There is no substitute for practice, and in football there is a lot of it. At the high school level, except for an occasional day off here and there, it’s play Friday night, watch film on the weekend, practice Monday through Thursday and then play again on Friday. And football practice can be monotonous, running the same play over and over again until it’s executed to perfection. But, in the end, it’s all worth it, especially when everything clicks on the field on game day!
That was the case for the Raiders the last time they got to play on their home turf in a shutout of Brookline way back on September 26. Then it was on the road against Stoneham, Wakefield and Melrose. The Raiders played Stoneham tough, but could only muster 12 points in defeat. Then it was a loss to Wakefield 27-17. But the biggest loss was last week, and it wasn’t on the scoreboard. At Melrose, Watertown’s Junior QB Coleman Keuchkarian-McKeen injured his knee in the first quarter and Watertown went on to lose 21-0. A much bigger loss was losing Keuchkarian for the season with a torn meniscus. Of course, as big a blow as it is for the team, it’s crushing for the player, who had established himself throwing and running the ball,
So, you can imagine what practice was like this week trying to prepare for Burlington, 3 and 0 in league play and 6 and 0 overall. And trying to incorporate a new offensive system. On the depth chart Lucas Bray is listed as QB2. Coach Carroll chose to use Bray, but also to incorporate a wildcat-type offense that put Junior Jayden Pineda behind center, in the shotgun, and had him running a series of running plays that had him carrying the ball or handing it off to one of two backs almost always in the backfield with Pineda. Both Pineda and Bray got to throw, but sporadically, and when they did, they came close to a number of significant downfield gains, but you could see the arm and polish of Keuchkarian was missing.
So, with all that said, Burlington fumbled on the first play from scrimmage and Watertown recovered. Starting at the Burlington 43, Watertown just couldn’t put a series together and gave it up on downs. Two plays later, thanks to some good blocking, great outside running speed, and some missed tackles, Burlington took it to the house on a 64-yard run. Watertown answered with a 9-play drive that ended with a well-executed play-action pass from Bray to Oliveira for the TD. And there you go, Watertown had the lead.
It was short-lived though, as Burlington put together its own 9-play drive, using play-action to pass for a TD, the same as Watertown had just done to them. Watertown stalled on offense and were now in danger of going down two scores before the half, but the defense came up big and forced Burlington off the field on downs. Watertown valiantly tried to drive 69 yards with two timeouts and a minute thirty on the clock, but they ran out of time.
Watertown, down only 14-7, had the ball first to start the second half, but did nothing with the ball. Burlington struck on their first possession though. With good field position at the Raiders 48, it took only two runs totaling 35 yards, a 15 yard Raider’s penalty, and a 5-yard run to the end zone to just about put the game out of reach.
Watertown ran six plays on their next drive and gained two first downs. There was hope. But, then a run for a loss of four, a sack and a loss of 10 more yards, and the next thing you know the Raiders were punting. At this point, it was clear Watertown was running out of steam, and the big play bit the Raiders again. A 70-yard TD run to the outside and down the sideline made it 29-7.
They played a fourth quarter, and Watertown is to be admired and applauded for continuing to play hard, but the quarter was played in name only. Both teams knew the result was settled. Watertown moves to 2-5 overall and 0-4 in league play. Up next a Halloween night tilt with Wilmington at Victory Field at 7 p.m.
Be sure of this. This team will not quit, and their coach won’t let them. It stinks losing QB1 for all involved, but tonight, there were glimmers of hope. With another week of practice with the new regime I guarantee the execution will improve, and come Friday against Wilmington you will see a much-improved Watertown Football team.
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1 2 3 4 F
Burlington 6 8 15 0 29
Watertown 0 7 0 0 7
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1st Quarter
Burlington 6 Watertown 0… 64 yard TD Run, 2-point conversion failed
2nd Quarter
Burlington 6 Watertown 7… 10 yard TD Pass, Bray to Oliveira, Wilson PAT Kick
Burlington 14 Watertown 7… 20 yard TD Pass, 2-point conversion PASS
3rd Quarter
Burlington 22 Watertown 7… 5 yard TD Run, 2-point conversion RUN
Burlington 29 Watertown 7… 70 yard TD Run, PAT Kick
4th Quarter
No Scoring