Published in the March 22, 2021 edition.
By DAN PAWLOWSKI
WATERTOWN — Stop me if you’ve heard this before: The Wakefield High football team kicked off their Fall 2 season under a bright, 11 a.m. March sun at Victory Field in Watertown in front of a limited number of fans, 478 days after their last game.
Anyone? Ok, I’ll keep going.
The Warriors and Raiders played a competitive game down to the wire as Watertown took their first lead with two minutes remaining, eventually resulting in a 13-6 win for the home team.
Wakefield’s sophomore quarterback Javin Willis (10-for-14, 124 yards passing; 6 carries, 33 yards, 1 TD), accounted for Wakefield’s only points when he converted on a 12-yard keeper during the Warriors’ first drive of the game which went 77 yards on nine plays. Senior captain Tucker Stikeman had 27 of his 108 rushing yards on that drive.
Wakefield couldn’t break through for the rest of the game, but the defense kept them in it, specifically a front four of junior Nathan Ickes, sophomore Ian Dixon, junior Chris Amyouny and junior Luke Ickes along with middle linebackers, senior captain Danny Hurley and junior Nick Roberto.
“Those six played very well,” said Wakefield head coach John Rafferty. “Our run defense was really good. The pass defense had some difficulties making plays. Our defensive backs were there on both touchdown passes, we just couldn’t make a play. That last one, we had a deflection and it fell into their hands so that was tough.”
The Raiders only accounted for 72 yards on 25 carries. They used multiple QB’s to pass for 213 yards and junior Adam Patterson caught both of Watertown’s scores, one from 14 yards and one from 32.
Patterson’s second TD catch was initially knocked out of his hands by sophomore Lucas Kehoe but Patterson somehow relocated it on his way to the turf and ended up with one of the more impressive catches made against the Warriors in recent memory.
That capped a Watertown six-play, 70 yard drive that took under two minutes to execute and included passing plays of 14, 12, 8 and finally 32 yards to break a 6-6 tie.
Wakefield got the ball back on their own 22 yard line. Willis found his favorite target of the day, fellow sophomore Tommy Grover (5 catches, 91 yards) for 10 yards on 1st down but the Raider secondary closed up shop and locked the doors by forcing two incompletions while the pass rushers got to Willis in obvious passing down situations, ending the game on 4th-and-7 with a sack.
Dixon set the tone on the defensive line during the first drive of the game, bringing down a Raider running back for a loss of 3 on 2nd-and-8 from the Warrior 47, leading to an incompletion on 3rd down and a punt.
Wakefield’s first drive was highlighted by a 41-yard screen pass from Willis to Grover which brought the ball to the Watertown 39. Willis picked up a first down on a 3rd-and-3 and Stikeman later took an option handoff 21 yards down to the 12. The Warriors ran the option again on the next play, this time with Willis faking the handoff after reading the defense and flying up the left sideline into the end zone.
Wakefield’s point after was blocked, making it 6-0 late in the first quarter.
The Raiders put together a nice drive highlighted by a 16-yard catch on a slant by Patterson to convert on 3rd-and-9. On 1st down from the 33, Hurley got into the backfield and stuffed a run attempt, forcing the Raiders back to the air on 2nd down. Sophomore Christian Delgado earned the first turnover of the season with a diving interception to get a socially distanced Warrior sideline going again.
Stikeman kept that momentum alive with a 54-yard run down the left sideline on 2nd-and-10, exchanging his own 23-yard line for Watertown’s.
The Warriors stalled on three straight runs after that, forcing a 4th-and-6 from the 19. Hurley came in for a 36-yard field goal attempt but came up short.
Watertown, looking for points to end the half, drove 70 yards from their own 20 to set up 1st-and-goal from the 10. That’s where the Warriors made their stand, holding strong on a two-yard carry before a botched snap on 2nd down made it 3rd-and-goal from the 21. The Warriors forced two incompletions to turn it over on downs, the last throw broken up by Kehoe and fellow sophomore Ethan Margolis.
Stikeman had a 16-yard run out to Wakefield’s own 39 wiped out by a personal foul, as the Warriors then stayed conservative in the final seconds of the half, going into the break up 6-0.
Wakefield only had one three-and-out in eight drives on the day, but they had trouble stringing multiple first downs together in the second half, unable to find the red zone at all in the 3rd or 4th quarters.
“We just weren’t clicking on offense,” said Rafferty. “We ran into some unfortunate situations and couldn’t execute. Overall, I though Javin did a good job. He’s a combo threat, he was delivering the ball and running well. We just needed a little more from our offense as a group.”
After the Warriors stalled on their first drive of the 3rd, the defense gave it right back to them by forcing a three-and-out with great plays on tackles for loss by Dixon and later junior Leo Yardumian.
Mirroring their last drive, Wakefield picked up a 1st on a Willis keeper but later lost yardage on a penalty to make it 3rd-and-long and eventually another punt.
Watertown got the ball back with 2:26 left in the 3rd at their 12, finally breaking through thanks to their passing game, accounting for 67 of their 10-play 88 yard scoring drive that ended with 10 minutes left in the 4th.
The backbreaker for Wakefield was a 24-yard pass-and-catch on 3rd-and-11 from the Wakefield 47. Junior Jack Berinato saved a touchdown by making an open field tackle on a run up the middle but Patterson’s first TD grab from 14 yards out was another impressive individual effort. The PAT was missed to make it 6-6.
After three-and-outs by both teams, Wakefield got it back on their own 41 with 6:46 remaining. Grover took a pass 9 yards to the 50 and Stikeman picked up a first bringing it into Watertown territory. Willis and Grover linked up again, bringing it to the 41 but a broken play and incomplete pass made it 4th-and-5 from the 40. Willis swung a pass out to the sideline to Roberto who ran 10 yards but fumbled it at the 30. It was a close play with Wakefield’s sideline calling out that Roberto’s knee was down but the call was made, setting up Watertown’s swift, game-winning touchdown drive.
In the end, while the Warriors surely felt like they could have won it, a relatively young and inexperienced team made plenty of progress during the most unusual of circumstances.
“It was really out of the ordinary,” said Rafferty about the unique season opener. “We haven’t played a game in over a year-and-a-half and we couldn’t even travel to Watertown collectively. It was very different and I was wondering how they would adjust but they reported on time and ready to go so I was very happy to see how they adjusted to all the changes.”
Wakefield will get ready to host Wilmington this Saturday, 11 a.m. at Landrigan Field.