WHS loses heartbreaker to Wakefield

The Watertown High football team did not have enough Friday as the Raiders were handed a heartbreaking 21-13 loss to Wakefield on Friday Night at Victory Field.

The scene was set, the winner advancing to the MIAA playoffs. Both teams came in with a 1-5 record and it could not be a more even matchup, though Watertown star running back Mange Camara was back from an ankle injury and in very high spirits.

The Raiders received the ball and brought it out to about the 42-yard line. A quick pass from Nick McDermott to Mason Andrade got the Raiders up and going, only to be stuffed and forced to punt the ball. A fake punt turned into a run, Camara stopped just short of the first-down marker.

Wakefield wasted no time. Freshman running back Aidan Sweeney scored from 10 yards out, capping an eight-play drive.

The Raiders came storming back. McDermott lead them to down the field, all the way to the 4-yard line, but the Raiders were not able to find the end zone, as Watertown has struggled in the red zone all season long. Wakefield took the momentum and drove down the field as Senior quarterback Mike Lucey scored on an 18-yard touchdown to put the Warriors up by 14 with just a few minutes left in the half.

Watertown would not be kept quiet. The Raiders scored in just four minutes as McDermott rushed for a 9-yard touchdown.

Watertown finally felt a comeback stirring. Coach John Cacace called for the extra-point team, but it could not convert, leaving the score 14-6 heading into halftime.

Both teams came out in the second half ready for action. As the Raiders were set to kick off, first-year assistant coach Mike Flynn, who leads the special teams, hyped up the team as his alma mater was Wakefield and he was a star player back in the day.

However, it was Wakefield that threw the next punch, as the Warriors drove 60 yards to score, making it 21-6.

Early in the fourth quarter, sophomore Shakel Inniss scored on a 1-yard run to make the score 21-13 in favor of Wakefield.

With about eight minutes remaining in the game, Karim Monroe gave the Raiders a spark with a 47-yard punt return to Wakefield’s 24. The Raiders could not put the all in the end zone and sophomore Adam Haloui missed a 26-yard field goal.

This left Wakefield with just a few minutes to run the clock out, which they did despite a couple of good stops by the Raider defense with blitzes coming left and right and coach Cacace using all of his timeouts.

They game did not go as the Raiders wanted it too but they fought hard despite the ending score and there is much potential on the rise.

McDermott, the main leader of the young team, said after the game, “A couple plays didn’t go our way, but at the end of the day the team played hard and didn’t give up and that’s all you can ask for.”

The same was said in the huddle after the game as Cacace talked about the fight that the team had, as well as how the team looks forward to getting to play again. The Raiders will be back at Victory Field on Friday, Oct. 26, against Lynnfield at 7 p.m.

–Oct. 21, 2018–