By DAN PAWLOWSKI
WAKEFIELD — The Wakefield High football team fell to 2-2 on the season with a 42-7 loss to Winchester on Friday night at Landrigan Field. The Red and Black, who improved to 4-0, were mostly in control from start to finish, scoring touchdowns in five of their first seven drives while keeping Wakefield’s offense at bay and shutting out the Warriors in the second half.
Wakefield running back Jaden Fullerton rushed for 90 yards and a TD on 24 carries, upping his season totals to 549 yards and 10 TD’s and the Warrior defense forced two fumbles in the first half, but those were the only highlights for the home team.
Winchester’s defense set the tone in this one, forcing three-and-outs on Wakefield’s first two drives. Meanwhile, the Red and Black offense put together scoring drives of 80 and 70 yards to take a quick, 14-0 lead in the first quarter.
Winchester had 4 rushing TD’s and 2 passing TD’s. Senior wide receiver Ted Budreski gashed the Warriors for two long TD catches, first for 69 yards to get the visitors on the board and then for 68 yards to push the lead to 35-7 in the 3rd quarter.
Navy lacrosse commit Gianni DePrimeo, coming off a 290-yard, 5-TD performance against Masco the week before, had 2 rushing TD’s against Wakefield while senior QB Ronan O’Connell had a passing score and a rushing score.
Wakefield battled early to stay in it. After Winchester went up 14-0, the Warriors put together a 10-play, 66-yard drive to make it 14-7. Fullerton rushed for 52 yards on the possession including a 4-yard TD plunge. The play of the drive came on 4th-and-6 from the Red and Black 26 yard line. Westin McNeilly found Jimmy Preston for 15-yards along the sideline to keep the drive alive.
Landrigan’s bark became a full howl on the first play of Winchester’s next possession when Preston punched the ball out on a QB keeper and Christian DiFlorio recovered.
That was the peak for the home team as the Winchester defense stepped up to keep Wakefield out of the end zone and the Warriors missed a 25-yard field goal attempt with 7:35 left to play in the first half.
O’Connell’s 5-yard keeper capped another 80-yard scoring drive to make it 21-7. Wakefield’s defense kept it there after the offense went three-and-out and Winchester made it all the way to the Wakefield 4-yard-line with seconds left before Cam Sartori and Tommy DeFeo teamed up to punch out another fumble that Sartori recovered.
Winchester continued to roll in the second half scoring on their first two possessions while the Wakefield offense scuffled, officially putting the game away.
A final positive came on the last drive for the Warriors as sophomore Victor Fraga rushed for 57 yards on 7 carries with multiple physical runs.
The Warriors — who were shorthanded again, playing their second game without captain Myles Sanchez and fellow senior Luciano Rossetti among others — will need to bounce back this week when they start league play with a matchup against Watertown (2-2) on Friday night, 6 p.m. back at Landrigan.