Sports

JIM’S VIEW: Watertown Football Runs Out Of Treats, Losing After Holding a Halftime Lead

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The Super Bowl is practically a national holiday. Halloween comes pretty close. Come 5 p.m., you’re either getting ready at home for the doorbell to ring with trick-or-treaters, you’re putting on the final touches of a costume for yourself for a party or for your trick-or-treating children – or, you are turning off the lights and going to dinner. It’s a crazy and hectic end of almost two months of candy sales, Halloween programming on TV and outrageous front yard decorations. One thing you don’t expect to have happen on Halloween is a high school football game. But, the calendar says Happy Halloween on Friday night once every seven years, and Friday Night Football is a pretty special thing as well. So, Watertown football kept its game on Friday night rather than moving it up a day as some communities did, and it was an important game to boot.

Sports

JIM’S VIEW: Watertown Begins Defense of Div. 3 State Title With a Strong Performance vs. Swampscott

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Watertown sophomore Ave Anderson, right, celebrates scoring against Swampsott in the State Tournament Round of 32 at Victory Field on Wednesday. (Photo by Charlie Breitrose)

Watertown Field Hockey knows who they are and what is expected of them. When they lose (and that’s rarely) it’s big news. If they win, but by only a certain margin, it’s news. When they give up a goal, for goodness sake, it’s news. It’s an understatement that the weight of expectation is heavy. But you would never guess that it affects those who put on the uniform and play for Coach Eileen Donohue. They simply buy in and practice hard and play hard and believe that they will be rewarded for the commitment and the sweat and the effort.

Sports

JIM’S VIEW: Watertown Wins Their Final Regular Season Home Game in Dominant Fashion

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Another beautiful Fall day at Victory Field brought out some lovely play from the Raiders field hockey team on Oct. 23, as they thoroughly controlled this game from start to finish, winning their final regular season home game 7-0. Just a minute in a wicked slapper from 15 yards out by Kaylee Master made it 1-0. Less than three minutes later senior co-captain Sophia Setouhi, who was flying around the field on this day, made it 2-0 after some nifty moves. Freshman Lola Venezia finished the first period scoring on a rebound shot that got past the Burlington goalkeeper to make it 3-0 after one period. Now, it should be said that the Burlington goalie was impressive throughout the half, coming aggressively out of her goalie crease, anticipating plays and trying to cut off angles to potential shots on goal.

Sports

JIM’S VIEW: Watertown Plays First-Place Burlington Tough at Victory Field

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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.

Sports

JIM’S VIEW: Watertown Boys Soccer Celebrates Senior Night, Gears Up For The Tournament

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It’s great to score goals if you’re a soccer team, but those weren’t the only goals Watertown Boys Soccer thought about this past off-season. They had a vision of a successful season with lofty goals, and were on a mission to live up to their own challenge. They practiced all summer long.  Five days a week. Sometimes all seven days. Captain-organized practices, rain or shine, throughout the summer heat.

Sports

JIM’S VIEW: Watertown Field Hockey Celebrates Senior Day With a 4-0 Victory

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Thank you. Thanks for your dedication to the program. Thanks for contributing to four straight State titles. That’s what Thursday was about as Watertown’s Field Hockey program recognized their seniors prior to taking on Arlington at Victory Field. This year’s roster has only two seniors, co-captains Ava Lamacchia and Sophia Setouhi. Ava plays defense and Sophia is a forward, and like so many others who have passed through the program in recent years, they have contributed in so many ways, and enjoyed the ultimate fruits of their labor — championships. This season has been a bit different than recent years, if for no other reason than the Raiders have lost — twice. But, their ultimate fate is far from being determined, and Coach Donahue will make sure each player gets the best out of themselves. On this day, Watertown was clearly the best team, as they controlled the play from start to finish, never allowing a shot on freshman goalie Natalia Keuchkarian. What the Raiders did do is pressure the Arlington goalie. And, as has been the case in one or two other games this season, an opposing goalie stood on her head, making save after save, some of the spectacular variety, and that kept the final score at a modest 4-0.

Sports

JIM’S VIEW: Watertown’s “Own” Boston Gold Kings Start Title Defense with a Wild Win

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The Boston Gold Kings play hockey in the Power Play Senior Hockey League (PPSHL). The Gold Kings also happen to make Watertown their home, playing their home games at the John A.Ryan Arena. The Gold Kings have worked hard to make a footprint in the community the past few years, making appearances at Faire on the Square, for example. And the Gold King’s sponsor list includes many Watertown businesses. The Power Play Senior Hockey League, Northeast Region, added a fifth team for the 2025 season, adding Hudson Valley to go along with Salem, Holyoke, Norfolk, and the Gold Kings. In the ’24 playoffs, the Gold Kings swept Holyoke in the semis did the same to top-seed Salem in the finals. On Saturday night, Boston and Holyoke got the ’25 season started, and it was a wild ride indeed, with the Gold Kings prevailing 7-6 on a game-winner with 1:20 to go in regulation. Now the PPSHL plays three 20 minute periods, just like pro leagues. It’s a full-checking league, and even fighting is allowed. Four officials suit up as further evidence of the seriousness of the competition. Rosters are made up of professionals, as in professionals in other aspects of life, and who love the sport of hockey and want to continue playing in something more competitive than a Tuesday night league that skates for an hour at 10 p.m., fully equipped with cold pucks and cold ones in the cooler.

Sports

JIM’S VIEW: Watertown Boys Soccer Holds Their Own In a Physical Non-League Contest

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Watertown Boys Soccer remains undefeated through 13 games of their 18-game regular season schedule after a well-deserved win against Division 3 rival St.Mary’s. 

Watertown has met up with their Lynn foes many a time over recent years in many sports, regular season and postseason. St.Mary’s always brings it, and they brought it (a physical style of play) to the pitch this evening. While it took Watertown awhile to match the physicality in the first half, eventually the Raiders came to life and answered the bell. And once answered, they never backed down, and essentially won by TKO with 13 minutes left in the game when Pietro Marques took a Gavin Foley corner kick and headed it into the net to make it 4-2. To get to that score though took time. St.Mary’s scored first eight minutes in to make it 1-0. A series of passes and ball-reversals led to a perfect feed and a goal that Declan Chapron had no chance to save. But by midway through the first half Watertown started to find it’s game, and came oh so close to tying it off a Gavin Foley shot that hit the post. Co-Captain Aidan Anker had the rebound on his right foot, and an empty net, to make it a 1-1 game. If this game had ended differently, Anker might be having nightmares, because the ball squibbed off his foot and wide of the empty net. Trust me though, Anker made up for it the rest of the game.