LYNNFIELD — It may have taken nearly a full quarter to get there, but once the Lynnfield High football team put it in gear, there was no stopping the No. 1 Pioneers (7-1) as they rolled to a 34-6 win over No. 8 seed Bedford in the quarterfinals of the Division 5 North tournament at Pioneer Stadium.
Quarterback Matt Mortellite scored two touchdowns and threw for another, completed 11 of 19 passes for 173 yards while picking up 90 rushing yards on five carries.
Lynnfield now sets its sights on the winner of today’s game at Wellesley High between No. 4 Weston (5-2) and No. 5 Newburyport (3-3).
“You just don’t know which is the advantage, playing someone you know or someone you don’t because every game is different,” Lynnfield coach Neal Weidman said. “It’s something you can’t control, so all you can do is prepare the best for whoever you play. Tonight, we did have some dropped passes again and probably have three or four things, mistakes that we need to cut down to one or two and if we do that we should be alright.”
Neither team started well as the first quarter was marred by a combined eight penalties.
“I think both teams took so many penalties for offside in that first quarter and probably was due to it being the first playoff game and some kids were just jittery, but overall it was definitely better than last week and it feels great to be on to the next round,” said Weidman.
Lynnfield scored on its first possession to take a 7-0 lead on a 3-yard touchdown run by Anthony Murphy (8 carries, 45 yards) and extra point by Nick Kinnon (4 catches, 50 yards) just two-and-one minutes into the game. A blocked punt by Harry Collins set up the score, giving the Pioneers a short field at the Bedford 20-yard line.
After that, it was slow going for both teams until the Pioneers caught fire in the second quarter, scoring on their first three possessions to take a commanding 28-0 lead into halftime.
Mortellite capped an 85-yard drive with a 17 yard scramble into the end zone to bump the Pioneers’ lead to 13-0. The drive was set up by Zachery Huynh, who picked off a Peter Kapanides’ pass for the first interception of his career.
Huynh then recovered a Bedford fumble, giving the ball back to Lynnfield at its 19. The Pioneers drove 81 yards in five plays, with Mortellite waltzing into the end zone from 45 yards. Look added the 2-point conversion (from Mortellite) to make it 21-0.
Lynnfield’s defense stepped up and got a big fourth down stop after Bedford had driven to the Pioneers’ 30. Tyler Murphy (4 carries, 39 yards) capped a 3-play 70-yard drive with a 20 yard scamper to make it a 28-0 game after Kinnon’s extra point.
Mortellite found Kinnon from 33 yards out to cap the scoring with 5:01 left in the third quarter.