Willis, Warriors air it out in 28-6 win over Stoneham

THE WARRIORS got to celebrate their first win over Stoneham since 2016 when they beat the Spartans 28-6 on Friday night at Landrigan Field. Pictured, Javin Willis (261 passing yards, 4 TD’s) celebrates his first of two TD passes to Steven Woish (8). (Brian Cusack Photo)

 

By DAN PAWLOWSKI

WAKEFIELD — For years, Wakefield football has been searching for that one, program-altering win.

On Friday night against the reigning Middlesex League Freedom Division champion Stoneham Spartans – a team consistently at the top of the league, with a recent Super Bowl title and without a loss to Wakefield since 2016 ­– the Warriors left no doubts that they had found it, putting on an absolute show in front of their home fans with a dominant 28-6 win to move to 4-0 on the season.

“It was a big win for the program,” agreed Wakefield head coach John Rafferty. “It’s been quite awhile since Wakefield has beaten Stoneham. It was great for these kids to get over the hump.”

Rafferty, who served as Stoneham’s defensive coordinator from 2015 to 2017 under head coach Bob Almeida, left his old friend still searching for career victory number 200.

With plenty of local media at Landrigan Field ready to write about Almeida’s 200^th, the headlines were forced to autocorrect to another name: Willis.

Wakefield’s senior captain and third year starting quarterback Javin Willis had been waiting for this opportunity for years. And on Friday night, Rafferty and his staff let their leader go get it.

Willis completed 10 of 12 passes for 261 yards and 4 TD’s.

The highlights included a 92-yard TD pass to fellow senior captain Ian Dixon which gave the Warriors a shocking 14-0 lead late in the first half and a 66-yard TD pass to junior Steven Woish on the first play of the second half to make it 21-0.

That score, the third Willis TD of the game, was the cause of action in a case the Warriors had been emphatically building all night. Wakefield was fine with Stoneham playing their classic style of smashmouth, keep-away football. There’s not much an opponent can change about that. But rather than try to beat them at their own game, Wakefield’s strategy was to use their talented QB and pass catchers to win their one-on-one matchups and attack.

“Stoneham is going to control the ball and the clock, so offensively you have to make the most of your limited opportunities,” said Rafferty. “We figured, ‘If we’re going to be aggressive, we need to be really aggressive.’”

Stoneham had the ball for 20:36 of the 24 minutes in the first half. Wakefield still led 14-0 at halftime.

Five different receivers caught a pass from Willis. For three of them, each catch they made was for a score. Woish (2 catches, 71 yards, 2 TD’s) also opened the scoring with a 5-yard TD catch, Dixon had one catch for 92 yards and a touchdown and sophomore Ian Christie had one catch, an 8-yard TD from Willis which made it 28-0 late in the third.

Willis’s favorite target was senior captain Christian Delgado who had 5 catches for 88 yards including an exciting 40-yard connection down the left sideline in front of the Red Sea student section decked out in black on the first drive which set the tone and led to an early lead, another key in beating a possession team like Stoneham.

Of course, beating an Almeida Spartan team is a three-phase endeavor. Even if your offense can execute perfectly against a stout defense, which the Warriors did, scoring a touchdown on four of their six drives, you still have the matter of keeping Stoneham’s successful and deliberate rushing attack off of the scoreboard, something the Warriors did early by making two massive 4^th-down stops on Stoneham’s first two drives of the game.

All together, Stoneham had two turnovers on downs, an interception, a punt and one touchdown in five possessions.

“Collectively, the defense hung together,” said Rafferty. “You don’t stop Stoneham’s offense. It’s more of a war of attrition. You have to make them work for it and play as sound as you can. You can’t sit back, you have to attack them.”

Stoneham’s first drive, which lasted 7:20 ended on the Warrior 31 when Dixon exploded into the backfield from his defensive end spot to bring down a runner behind the line of scrimmage on 4^th-and-3. That led to a five-play, two-minute, 69 yard drive culminating in Willis and Woish’s first TD’s and a 7-0 lead.

Stoneham’s second drive lasted 9:48. It was a classic, yard-by-yard possession, one that felt all but inevitable to end in six, but Wakefield’s defense held strong and forced a 4^th and 8 from the 10 after defensive backs, senior captain Nathan Delgado (9 carries, 58 yards) and senior Bobby DeFeo (8 carries, 29 yards) who double as Wakefield’s thunder and lightning RB duo, defended a rare Spartan pass well. Senior linebacker Max Cusack then read a pitch attempt to the right sideline and beat the runner to the edge finishing with a huge hit to force another turnover-on-downs and get the Wakefield bench going. It was a win for the under-the-radar hard work of linemen like Dixon, senior Kaiden Johnson, juniors Joe LaMonica and Mark Letchford and sophomore Cade Esposito.

Pinned on their own 6, Willis and the offense stayed in the air.

A 2-yard screen to Nathan Delgado wasn’t meant for breathing room as much as was a set up to the next play, the most exciting of the night. On 2^nd and 8 from the 8, Willis pump faked on an identical screen to Christian Delgado, getting a Stoneham cornerback to bite and leaving Dixon one-on-one down the left sideline with a recovering safety trying to catch up. Willis perfectly led his classmate and Dixon did the rest, making the catch, shedding the safety’s tackle and rumbling 92 yards to pay dirt in front of a shaking Landrigan.

That play, more than any other in recent Wakefield football history, made a statement that this year’s team could be special.

After Woish picked off a deep pass attempt by Stoneham’s Jason Nutting, the Warriors cruised into the locker room with a two-score lead.

The Willis to Woish 66-yard TD on the first play of the second half answered the question of whether the Warriors would change their gameplan to cater to a lead. They didn’t.

Choosing to capture momentum immediately was a smart move as the Wakefield defense followed by forcing an even more rare Stoneham three-and-out.

Wakefield’s offense then put the game out of reach, leaning on Nathan Delgado and DeFeo’s running to put together a 12-play, 66-yard drive in nearly nine minutes, ending in Christie’s TD catch on 3^rd-and-goal from the 8, a 28-0 Wakefield lead.

The end result sent Stoneham to 3-1 and Wakefield to 4-0. But perhaps more importantly, like their first Thanksgiving win over Melrose since 2011 last season, the Warriors accomplished something that made their fan base, their school and their community overwhelmingly proud. That much was more than evident on Friday night at Landrigan Field.

“I’m not sure about the community at large,” said Rafferty, the Wakefield native and former Warrior football standout. “But my community is this football team and I know the effect it had on them. It was significant. Afterwards, I told them, ‘Enjoy it, congratulations, it’s a great accomplishment but now it’s over, it’s time to move on.’”

The Warriors will move on to 2-2 Burlington this week who they will host this Friday night at 6 p.m.