Hosts Burlington in regular season finale tomorrow night at Landrigan Field
By JIM SOUTHMAYD
QB ANTHONY Cecere (#7) takes the snap from center during Friday night’s game against Stoneham. Wakefield posted a 27-0 triumph at Landrigan Field and the Warriors hope to earn their third straight win when they host Burlington tomorrow night. (Donna Larsson File Photo)
WAKEFIELD — Since returning home to Landrigan Field two weeks ago, the Wakefield Memorial High football team has posted two straight wins and both have been one-sided shutouts. However tomorrow night’s game against Burlington could be the toughest of the three for the Warriors to pull out.
Wakefield and Burlington meet in the Middlesex League Freedom division finale at Landrigan Field. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.
The Warriors are 3-3 overall on the season and 2-2 in the divisoon. The Red Devils enter the game with a 2-4 overall record and 1-3 mark in the division.
Still, Wakefield is very wary of a Burlington team that nearly upset first place Watertown last Friday night. The Red Devils were edged by the Red Raiders in the final seconds as they dropped a 36-29 game.
“Burlington gave Watertown a good game,” said Coach Mike Boyages. “They’re a very good team. Burlington is similar to us where they have improved as the season has gone on. In (the Div. 3) Northwest standings were are pretty close to each other. I think if we win, we can move up as far as the five seed and we’ll be on the road.”
While the Warriors don’t control how all the other teams in Div. 3 Northwest do this weekend, they want to win the final regular season game themselves to head into the playoffs on a roll.
“We want to go into the tournament with momentum,” said Boyages. “Our defense has posted back to back shutouts after giving up some points earlier in the year. Offensively, I’m pretty happy with the way we’re playing with the exception of a couple of things. This game will be a good measuring stick for us.
“The last two teams were power teams,” continued Boyages. “Wilmington ran more of a Wing-T type of offense. Stoneham usually went with one set with the full house backfield. But they ran more I-formation and did some different things against us. Burlington runs its offense out of multiple sets and they run the hurry-up offense with the wristbands. We need to be prepared for that.”
Burlington is led by sophomore QB Dylan Bonfilio. Bonfilio completed 21 of 37 passes for 204 yards. He was also intercepted three times. Bonfilio also scored a touchdown as he rushed nine times for 22 yards.
Two of the sophomore’s top targets are Mike DeMartinis and Jonathan Orchanian. DeMartinis made nine catches for 89 yards and Orchanian had seven catches for 43 yards in the Watertown game.
Burlington’s running game is led by running back Chenet Guerrier. Guerrier rushed for 132 yards on 24 carries and scored three touchdowns against Watertown last week.
“Burlington has a young quarterback. He’s a sophomore and he’s talented,” said Boyages. “It’s rare to see a sophomore quarterback starting. I don’t think we’ve ever done that. Burlington is a young team. (Burlington Head Coach) Shawn (Maguire) runs a power game when he has the personnel and Burlington throws the ball, too.”
The Red Devils are certainly a more balanced offense than the Wildcats or Spartans were. That will be a good test for Wakefield’s defense which has surrendered fewer than 200 total yards the past two contests.
Also this will be the last home game for the Warriors until Thanksgiving. It is unknown if Wakefield will be home the next three weeks. A lot of that will depend on where Wakefield is seeded and how it performs in the playoffs.
“It’s good to be at home,” said Boyages. “We want to finish (the regular season) with a 4-3 record and get over the .500 mark.”
