The boys’ football team has finished the regular season undefeated with a record of 7-0, earning the title of the Herget Division Champions for the first time since 1999 after defeating long-time adversary, Milton High School.
Each of the 7 wins came in dominating fashion as the team won them by an average of 20.5 points as the team finished the season collectively outscoring their opponents 226-55.
The team’s success also brought coach Davis the title of Patriots High School Coach of the Week, for the week of October 18.
Led by senior captains Grant Chryssicas ’17, Scott Westerman ’17, Bobby Leonhardt ’17, and Toby de Peyster ’17, the football team has beaten opponents with it’s hard nose style defence and veteran offensive line and wide receivers and hopes to continue doing the same throughout the playoffs.
Quarterback Maalik Sinclair ’19 noted that the captains have been a very valuable part of the team. “They have taught [the team] everything we need to know about being good teammates and how to work together to achieve a common goal. That is why we have been so successful this season,” he said.
Coach Jesse Davis admits that the team wasn’t perfect, however, but did note that the “first half of the Natick game was [the team’s] best showing. I feel like we played a complete game on all three phases, offense, defense, and special teams. The goal for us would be to play a complete game for all 4 quarters.”
Going into the Milton game, Davis planned on the team playing a complete game, however, he did not predict that the 4 quarters would be on two different days.
In what was definitely Wellesley’s most interesting game of the year, the team began its game against Milton on Friday, October 21 under the lights in Milton and played a rain soaked first half in front of a crowd that braved the weather and, for the majority, supported Milton.
As the game progressed, the weather got worse and the playing got sloppy. The half was filled with turnovers, missed PATs, and lots of rain. By the time the clock for the second quarter wound down, lightning was fast approaching the area which led to the game being postponed until the next day, October 22 with Wellesley losing 15-14.
Despite starting the second half of the game already down, the team’s deficit grew as Milton scored to take a 22-14 lead on its first possession. Wellesley would not back down, however, and quickly tied the game before trading touchdowns with Milton to take a 29-28 lead late in the 4th quarter.
While the Wildcats showed determination, Wellesley took a 36-28 lead that it would not relinquish on a 45 yard catch and run by Jason Maiona ’17 in the game’s final minutes to cap the perfect regular season.
With three shutouts against Framingham, Natick, and Norwood, the team finished regular season ranked 16th in the Boston Herald’s Eastern Mass. High School Football Rankings and only hopes to make that number lower in the coming weeks throughout the playoffs.
The team opened the postseason, and the brand new field, with a dominating win of 43-22 over the Hingham High School Harbormen on Saturday, October 29. Unfortunately, the team was unable to protect its number 2 seed as the Raiders fell to the Bridgewater-Raynham Trojans in a 9-0 slugfest at home on the Darcey Memorial Field.
Wellesley’s season isn’t over just yet, however, as the Raiders will take the field Thanksgiving morning, November 24th, at 10 in Needham for the 129th edition of the rivalry after playing last year’s game in Fenway Park.