THE WARRIOR defensive line was dominant once again in their victory over Burlington on Friday night at Landrigan Field, collecting four sacks and multiple tackles for loss. Pictured from left to right is Ian Dixon (18), Kaiden Johnson (77), Cade Esposito (55), David Amyouny (54), Joe LaMonica (56) and Mark Letchford (52). (File Photo)
By TYMOTHY BROWN
WAKEFIELD — Wakefield High’s football team was able to continue their undefeated streak on Friday night at Landrigan Field, beating the Burlington Red Devils by a score of 35-0.
This win allowed Wakefield to preserve their spot atop the Middlesex League’s Freedom Division as they near the final three weeks of the regular season.
Wakefield’s defense was amazing the entire night against a struggling Burlington Red Devils team, not allowing them to score once.
Before the game, Warrior linebacker Max Cusack was asked about the style of play he had seen from Burlington on film.
“Burlington passes the ball a lot. We focused on the pass this week,” said Cusack. “They’re still going to run the ball, but more passing than Stoneham obviously.”
This proved to be true as Burlington passed the ball 18 times, the most of any opponent Wakefield has played so far this season, 16 times more than 2021 Freedom champion Stoneham who Wakefield beat 28-6 on Sept. 30.
The Warriors were evidently prepared for this, holding Burlington’s Kevin Conte to only 108 total passing yards.
Overall, Burlington was never able to get into a rhythm offensively as they couldn’t get inside of the Wakefield 10-yard line for the entirety of the game.
This was largely due to the amount of pressure the Wakefield defensive line had on Burlington as they sacked Conte four times throughout the game. A stand out player when it came to pressuring the backfield was David Amyouny. When asked if he planned to continue his persistent attack of running backs and pick up tackles for loss or if he would take his sights more towards the quarterback, Amyouny said, “I plan on getting more TFLs and sacks – all around pressure.”
Wakefield’s air-tight defensive line only allowed Burlington to pick up 37 rushing yards while the defense as a whole was able to hold the Red Devils to a meager 145 yards of total offense.
The offense was just as sharp as the defense for the Warriors, playing with much of the same flair they’ve had in week’s prior.
On their first drive of the game, the Warriors turned to the run, taking themselves all the way into Burlington territory until a holding penalty looked to have set them back significantly. Then, on 2nd and 18, Wakefield went to the pass for the first time
as Javin Willis found a streaking Steven Woish as he blasted past the Burlington secondary. Woish caught the perfectly placed Willis pass and trotted his way into the end zone to complete a 43-yard touchdown.
The next drive, the Warriors made a statement with their run game as they ran the ball for all 68 yards of the possession, finishing with a 9-yard Nathan Delgado touchdown.
These two drives showed the Warriors’ offense to be a true duel-threat, dominating their opponent in both the rushing and passing game.
Wakefield’s potent passing game caught fire once again in their closing drive of the first half, one that was filled with quick pass plays that made the Warriors look like a college level offense. They were picking up great yardage every play and working the clock down to give Burlington no chance of scoring before the half.
Wakefield worked their way down to the Burlington 8-yard line where Willis passed to his left for Christian Delgado on a set screen play as he fought through three Burlington defenders, stretched to his full extent for the goal line and gave the Warriors their third touchdown of the game.
The Warriors received the ball after halftime and looked to drain the clock as much as they could on their opening second half drive. Wakefield began to slowly march down the field until an unexpected breakout run from Bobby DeFeo took them straight to the end zone. DeFeo (4 carries for 53 yards) stuck behind his prized offensive line waiting for holes to develop in the defense until he found a gap in the middle of the field, firing through it with a burst of speed, blitzing past Burlington defenders and into the endzone for a 42-yard touchdown run.
Then, on the first play of the next drive, it was Nathan Delgado who came up with an electric run play of his own. Delgado took the handoff running on the left side of the field, redirected himself to the right sideline, weaved his way completely back across the field to the left sideline and dove for the pylon at the end of the play.
He was marked just short of the end zone, but was able to power his way through for a touchdown two plays later to score the Warriors’ final touchdown of the game.
In total, this game was an outright showing of dominance for this Wakefield Warriors football team in all facets of their game.
Quarterback Javin Willis didn’t get many opportunities to throw the ball in this one, but when he did, he made the most of it. Willis completed 7 of his 9 pass attempts for 97 yards and 2 touchdowns. The true highlight of this Warriors offense, though, was Nathan Delgado, who carried the ball 11 times for a total of 148 yards and 2 rushing touchdowns along with one reception for 9 yards.
Defensively, the Warriors could not have played any better; protecting a shutout at home against a division rival is something this team should be proud of for weeks to come.
Wakefield will get ready to face their fiercest competition yet this week, taking on the 3-2 Woburn Tanners in Woburn on Oct. 14 at 7 p.m. This should be a true test for the Warriors as they look to keep their undefeated streak alive.