MYLES SANCHEZ rushed for 162 yards against Woburn on Friday night. (Dan Pawlowski Photo)
By DAN PAWLOWSKI
WAKEFIELD — One week after the Wakefield High football team had their state-best 18-game winning streak snapped in Burlington, the Warriors fell to 3-2 on the season with a 36-3 defeat at the hands of the Woburn Tanners on Friday night at Landrigan Field. This is the first time the Warriors have had consecutive losses since the 2021 season when they fell to Watertown and Wilmington in back-to-back weeks, the two teams that Wakefield will play next as they look to turn the page and get back into the winning column.
“We just finished up a tough two weeks,” said head coach John Rafferty, also referring to Wakefield’s 21-0 loss on the road to Burlington on Sept. 29. “We have to band together, find out who we are and get back to winning ways.”
The Warriors were once again playing without senior captain WR/DB Steven Woish, an absence that has been felt on both sides of the ball the last two weeks. Starting QB, freshman Westin McNeilly was also dealing with an injury. He didn’t attempt a pass in this one and only rotated into the game sporadically.
Despite the challenges, Div. 4 Wakefield started well against the Tanners, a team ranked No. 8 in Div. 3 coming into Friday night.
After the Warriors punted on their first drive, they forced a 3-and-out after a couple of nice plays by senior Declan O’Callahan and junior Jackson Fitzpatrick on back-to-back run attempts.
Wakefield moved the ball well on their second possession, an 84-yard, nearly 8-minute drive that took up most of the first quarter and ended with a 21-yard field goal by senior captain Mark Letchford and a 3-0 Wakefield lead with 50 seconds left in the first.
The offensive line and sophomore RB Myles Sanchez did most of the heavy lifting as Sanchez rushed for 46 of his total 162 yards on the drive. O’Callahan added 8 yards on 2 carries and freshman Jaden Fullerton (8 carries, 29 yards) added 9 yards on 2 carries, but the biggest play of the possession came on 3rd-and-17 from the Woburn 32 when junior QB Jayvith Chea found Fitzpatrick for 23 yards. The tight end made an incredible acrobatic catch in the air and came down with a huge first down for Wakefield. Although the Warriors couldn’t punch it in with a 1st-and-goal from the 9, Letchford knocked the field goal through for the 3-0 lead.
“We did some good things offensively and defensively at times,” said Rafferty, pointing to the first quarter score. “Then we had a turnover and a few bad plays. The momentum shifted and we couldn’t slow it down.”
That turnover was a fumble on Wakefield’s next possession which came after Woburn responded with a 43-yard TD run by senior Bryan Ferreira, who also ran in the two-point conversion for an 8-3 lead. After the Warriors lost it on their own 32, the Tanners capitalized, a pass from juniors Caeden Davis to Ryan Lush getting it down to the Wakefield 5. Two plays later, Ferreira was in from the 3-yard line and in again on the two-pointer. Just like that, the Warriors trailed 15-3 with 9:29 left in the first half and Woburn was just getting started.
The Tanners scored TD’s on their next two drives while the Warriors punted twice in a row, giving the visitors a commanding 29-3 lead at the break.
Woburn’s offense racked up 271 yards from scrimmage in the first half. Ferreira, a regular on every preseason watch list this season, was electric from the start. He had 69 rushing yards and 2 TD’s to go with 98 receiving yards and a another score in the first half alone. His 82-yard TD reception from Davis came on a 3rd-and-long. A wheel route got him into space where he did the rest, juking a couple of Warriors before turning on the jets up the right sideline for an impressive touchdown and a 22-3 lead.
Woburn’s final TD of the half came on a 65-yard Ryan Pacini run on a well-executed reverse.
“As was the case against Burlington, we gave up too many big plays but in-between those plays we played well at times, there were definitely some positives,” said Rafferty.
Sanchez would certainly qualify for that, his 162 rushing yards coming on 27 attempts, many of which the Tanners knew were coming as Wakefield simplified the offense to run formations for most of the second half.
Also qualifying would be Wakefield’s defense who battled until the end, especially leaders in the front six like Joe LaMonica who made a couple of nice stuffs on some run attempts by Woburn late in the game, plays that the senior captain knows will benefit by way of building their own momentum in practice this week.
Woburn’s final score came in the 3rd quarter on a 30-yard pass from Davis to senior Evan Kolodko.
In the end, Wakefield was certainly defeated by a better team at this point in the season. Woburn, whose only loss came to D1 BC High in Week 3, has the squad to make some noise in the D3 playoffs.
Even still, Wakefield knows they have another level to get to, especially if and when they can get completely healthy.
“We’re not a large squad, never have been,” said Rafferty. “Depth is a plus and we just don’t have it so injuries will take a toll. They happen, we just have to regroup and march on.”
Just as they do after a win, Wakefield keeps the focus on improvement after a loss. The Warriors, who were ranked 11th in Div. 4 coming into Friday night, will likely fall a little, but not much considering the competition. More importantly, they have to get ready for two huge league games, against Watertown (1-4, 26th in D5) this Friday, 6 p.m. at home and against Wilmington (4-1, 11th in D5), who is coming off an impressive 29-25 win over Burlington, next Friday, 6 p.m. on the road.
“We want to get better as a group and that starts with practice on Monday,” said Rafferty. “We talked after the game and re-emphasized that we are all in it together. We just have to get back to work.”
Wakefield vs. Woburn Box Score
1st 2nd 3rd 4th T
Woburn 0 29 7 0 36
Wakefield 3 0 0 0 3
1st Quarter
Wakefield — Mark Letchford 21-yard field goal
2nd Quarter
Woburn — Bryan Ferreira 43-yard run (Ferreira 2-pt run)
Woburn — Ferreira 3-yard run (Ferreira 2-pt run)
Woburn — Ferreira 82-yard catch from Caeden Davis (2-pt failed)
Woburn — Ryan Pacini 65-yard run (Marc Cutone PAT)
3rd Quarter
Woburn — Evan Kolodko 30-yard catch from Davis (Cutone PAT)
Wakefield Rushing
Myles Sanchez — 27 carries, 162 yards, 1 fumble
Jaden Fullerton — 7 carries, 29 yards
Declan O’Callahan — 3 carries, 13 yards
Wakefield Passing
Jayvith Chea — 2-for-10, 24 yards, 1 INT
Wakefield Receiving
Jackson Fitzpatrick — 2 catches, 24 yards