Sports

JIM’S VIEW: Watertown Football Dominates From Start to Finish In Final Non-League Tune-up

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Watertown Football opened the season at home on Sept. 5 and lost a hard-fought game 36-22 to Whittier. Twenty-one days later the Raiders finally got to play home game number two on the schedule, and it was everything they wished for, and then some. Watertown scored on the opening drive, and on this night it would have been enough, but Watertown scored four more times on the way to a 35-0 defeat of Brookline. Watertown’s reward for moving to 2-1 on the season? The start of league play, on the road, at 3-0 Stoneham, coming off a bye week. But that’s a story for another day.  

Friday night, coming off their own bye week, the Raiders looked sharp on both sides of the ball.  Exhibit A … After Brookline won the toss and deferred, Watertown received the opening kick off and then proceeded to go on a 15-play drive, covering 75 yards and ending with a QB keeper for the first score of the game. The drive took almost 11 minutes, ladies and gentleman, and included six first downs, and a highlight reel of plays by Patrick McHugh both running and catching the ball. QB Coleman Keuchkarian-McKeen used his wheels effectively as well, twice keeping the drive alive with first-down runs.

Sports

JIM’S VIEW: Watertown Opens Football Season by Hosting Tricky Whittier Team

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We can never know about the days to comeBut we think about them anywayAnd I wonder if I’m really with you nowOr just chasin’ after some finer day…… Anticipation, anticipation

Well, of course, Carly Simon’s song Anticipation is a love song, not a football anthem.  Then again, the song isn’t about ketchup, but it had a good run helping to advertise the condiment years ago. Anyhow, the point is, after a tough 2024 season, a winter, spring and summer to prepare, and weeks of training camp this August, the Watertown Football program anxiously anticipated Friday night’s Sept. 5th game versus Whittier Regional Vocational Tech High School. It was a first chance to put last season behind them while at the same time building on a two-game winning streak at the end of last season (a non-league game and a Thanksgiving win over Belmont). The Raiders came into this game feeling stronger thanks to a commitment to off-season lifting.  They felt deeper with an additional twelve new football players. And they felt even more comfortable with a head coach in his second year and having their back, and having them prepared to play. The Senior/Junior-heavy lineup included the following on offense: junior Coleman Keuchkarian-McKeen at QB, senior running backs Patrick McHugh, Gabe Oliveira and Mike Ramirez and Junior Jayden Pineda, senior Wide Receivers Joe Wilson and Lucas Bray, Junior Shane Garey and Sophomore Mason Lamacchia, at Tight End Juniors Joe Connors and Cash Bailey, and on the line Seniors Caleb Hardy, Pedro Tancredo, Jayden Ortiz and Zac Wolfe, and Juniors Peter Pavlidis, Flavio Valenzuela and Billy Werra.

Sports

Watertown Shuts Out Belmont in a Rainy Thanksgiving Game

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The Raiders hold up the trophy for winning the 2024 Thanksgiving Game against Belmont. (Photo by Charlie Breitrose)

BELMONT — Being on the other end of a shutout last year, the Watertown High School football team had their sights set on Thanksgiving 2024. They accomplished their mission Thursday morning, beating Belmont 23-0 at Harris Field. Dealing with rainy and chilly conditions, the Raiders relied on their ground game to power past the Marauders. After suffering a defeat to the Marauders last year, senior co-captain and quarterback Gnai Concannon-Garvin, said he and his teammates “got our get back,” on Thursday

“It’s just a great moment.

Sports

LIVE: Thanksgiving Game – Final -Watertown 23, Belmont 0

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The Watertown Raiders football team will face a very familiar foe on Thanksgiving, but in a place that no member of the current squad has played: Harris Field in Belmont. The game kicks off at 10 a.m. on Thursday in what is expected to be rainy and gusty conditions. Follow the game with live updates from Watertown News on this page. Fourth Quarter

Game over, Watertown wins 23-0+

1;37 left, Raiders take over on downs at the 50

3;50 left, Watertown touchdown and 2 pt. Conversion.

Sports

Testimonial Dinner Planned to Honor Former Watertown High Football Coach John Barbati

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Sportscaster Mike Lynch to Emcee Nov. 26th Event — Open to the Watertown Community

The following announcement was provided by the organizers of the testimonial dinner:

Watertown High School alums and community members announced plans for a testimonial dinner in honor of former football coach John Barbati. The event, hosted by renowned Boston sportscaster Mike Lynch, takes-place on Tuesday, November 26 at the Watertown Sons of Italy. 

A member of Massachusetts High School Football Coaches’ Association Hall of Fame and the WHS Hall of Fame, Barbati was Watertown’s head football coach from 1969 until 1992, retiring with a winning percentage of .595 and four championships (1973, 1976, 1977 and 1983) in the hyper-competitive Middlesex League. 

Former players of the program have joined together to stage an event that honors Coach Barbati tireless efforts in support of his players on and off the field for 24 years. “Even though it’s been a long time since we played for Coach Barbati, we haven’t forgotten the commitment he made to make us better players and better people,” said Orazio Lattanzi, class of 1976, who went on to play at Harvard. “By challenging us every day to improve on and off the field, Coach built a culture that instilled pride in one another and our community.” 

Graduates from numerous classes joined forces to organize the testimonial dinner.

Sports

Raiders Football Team Kicks Off First Home Game With New Coach, New Look

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The Watertown High School football team preps for its first home game of the 2024 season. (Photo by Charlie Breitrose)

The 2024 Watertown Raiders football team will have a different look and the team hopes to have different results from last season. Watertown High School hosts its first home game under its new head coach at Victory Field Friday night at 7 p.m. against Ipswich. Last year, the team finished 3-8, and was shut out by Belmont on Thanksgiving. This year the team will play under a new head coach, Joey Carroll, who has brought in a new system.