LYNNFIELD —  It’s often said that it doesn’t matter how you start, it matters how you finish.

Such was the case Thursday morning at Pioneer Stadium for the annual Thanksgiving Day clash against archrival North Reading. It was anyone’s game at halftime with Lynnfield clinging to a 14-0 lead, but the Pioneers turned it on in the second half, putting up 20 unanswered points to walk away with a solid 34-0 win, their second straight against the Hornets on Turkey Day.

Lynnfield head coach Pat Lamusta said Thanksgiving Day is all about the seniors and community.

“Other than a Super Bowl, winning on Thanksgiving Day is the ultimate gift you can give to the seniors,” he said. “Thanksgiving is such a valuable thing in terms of the program and the community. A lot of kids came out today and I got to see a lot of alumni, which is always nice. Winning on Thanksgiving is always what you try to do and when you do win, you can see what a great thing it is to everyone.”

The game began with a special tribute to the state champion boys soccer team. Players arrived on a trolley after a rolling parade through the streets of Lynnfield and were introduced to the crowd before the game started.

But, back to the game.

Jared Bernabei had a big day on the ground, grinding his way to 94 rushing yards on eight carries. Madux Iovinelli had three receptions for 42 yards. Tyler Adamo (8-of-13, 128 yards, TD) electrified the crowd with a 92-yard quarterback keeper to get the Pioneers on the board in the second quarter. Massimo LoGrasso was perfect on extra points, converting all four attempts.

Quinn Hardisty had a monster game at nose guard, sacking Hornets’ quarterback Jason Berry three times to stall drives.

“He’s just been tremendous all year,” Lamusta said. “Being such a disruptive player in pretty much every game means the other team always had to adjust to Quinn. He just came back this year with a fury. He has great hands and great leverage and does a great job tracking the ball, so he was so awesome and you saw that this year.”

Both teams struggled in the first quarter, but Lynnfield heated up in the second. Adamo had dropped back to pass, and looked to be dead in the water, until he found a hole near the left sideline and turned on the jets 92 yards to put the Pioneers on top 7-0. Niccolo Antidormi made it a 14-0 game on the Pioneers’ next drive, scampering in from 3 yards out.

Lynnfield bumped the lead to 21-0 on an Adamo to Jesse Dorman 26-yard strike in the third quarter. The Pioneers capped the scoring with two more TDs in the final quarter, the first a 25-yard run by A.J. Chiaradonna and second a 10-yard run by Spenser D’Augusta.

“The way A.J. came in and pounded the ball at the end when we needed it was great,” Lamusta said. “And Spencer has been chirping all year about playing offense. That was a great way to end the season.”

While most times, it’s the offense that gets noticed, Lamusta felt his defense got the job done in a big way.

George Lambrose just had an awesome day defensively,” Lamusta said. “They had good receivers and those yellow and red zone pass deflections were big. Ethan Francis jumped in at safety with Kyle Schmitz was down and did an awesome job at safety today. Niccolo stepped up at outside linebacker. Anthony Morales has kind of been the heart and soul of this team [and] was banged up from the Hudson game and just came in and just played super physical. Spenser D’Augusta was great in the defensive backfield and did an awesome job as well.”

Lamusta also gave a shout out to David Tracy.

“David is a role model and has been awesome for us on special teams, and he got in at quarterback and got that fourth down conversion for us which was huge at that time in the game,” he said.

With the season now in the rear view mirror, Lamusta reflected on what he considers one of his team’s most important core values.

“We wanted to be good sports but still play very physical, and we improved on that tremendously this year,” Lamusta said. “It’s important for us that when the referees walk away, they see that Lynnfield is all about good sportsmanship. That was important for us this year and we want it every year.”