last week was all that stood between Newburyport and a brilliant 3-1 start to the 2007 campaign. Unfortunately for the Clippers a lot can happen in those precious last few seconds, especially when your opponent is on your 6-yard line. That was all the time Jordan Silva needed to find Justin Bolla for Pentucket's game winning touchdown pass.

At 2-2, Newburyport's prospects still look bright though and a CAL Small crown is still on the table to be had as the Clippers open league play with Hamilton-Wenham tonight. However, those Generals are certainly one of the teams in the Small division that hope to lay claim to that title. With North Reading, who has played somewhat of a cupcake schedule thus far, as the only other team above a .500 winning percentage in the Small, the winner of the Clippers-Generals clash would almost certainly have the inside positioning to take the division.

For Newburyport coach Ed Gaudiano the way to get over last week's disappointment is to start a new winning streak. "Those kind of losses happen and you just have to put them behind you as quickly as possibly, which I think we have done with a good week of practice," Gaudiano said. "Hamilton-Wenham has shown that they are going to be quite problematic this week with the way they have played to this point, only losing to Masconomet (one of only two 4-0 teams in the entire CAL) on a busted play at the end of the game." Like Newburyport, the Generals have a balanced attack that starts with their two-headed monster power-I rushing game headlined by Nate Masterson and finished off by Jake Cotter, both two-year starters.

"They throw a lot of formations at you from the power-I to a more spread out one back, four wide receiver look," said Gaudiano of the diverse Hamilton-Wenham offense. "What we are going to try and do is put a lot of guys in the box to force them to go in the spread looks to beat us."

Captain Chris Barry said the key to having a good game defensively will be making the appropriate adjustments. "They have a lot of good weapons and a balanced attack, so we need to make the right check down play calls when they come out in different formations," Barry said. "When they show power-I we hope to flood the box with bodies, but when they spread it out we will probably drop back into zone." Offensively Gaudiano's gang hopes to institute a balanced attack to slow down the Generals and eat up clock.

"We want to run right up the middle against their 4-4 looks to open up things for the rest of our offense," said Clipper quarterback Joe Clancy, one of the true breakout stars thus far in the in the CAL in this young season. "We then want to get our short passing game going focussing on some screen passing and our 1-v-1 outside attack. That will hopefully open up one or two chances to go deep down field for big plays."