By DAN PAWLOWSKI
WINCHESTER — The Wakefield High golf team walked off the course at Winchester Country Club on Oct. 7 and into the history books.
With a 41.5-30.5 victory over the Red and Black, the Warriors concluded their regular season undefeated at 14-0 for the first time in program history.
It was fitting that the Middlesex League champions accomplished this incredible feat at Winchester CC, the location of their last defeat as a team on Sept. 5…2024. Including last season’s second half surge, the Wakefield golf program concluded their 2025 campaign on a 21-match unbeaten streak.
“A lot of hard work went into this year even before the season began,” said head coach Chris Keane. “It really started last spring and summer when the guys started playing tournament golf pretty much weekly. Our top 8 emphasized playing under pressure all summer so that they’d be prepared for the season and they were rewarded for their hard work.
“To walk off of Winchester CC on the last day of the season securing a perfect record was something incredibly special that I don’t think we’ll ever forget or take for granted.”
The Warriors — featuring a lineup of Patrick Maloney (JR, Capt.), Michael Yianacopolus (SO), Brayden Myette (JR, Capt.), Ryan Dodge (SO), James Maloney (FR), Ryan McCarthy (JR), Jake Morris (SR, Capt.), Alex Tracy (SR) and Davin Myette (FR) — won all types of different matches this year. They’ve dominated from start to finish, come from behind, held off late rallies and knocked down walk-off putts. They’ve defeated many talented teams in one of the best leagues in the state. Together, they were perfect.
“We play in an incredibly tough conference,” said Keane. “I have a lot of respect for the coaches and teams in our league and how much work goes into each of their programs. To be able to walk away from this season knowing we beat all of them is something really special that I never thought would happen.”
Wakefield had three wins coming down to two points or less: Lexington (37-35), Reading (37-35) and Arlington (36.5-35.5).
“We played a bunch of close matches that went our way,” recalled the coach. “We’ve been on the other side of those a lot in the past and even though a bit of luck goes into winning a tight match, I can’t help but think it’s no coincidence that we came out on the better end in each match this season. It’s a testament to the mental toughness of our team and their ability to play under pressure.
“We go into each match knowing that no matter how up or down you are in the match, that every point is going to matter. The team has done a great job of adopting that mindset and it really paid off.”
As it turned out, Oct. 7 was truly a day to remember. Before they concluded their perfect season in Winchester, Wakefield was winning the Middlesex League Shootout at Bear Hill Golf Club in the morning. Each team sends their top three to compete at the league tournament. Wakefield’s Patrick Maloney (71), Mike Yianacopolus (77) and Brayden Myette (80) combined for the best score in the league. Maloney was the Individual Champion.
“Any one day stroke play tournament I find to be incredibly difficult as really anything can happen — especially in golf,” said Keane. “It was great to see the guys not only have the low Freedom Division score — but the low score for the conference.
“Our conference has some really talented golfers as 10 players in the 36 player field broke 80 at Bear HIll. To walk away with the low individual and low team score to me really solidified a couple things: those guys deserve to be the best team in the ML12 and in my opinion Patrick solidified his spot as the best golfer in the conference; the 2nd place golfer was 5 strokes behind him.”
Wakefield’s regular season and league tournament titles solidified the team as an all-time great. Going undefeated makes them even more legendary, a squad the Wakefield golf community will always remember.
“Nothing happens without preparing and hard work,” said Keane. “As a group, we put a lot of work in preparing for matches — playing courses ahead of time that we could get on and going over courses virtually that we couldn’t play before hand. It’s a hardworking group who care and who push each other.
“I would typically worry about success getting into the heads of young athletes but not with this team. I know that they’ll come back next season as hungry as ever to continue our success.”
The Warriors competed in the Div. 2 North Sectional tournament this week. A full story will appear at a later date.