Playing their first nighttime home football game since 2015—this time under permanent rather than temporary lights—the Wellesley High School Raiders (3-1) pulled out a memorable 35-28 win over Walpole High (1-3) after scoring a touchdown with just under two minutes left in the game.
Unfazed after having his previous throw stuffed by a big Walpole defensive end, Wellesley sophomore quarterback Lukas Prock answered by lofting a perfect 34-yard pass to Matthew Leibman in the left corner of the end zone for the go-ahead and stay-ahead score. Prock passed for a two-point conversion to the other corner to give the Raiders a 7-point lead. Before that, Walpole had come all the way back from a 27-7 deficit midway through the third quarter to take a one-point lead with under 6 minutes to play in the game. But after the Raiders pulled ahead late, one last Wellesley defensive stand led by ubiquitous Jason Stephens prevented a second comeback.
While things got tense in the fourth quarter, it was looking like a possible Wellesley runaway early on, after Matthew Yen ran the ball in just a few minutes into the game, well before the lights were turned on. Walpole struck back quickly on a long touchdown pass, but the Raiders scored twice in the second quarter to take a 21-7 lead at the half.
The crowd wasn’t quite Thanksgiving Game size, as a couple of school officials suggested to me it might be as I entered the stadium. But most of the home bleachers were filled, with the pep band revving up the fans from one end, and the colorful student section packed at the other. Many students donned red-white-and-blue outfits and face paint, some arriving in cowboy regalia. Chants of “USA!” erupted whenever the Raiders scored and jeers of “You can’t do that!” whenever the opponent committed a penalty.
Athletic Director John Brown and the administration’s bouncer crew helped to keep students from going over the line with their cheers—or storming the field at the end. (From what we saw, it was near-bedtime younger kids in the crowd who really could have used the bouncers’ attention…)
Brown, via his cellphone, turned on the lights before things got too dark at the end of the first quarter, with the announcer proclaiming “Light it up!” and the crowd cheering. “Isn’t it great with the lights?” asked Cheer Coach Odessa Sanchez, before her squad headed to the middle of the field for halftime entertainment.
Also halftime, Brown and other school administrators presented the School Committee’s Linda Chow and Natural Resource Commission’s Jay McHale with certificates recognizing their efforts to get the lights approved and installed at the field. Financial contributions to the field fund made by the public were acknowledged as well during the game.
As the game tightened and Walpole threatened to grab the lead, parents behind the merch table and along the fence in front of the stands implored the defense to rise up, as it did in the end. One resident whose organization was instrumental in getting the lights funded breathed a sigh of relief when the Raiders took their late lead. “We want to win all the time, but they really needed to pull out the win given the circumstances.”
Next up for the Raiders: Brookline High School visits on Oct. 4 at 6pm.
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