Sports

JIM’S VIEW: Girls Basketball Moves to 4-1 in the League With Wire-To-Wire Win Over Reading

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The Girls Varsity Basketball Team is young, starting two freshman and a sophomore, and the first off the bench is a freshman. The season is young, as the Raiders have only five games under their belt, yet they are already 3-1 in Middlesex League play and in first place in the Freedom Division, heading into Tuesday night’s game versus Reading. And the year is young, as Tuesday night’s game was the first of nine games in January that will tell a lot about how this team manages growth and development in the competitive Middlesex League. The game was the girls’ first in seven days, but rust was not an issue as the Raiders came out humming to the tune of a 16-2 first quarter on the way to a 43-32 win, getting January off to a great start. Freshman guard Natalia Keuchkarian got off to her own great start, with 8 points in the first quarter, including two 3-pointers. The team created havoc on defense, and Reading’s lack of execution on offense contributed to the Raiders dominant quarter. Senior Sophia Setouhi had steals, sophomore Brook Lambo rebounds, freshman Natalie Haley deflected a number of passes and freshman Diana Martin came off the bench and provided energy and rebounding at both ends. By the half, Watertown had built an 18-point lead at 28-10, and it wasn’t until late in the half that Reading even made it to double figures. The third quarter saw two teams struggle to create offense. Watertown missed a series of lay-ups that would have grown the lead to close to 30, and perhaps that was a harbinger of things to come. Or perhaps it was just the game of basketball behaving like the game of basketball — which is to say that a comeback was sprouting as the final quarter began. 

The fourth started well enough as a pretty Keuchkarian drive for a lay-up gave the Raiders a 37-17 lead, and a false sense perhaps that the game was over. But then …

Sports

JIM’S VIEW: Boy’s Basketball Gets in the Win Column Just Before The New Year

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Every team, no matter the sport, wants to get the new season off to a good start. That’s as close to a universal truth as there is in team sports. The Boys Basketball program, perennially tournament-bound and most often among the upper-echelon in D3, has been less than that to start the season, with four losses to Middlesex foes. Tusesday was the last chance in 2025 to record a win, and the Raiders did just that by beating non-league opponent Fenway, 59- 40, at the Victor J. Palladino Gymnasium. Watertown ran off 7 points to start the game, and was up 14-4 late in the quarter, largely thanks to the Michaels — sophomore Caterino and Junior Nshanian — who both came out aggressively at both ends of the floor and contributed 4 and 7 points respectively. Two late hoops off Raiders turnovers pulled Fenway within 6 at 14-8 after one quarter. In the second quarter the Fenway Panthers couldn’t buy a bucket even though they’ve averaged 64 points a game during a 1-3 start to their season.

Sports

JIM’S VIEW: Boston Gold Kings Explode for 8 Goals, Break a Two-Game Losing Streak

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The Boston Gold Kings(BGK), essentially the Watertown Gold Kings and one of five teams in the Power Play Senior Hockey League (PPSHL) Northeast Division, returned home to the John A. Ryan Arena Saturday night to take on the Salem Sasquatch. The Gold Kings had lost the past two weeks on the road, but remained in second place after 7 games. This was the second time these two teams were meeting this season — the Sasquatch won the first game 5-4 at home back on Nov. 8. Tonight was a different story, as the Gold Kings defeated Salem 8-4. Things didn’t start out well, as BGK was assessed a bench minor before the game even began — they submitted their lineup card after the time required to do so — and Salem took advantage scoring a power play goal only 77 seconds into the game. But BGK recovered and controlled play throughout most of the period. That translated into three goals, two on the power play courtesy of Matt Baldino and Brandon Garneau. Forty-three-year-old defensemen Jon Lounsbury scored the other goal; 3-1 BGK after one period. Evan Morelli was in net for the Gold Kings, and Keegan McGlaughlin for the Sasquatch.

Sports

JIM’S VIEW: The Effort Was There, But the Scoring Wasn’t for Boys Hockey Home Opener 

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John A. Ryan Arena remains the place to go locally to catch hockey action.  Blink your eyes and one game is over and another begins. On Wednesday afternoon at 4 p.m. Woburn came to town, coming off a season-opening loss to Wakefield last Saturday. Watertown/Wayland (W/W) found themselves in the same place after losing at Belmont, also on Saturday, 4-1. Two teams therefore eager to get their first win played hard, but Woburn was simply better on this afternoon on the way to a 4-0 victory. Watertown and Wayland continue to rely on one-another in order to field a team, and the collaborative roster for this season is equally split – 11 Raiders and 11 Tanners. It’s a young roster, with one freshman, nine sophomores, six juniors and six seniors. Five captains represent the veteran presence — Wayland junior Adam Capello, Watertown junior Isaac Maillis, Watertown junior Luke Egan, Wayland senior Griffin Wood and Wayland junior Theodore Henrich. And John Vlachos returns for another season as Head Coach.

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 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’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: Raiders Field Hockey Dominates Melrose, Anderson Leads the Way

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Watertown’s schedule has allowed them to play nothing but home games of late, and that continued versus Melrose. This game was a one-sided affair that Watertown led from start to finish. Avangeline Anderson netted 5 goals today to lead the way for Watertown. Watertown peppered the Melrose goalie early and often, and she had trouble controlling rebounds, and her defense wasn’t very helpful when it came to clearing the ball. Anderson was always in position and scored a number of her goals off rebounds, her stick ready to knock the ball in the cage. Anderson scored two in the first period, one in the second, one in the third and one in the fourth. Kaylee Master had three goals of her own, Aisling Brennock two and Sophia Setouhi and Katelyn O’Connor each contributed one. Unofficial totals had Watertown with at least 25 shots on net to only three for Melrose. The interesting storyline for me is the simple fact that Watertown scored 12 goals — or more specifically they were allowed to score 12 goals. Now look, what I know about field hockey is next to nothing. It has been fun and an honor to cover Watertown Field Hockey the past few years. They work hard, they play hard, and the deserve all the accolades they receive.     

So, by watching their games, you come to learn some things. One thing I’ve learned is that when Watertown gets up by seven goals they shut it down, so to speak. They stop taking shots on goal.  They stop even taking the ball towards the goal. Today, they went up 6-0.