THE WARRIORS beat Melrose 15-12 at Fred Green Field in the 62nd edition of the Thanksgiving Day matchup between the two rivals. Wakefield erased a 12-2 halftime deficit, winning the second half 13-0. They will now get ready for the Div. 3 Super Bowl on Saturday, 5:30 p.m. when they will meet top-seeded Milton at Gillette Stadium. (Dan Pawlowski Photo)
By DAN PAWLOWSKI
MELROSE — For three quarters, the Melrose High football team looked like they would be the ones to end Wakefield’s perfect season.
However, trailing 12-2 going into the 4th quarter of the 62nd Thanksgiving Day game, Wakefield refused to relinquish the Turkey Day trophy that they earned last year, battling back to score two touchdowns in the final nine minutes to win it 15-12, securing their best comeback of the season and moving to 12-0 before their final matchup against top-seeded Milton in the Div. 3 Super Bowl this Saturday, 5:30 p.m. at Gillette Stadium.
“I’ve used this word before and I’m using it again now: They are resilient,” said head coach John Rafferty. “Gotta hand it to them. Backs against the wall, edge of the cliff – whatever analogy you want to use – they refused to back down. I’m proud of them.”
“We just battled really hard in the second half,” said senior captain, QB Javin Willis (12-for-23, 104 yards, 17 rushing yards, 1 TD) who followed his 2-yard, go-ahead touchdown with 24 seconds left, with a game-sealing interception as time expired. “We came out in the second half, knew what we had to do and did it.”
Wakefield’s only points of the first half fittingly came on a play likely never seen in the preceding 111 games between these two storied rivals.
As Willis scrambled with about 20 seconds left from the Melrose 17, he took a shot to the end zone and was picked off by Melrose QB Josh Madden (Yes, the two starting quarterbacks accounted for both interceptions in this one. Only on Thanksgiving).
Madden stepped out of the end zone but accidentally took a step back behind the goal line before taking a knee, leading to a safety and a 12-2 halftime score.
It was a strange way to end a forgettable half for Wakefield.
Melrose scored touchdowns on both of their possessions while Wakefield turned it over twice and punted once.
Melrose racked up 115 rushing yards while Madden went 3-for-3 with 32 passing yards in the first half. The home team was 4-for-4 on 3rd down conversions in the first two quarters.
Steve Fogarty capped off a 12-play 67-yard, nearly 9-minute drive that started in the first quarter with a 5-yard run for a 6-0 lead after a missed PAT. Madden finished a 69-yard, 9-play, six-minute drive with a 1-yard plunge to make it 12-0 after Wakefield stuffed a two-point attempt.
In the second half, Melrose had just 18 yards of offense, all on the ground as their passing attack went 0-for-5. They were 0-for-2 on 3rd downs in the second half.
It was fitting that the defense set the tone to start the second half, forcing a three-and-out when senior captain Ian Dixon knocked down Madden’s pass attempt on 3rd-and-5.
Wakefield moved the ball better on their opening drive, highlighted by a 21-yard run by senior captain Christian Delgado (4 catches, 41 yards) but stalled after a block in the back penalty erased a first down run by Willis on 3rd-and-15.
Again, the defense forced a three-and-out, with two pass breakups by junior Steven Woish (5 catches, 49 yards) on 2nd and 3rd down.
With 1:32 left in the 3rd, the Warriors went to work, finally breaking through on a hard-earned, 12-play, 54-yard drive capped with a 4-yard touchdown by senior captain Nathan Delgado (23 carries, 136 yards, 1 TD).
Wakefield got Melrose to jump offsides on a 4th-and-2 from the 35 and Willis kept the drive alive on a 3rd-and-7 with the offense’s signature play of the game, a 15-yard run in which he fought through contact along the sideline and kept rumbling forward.
After Delgado’s touchdown run on a draw to the right, junior Mark Letchford knocked in the point-after to make it 12-9 with 7:58 left in the game.
How else would the Warrior defense respond but to force Melrose’s third punt of the half on the next drive?
On 3rd-and-9 from the Melrose 49, it was senior Max Cusack who came up with the defensive play of the game. Madden scrambled from one side of the field to other, looking for a receiver but thanks to solid coverage from the likes of Woish, the Delgado twins, senior Bobby DeFeo and junior Declan O’Callahan, the senior QB was forced to hold it and Cusack made him pay, flying in from his linebacker spot and throwing Madden to the turf as the Wakefield bench and alumni lining the fence behind their Warriors erupted.
The ensuing punt gave Wakefield the ball back at their own 40 with 2:57 left.
Willis, who only attempted one pass in Wakefield’s 21-13 Thanksgiving win last year, a victory that snapped a Melrose Turkey Day winning streak dating back to 2012, had attempted 22 passes to this point. With Melrose spread out across Wakefield’s receivers and star tight end Dixon (1 catch, 11 yards) who was fresh off a 3-TD game in the 31-24 state semifinal win over North Attleborough, Wakefield went to their star back instead. It was Nate Delgado’s time.
“Nate Delgado is our bread and butter,” said Rafferty. “We put the ball in his hands and the guys up front did a nice job. You run to win, baby. Run to win.”
Following blockers in Dixon, Letchford, Cusack, seniors Kaiden Johnson and David Amyouny and junior Joe LaMonica, Delgado racked up 58 yards on seven carries, swiftly moving the sticks, faster than a lineman crushing a postgame turkey leg, on three of his first four carries. Before the home team knew it, the Warriors had it 1st-and-goal at the 5 with 53 seconds left.
Later with it on the 2, Willis kept it for a touchdown with 24 seconds remaining. The officials threw a flag for illegal motion but later picked it up after a conference. Melrose blocked the PAT, giving them life at 15-12.
With 16 seconds left at their own 36, Melrose went to the air, Madden’s first pass falling incomplete before Willis returned the favor on his QB counterpart, following his eyes to the middle of the field and getting a pick before falling to the turf with no time remaining, setting off an epic celebration for visiting Warrior fans and alum alike.
“We got this defense with me and the two safeties in back when it’s Hail Mary time,” said a breathless Willis after the game. “I saw the QB staring down the post the whole time and just jumped the route.”
Willis has played in the secondary in years past for Wakefield, but has only been asked to run the offense this year, a decision understandable with the type of offensive (and defensive) success the Warriors have enjoyed. He was ready when his number 11 was called.
“Of course he was excited,” said a smiling Rafferty. “He finally got to play some defense.”
As the Warriors soaked in their second straight Thanksgiving Day victory and first on Turkey Day in Melrose since a 3-0 win in 2011, they no doubt started a process they’ve been through 11 times before this year.
The 12-0 Warriors will follow in the footsteps of that ’11 squad, the last Wakefield team to play in a Super Bowl, as they head to Gillette on Saturday.
The natural comparisons go even further back for this program. The last and only Warrior team to win a Super Bowl was the 1999 squad. That team tied Melrose on Thanksgiving and won a coin toss to earn the right to play in the big game against Acton-Boxborough, finishing the season undefeated.
For Rafferty, whose Warrior team went undefeated during his senior season in 1970, two years before Super Bowls began in Massachusetts, his message to the team will remain the same as it’s been all year. Wakefield chooses to block out those comparisons. The same way that Melrose was the next up last week, Milton is up this week. That’s it. That’s all that matters.
“Twelve down, one to go,” said Rafferty. “That’s it. That’s all it’s ever been for us. It’s been hard. It’s been hard with all the outside chatter – that’s what comes with the territory at this point in time but that being the case, they gotta focus one more time.”