Wakefield Sports
Warrior football returns home for crucial tilt against Watertown
Published in the October 20, 2017 edition By DAN PAWLOWSKI WAKEFIELD — The Warriors are finally coming home to Landrigan Field after four long weeks on the road. It was an up-and-down four games for the 2-4 Warriors as their only win came in a dominating performance over Burlington on Oct. 6. Wakefield lost to Wilmington, Stoneham and Woburn during their road tour around the Middlesex League. It’s a good thing none of that matters anymore. Wakefield hasn’t played at Landrigan since their September 15 victory against Winchester. The long layoff, combined with the playoff implications for the Warriors means that fans can expect a supercharged atmosphere complete with a swelling Red Sea student section. Wakefield is currently the eight seed in the Division 4 North bracket. If the season ended now, the Warriors would travel to Melrose to face the top-seeded Red Raiders in the first round next week. A win over Watertown would bump Wakefield up past number seven Dracut who has a bye this week, and would most likely send the Warriors to Marblehead for the first round. While a loss won’t necessarily eliminate Wakefield from the playoffs, as 1-5 Revere sits behind them with a tough matchup against Somerville tonight, the Warriors would like to leave no doubts. Watertown (3-3) comes to Landrigan on a two-game losing streak. They lost to Wilmington, 32-17, two weeks ago, and dropped a close contest to Stoneham, 27-23, last week. The Raiders have a dynamic offense with playmakers like RB Mange Camara and WR John Korte who will keep Wakefield’s defense busy. “Camara is one of the fastest players in the Middlesex League. We have to identify where he is at all times,” said Wakefield head coach Steve Cummings. “We can not afford to let him loose in our secondary. They do a nice job of moving him around. He will be at tailback one play and then split out wide on the next. Coach Cacace does a great job of trying to utilize his skill set in different ways.” Stoneham kept Camara at bay last week, which only opened the door for more weapons like senior co-captain running back Matt Muldrew who rushed for 50 yards and a touchdown. Watertown’s defense has given up an average of 27.3 points per game over their six contests, which means the Wakefield offense should be able to move the ball either on the ground with running backs Ryan Fitzpatrick and Henry Stikeman, or through the air with quarterback Mike Lucey. Wakefield advanced the ball well enough against Woburn last week, especially in the first half when they moved the chains five times during their first two drives. The problem was turning those yards into points, as the Warriors surly emphasized sustaining drives during practice this week. Wakefield’s secondary including Fitzpatrick, Andrew Miller and Michael O’Keefe, will have its hands full like never before with the 6’3 Korte, who has been a menace to cornerbacks all season. “He’s probably the best wide receiver in the Middlesex League,” said Cummings. “Tall, fast, great sense of field space, great catch radius. They like to dial up combo routes where they can clear him into open space and he’s not afraid to go over the middle and catch the ball.” Wakefield beat Watertown last year in overtime,...
read moreSixteen Wakefield residents run the Chicago Marathon
Published in the October 19, 2017 edition CHICAGO — Sixteen runners represented Wakefield at the 40th annual Chicago Marathon on Oct. 8, 2017. The race is the fourth-largest race by number of finishers worldwide, with 45,000 runners. The top time amongst Wakefield runners belonged to Lisa Deguglielmo at 3:36:37. The rest of the Wakefield participants included: Paul Bouchard (4:35:14), Allison Brody (5:21:15), Erik Cann (3:56:44), Dawn Damiano (4:34:34), Thuy Dang (5:53:13), Melissa Fulkerson (5:04:31), Julie Smith-Galvin (5:27:34), Nicole Jacob, Glen Joesphson (3:42:24), Matthew Kerton (4:00:27), Nicole Lee (4:28:41), Sherry Morrison, Krissy Nowell, Mary O’Connell (6:20:56) and Lori Rivas...
read moreWMHS Hockey Fundraiser with Jim Plunkett tomorrow night
Published in the October 19, 2017 edition WAKEFIELD — The WMHS hockey team is hosting a fundraiser tomorrow night. Come sing along with Jim Plunkett at the Wakefield Elks from 8 p.m. – midnight on Friday, Oct. 20. Tickets will be sold at the door for $25 per person. There will be a 50/50 drawing and many raffles as well as gift baskets. For tickets and/or more information, contact WHSboyshockey@gmail.com or Karen Pugsley, Maureen Chambers, Fran Harrington or Diana...
read moreWakefield volleyball beats Watertown, 3-1
Warriors travel to Wilmington tomorrow Published in the October 18, 2017 edition By DAN PAWLOWSKI WAKEFIELD — The WMHS volleyball team returned home to the Charbonneau Field House last night, looking to rebound from two losses in Belmont and Burlington last week. The Warriors met Watertown, a team they beat earlier in the season. Wakefield found their rhythm early in this one, as junior Jaime Greatorex capped off a good run with a powerful spike for a kill that gave the Warriors an 8-4 lead and forced the Raiders to call a timeout. Senior Nicole Catino hit back-to-back aces to give Wakefield a 15-10 lead, and senior Marissa Patti followed that up with a kill from a tough angle, sending it horizontally down the centerline to add to the lead. Patti made sure aces stayed wild in the first set, as she served a line drive that Watertown couldn’t handle, pushing Wakefield’s lead to nine. The Warriors’ play of the set came on a nicely executed bump, set and spike from junior Eadeen Beck, senior Ally Coggswell and Patti to make it 22-13. Senior Julia Purcell added one more ace to the deck and the Warriors won the set comfortably, 25-17. Patti and Coggswell set the tone in the second set when Patti bumped Watertown’s serve in the middle to Coggswell, took a few steps back and ran into a nice return pass before emphatically giving the Warriors a kill for a 3-1 lead. The Raiders battled hard to stay in the set, and with Wakefield holding on to a 7-6 lead, Purcell stepped up to serve and hit four aces in a row to help the Warriors take back control. Wakefield would get seven straight with Purcell serving before Watertown got a side out. Later in the set during a nice rally between the two teams, the Warriors got two diving digs from Catino and sophomore Jordyn Pugsley to keep the play alive, before Catino finished it with a kill and a 17-10 advantage. After consecutive Raider points, senior Julia Brown hit a decisive spike straight down from the middle of the net, bringing a loud cheer from her teammates on the bench. Watertown cut the lead down to 22-18, but the Warriors would hold on as a Beck kill ended the set at 25-20. Watertown responded well in the third set to keep their chances alive in this one. The two teams battled back and forth and alternated points late, at one point tying it at 25. The Raiders got the final two points for a 27-25 win in set three, forcing the Warriors to restart their focus for a fourth set. Wakefield drew up a game plan to go to Patti early and often in the fourth set, as the senior outside hitter picked up the first point off of another nice feed from Coggswell. That seemed to jump start the Warriors, and Patti continued to dominate the left side of the floor as she got the first five points of the set for Wakefield. WMHS put together a nice team effort in the fourth and Coggswell’s ace ended the match, giving Wakefield a 25-15 win in set number four, and 3-1 match win. The Warriors will look to build on this win when they travel to Wilmington tomorrow...
read moreWakefield golf finishes 2017 with an eye towards the future
Warriors show promise during back nine of season Published in the October 17, 2017 edition. By MITCHELL SABBATELLI MELROSE — The Wakefield Warrior golf team fell to the home team Woburn Tanners 32-40, Thursday, October 12, at Bellevue Golf Course, in Melrose. It was this season’s final match for the Warriors. Wakefield bright spots, Jack Ryan and Tommy Galvin, were flawless again for the Warriors. That seems to be a common trend, as they have anchored the 1 and 2 spots all year for Wakefield. Ryan and Galvin both won their respective matches 6-3. “Jack and Tommy played lights out again,” said Warriors’ coach Chris Keane. “They were absolutely dominant over the last week or two of the season. We were able to keep it close against a very strong Woburn team who is typically unbeatable on their home course.” Oliver Miller won his match 5-4, while Chris Coombs was also impressive with four points. Other notable performances include Juliette Guanci and Cal Tryder with 3.5 points. Wakefield finished the year 3-10-1, but Keane implied that record is deceiving. “Our overall record may suggest a disappointing season, but at least four of those losses were decided by three or fewer points,” said Keane. Keane thinks the experience from 2017 will help the 2018 team emerge as contenders next season. He had strong words for Ryan and Galvin, as this year’s success is sure to help them continue their leadership roles. “Coming back next year, I think we’ll have the top 1-2 tandem in the entire league,” said Keane. “We only lose two seniors out of all twenty players in the program. We bring back four juniors, three sophomores, and 11 freshmen.” On Thursday, October 5, the Warriors managed a split with home team Melrose 36-36 at Bellevue. It was their lone draw of the year. Oliver Miller tallied 6 points from the 8 spot, on his 6-3 match victory. Ryan and Galvin won their 1 and 2 spot matches 5.5-3.5. Additionally, Matt Auld and Guanci tied their opponents, both with 4.5 points. 7 and 8 spot Cal Tryder and Oliver Miller were clutch on Hole 9, hitting their putts to get Wakefield the tie. When asked about the future, Keane’s projections, with practice, were appropriately lofty. “If everyone keeps working on their games during the spring and summer, we will be very difficult to beat over the next several years,” said...
read moreBoy harriers win Bay State Invitational
Published in the October 17, 2017 edition. Warriors win second state meet of the season WRENTHAM — The Warriors boys’ cross country team once again traveled to Wrentham to compete against some of the best in the state and once again they finished on top with an even better performance than two weeks ago when they won the Frank Kelley Invite. This time the meet was split up into three evenly matched races. The Warriors lived up to their #5 Massachusetts ranking by winning race B at the Bay State Invitational with a score of 54 points to beat out 2nd place finisher Methuen, who had 89 points. Out of the 16 teams who competed with full squads, Parker Charter was 3rd, Amherst Regional 4th, and Winchester 5th. Of the three races contested on the day, Wakefield’s performances would have placed 1st over BC High of race A, and 3rd in race C behind nationally ranking Saint John’s Shrewsbury and just behind Marshfield. Senior Matt Greatorex placed 2nd in a big personal best performance on the course as he nearly broke the 16 minute barrier with a time of 16:03. He was 10 seconds behind Amherst’s Jack Yanko as he sat in the top five the first half of the race and moved up during the later stages of the race. Junior Rohan Singhvi and senior Tommy Lucey also ran impressive races stride for stride, as they worked their way up and had strong kicks to snag 5th and 6th place respectively. They both also had big personal bests of 17:24. Sophomore Matt Roberto, who placed 15th, is really starting to learn how to race the 5K distance as he had yet another amazing race on the Wrentham course. This time he dipped well under 17 minutes to run 16:48 as the top Massachusetts sophomore in the race. Junior Casey Brackett is putting his big summer mileage to the test as he once again was Wakefield’s 5th man with a time of 17:14, less than a second shy of grabbing the last medal, placing a 26th to round out the score. Senior Riley Brackett and sophomore Tanner Jellison showed important depth as they placed 30th and 31st with near identical times of 17:18. It’s important to note that if Roberto or Brackett had fallen back they would have been strong enough to still secure the victory. Junior Billy Stevens placed 40th in 17:32, senior Ryan Smith placed 56th in 17:55. Sophomore Jimmy Crump was 81st and junior Derrick Scheeler 82nd in a time of 18:36. Dominick Denis was 118th in a time of 19:30. Next up for the Warriors is Watertown at home today before heading to the Cape on Saturday for the Twilight...
read moreWarriors looking for answers after loss to Woburn
Tanners explode in second half to beat Wakefield, 32-3 Published in the October 16, 2017 edition. By DAN PAWLOWSKI WOBURN — It was a similar story for the 2017 WMHS football team on Friday in Woburn. The Warriors played the Tanners tough in the first half as Wakefield trailed 6-0, but Woburn came out of the locker room with a different type of energy that Wakefield couldn’t match, and outscored the Warriors 26-3 in the final two quarters. The Tanners entered this game with plenty of confidence after their comeback victory over the tough Reading Rockets the week before. Couple that with the fact that this was Woburn’s first home game of the season and you get a hostile environment for the Warriors, who responded well in the first quarter. Wakefield’s offense got the ball first as their line did well to set the tone for the running game. Starting at their own 33 yard line, the Warriors picked up two first downs highlighted by 14 yards on two carries from senior co-captain Ryan Fitzpatrick, and some physical running from senior Bobby Young. The Warriors made it to Woburn’s 33, forcing the Tanners to call a timeout, which proved to be a good call, as Wakefield stalled on the following series, including a big sack on 3rd and nine, before turning the ball over on downs at the 34. The Warriors defense then forced a three-and-out on Woburn’s first drive. It looked like Woburn’s defense would do the same as Wakefield lined up to punt after three downs, but the Warriors faked it and handed it off to senior Henry Stikeman who tore down the sideline for 25 yards, down to the Woburn 27 yard line. Woburn’s speed on defense showed itself for the first time on the next play as they prevented Fitzpatrick from getting to the sideline and brought him down for a three-yard loss. Wakefield couldn’t get back on track during the drive, and turned the ball over on downs once again as the first quarter came to an end “We had opportunities that we didn’t cash in on in the first half,” said Wakefield head coach Steve Cummings. “They started pushing the tempo a little bit and we couldn’t answer it.” That tempo started at the beginning of the second quarter as the Tanners began to throw their running back one-two punch of seniors Eri Ibrahimi and Isaiah Cashwell-Doe. Ibrahimi’s 14-yard run plus a 10-yard horsecollar penalty on the Warriors put the Tanners’ offense in Wakefield territory for the first time. Cashwell-Doe ran it 15 yards to the 14-yard line, then followed that up with a dash to the end zone that seemed to result in a touchdown, but Cashwell-Doe lost the ball before he crossed the goal line, and fumbled it out of the end zone for a touchback; a stroke of luck for the Warriors that kept the game scoreless. After a Wakefield three-and-out, Woburn started their next drive with great field position. Ibrahimi kept the drive alive for the Tanners with a six-yard carry on 4th and four to get the ball to the 20. Cashwell-Doe flashed the talent that the Warriors could never gameplan for, as he switched fields and dashed 15 yards to the five. Wakefield was on their way to a...
read moreGridmen focused on executing tonight against Woburn
2-3 Warriors looking for a key non-league win Published in the October 13, 2017 edition. By DAN PAWLOWSKI WOBURN — It’s about an 18-minute drive from Wakefield’s Landrigan Field to Woburn’s Connolly Stadium. 18 minutes. If you’re a Warrior football fan I suggest you make that drive (just head west on Nahant and Broadway until you get there) at about 6:25 p.m. tonight so you can get there in plenty of time to see the Warriors and Tanners square up at 7 p.m. The 2-3 Warriors will hit the road for a fourth straight game, riding the high of their best performance of the season after a wire-to-wire 43-21 victory over Burlington last Friday. Woburn (3-2) returns home with plenty of confidence of their own after a comeback 33-28 win over Reading on the road last week. That’s a formula for a fun game. The Warriors know they’re up against yet another tough non-league opponent. “Beginning of the year, you expected them to be in a transition phase with a new coaching staff, but it seems like right now they’re hitting on all cylinders,” said Wakefield head coach Steve Cummings of the Tanners who have won three of their last four. Woburn trailed 14-0 against the Rockets last week before a 80-yard touchdown return from senior running back Isaiah Cashwell-Doe flipped the game. Woburn has plenty of talented players to add to that mix, including senior linebacker and running back Eri Ibrahimi who ran for for 113 yards and a touchdown against Reading, and junior quarterback Ryan Qualey who Cummings remembers well from throwing two touchdowns against the Warriors as a freshman during the Tanners 20-9 playoff win in 2015. “(Qualey) was splitting time as a freshman, came in and threw a coupe of fades down the sideline on us and put the ball exactly where it needed to be, so we know they have skill and they’ve been able to put up points this year.” While Cummings respects the depth of the Tanners, his main priority is how to stop the dynamic Cashwell-Doe. “They like to feed number 10. He’s an exceptional running back with good balance and great breakaway speed. They want to run the ball and keep ahead of the sticks, so we need to play well on 1st and 2nd down so we can force them into passing situations and get off the field.” Although Wakefield knows their opponent well, they are done worrying about anybody else’s accomplishments after they emphasized the “little things” in practice last week. “For us its more of a focus on what we can control,” said Cummings. “We have to execute well. We did it last Friday and the Friday before that we didn’t so our priority is being able to do the little things right and focus on our game.” Those little things, like the physical lead blocking of Bobby Young, and the defensive line led by Alex Joly and Devin O’Brien plugging the gaps, allows for opportunities for their teammates, like Ryan Fitzpatrick rushing for 151 yards and two touchdowns, or linebacker Dan Cataldo blowing up plays in the backfield. This “play for your teammates” mentality is something the Warriors will rely on as they continue to battle for position in the Division 4 standings. Wakefield is currently the eight...
read moreWarrior spikers improving every day
Continue to work hard against the best of the Middlesex League Published in the October 12, 2017 edition. By DAN PAWLOWSKI WAKEFIELD — It’s been a whirlwind week for the WMHS volleyball team as they continue the fight to improve during practice and compete against a difficult Middlesex League. The Warriors traveled to Stoneham last Tuesday to play their third of four straight on the road. After losing their previous two matches to a powerhouse Melrose program and Revere, the Warriors responded with a convincing 3-0 victory over the Spartans. “Stoneham was a really good match for us,” said head coach Sasha Duprey. “The team showed up hungry and played with a sense of urgency that they had lacked in our match against Revere on Monday. We played together. Everyone did their job well and focused on controlling the controllables, and bounced back quickly from our mistakes to maintain that control during the match.” Coach Duprey highlighted the work from senior libero Nicole Catino, senior defensive specialist Julia Purcell, and junior outside hitter Eadeen Beck who all provided the foundation and passing they needed to supply the Warriors with their most successful offensive night of the season. Wakefield hit 0.328 against Stoneham, their highest hitting percentage of the season. The Warriors continued to get excellent offense from junior middle blocker Hannah Butler and junior right side Jaime Greatorex, two players who coach Duprey said has been anchoring the offense all season. As the Warriors look to improve during Duprey’s first season, the focus is on getting better in practice and building a winning culture for the team to improve in the long term. For that, the Warriors need a good mix of inexperienced, talented players looking to improve, and veteran senior leadership whose job it is to help their teammates gain confidence. For the latter, coach Duprey has been impressed with the leadership of senior setter Ally Coggswell. “Ally has continued to show improvement not only in her skill but in her ability to lead this team,” said Duprey. “She is a workhorse who fights regardless of the score. Her consistency at such an integral position is helping raise the team’s level of play every day.” As for a group of talented underclassmen that includes sophomores Katie Pearl, Jordyn Pugsley and Maddie Melanson, coach Duprey has been especially impressed with the hard work from outside hitter Rachel Danzig. “Rachel has started to hit her stride and gain confidence the past couple of weeks,” said Duprey. “She has brought a fire to our offense that we’ve been missing.” Wakefield traveled to Arlington on Thursday and lost to the Spy Ponders during a difficult day for many. Already playing without Beck and senior outside hitter Marissa Patti, coach Duprey had an allergic reaction and and was rushed to the hospital. She has since recovered, but it was a difficult game for the Warriors to finish. “I think days like Thursday reminds us that sometimes obstacles surface out of nowhere and that life has to come first, even when we don’t want it to,” said Duprey. “But, this team is resilient. Thankfully, we were able to all come back together on Friday and had a really positive practice.” Despite two losses to Woburn on Monday and Belmont yesterday, the Warriors are determined to...
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