Isaac Maillis and the Raiders will face Shawsheen Valley Tech in the State Tournament on Thursday. (Photo by Charlie Breitrose)
Two Watertown High School squads will play in the winter State Tournaments, with the boys hockey team skating on Thursday girls basketball team playing Friday. The boys hockey team faces Shawsheen Valley Tech on Feb. 26 at 7:10 p.m. at Hallenbourg Ice Rink in Billerica. The Raiders (3-17) are the 28th seed, while Shawsheen (17-2-1) is the fifth seed.
Watertown seniors Jimmy Shrestha, left, and Fahad Khan both finished fourth in their divisions at the MIAA Div. 3 State Wrestling Championships. (Courtesy of Watertown Athletics)
Watertown’s Jimmy Shrestha and Fahad Khan will compete with the top wrestlers from across Massachusetts after both placed fourth at the MIAA Div. 3 State Meet in Gloucester on Saturday. Both seniors placed among the highest finishes in the State Meet in Watertown history, said Watertown Wrestling Coach Kevin Russo.
Watertown/Wayland’s 2026 regular season came to a close Wednesday with a non-league contest versus Dover-Sherborn/Weston(DSW). The game also served as Senior Night as six young men were recognized before the game for their contribution to the program. Once the game began, one and all were treated to an entertaining affair that saw the Raiders (DSW are the Raiders as well, but for this article, only Watertown is the Raiders) take the early lead and once again play a bigger, stronger, faster team (and D2 as well) pretty evenly. It was a 2-1 game DSW late into the second period, but a DSW goal with 30 seconds remaining made it 3-1 after two. That score swelled to 6-2 DSW by game’s-end, but the Raiders kept competing right up to the final whistle.
Seniors Ryder Barenholtz, Odarjyo Cook, Matthew Wheeler, Griffin Wood, Liam McIsaac and Kingston Omolade were introduced as the starting lineup on this night, a nice touch by Head Coach John Vlachos. For goalie Liam McIsaac, it was a chance to see some action as junior Finnley MacDonald has seen most of the time in net this season. McIsaac did himself proud, making a number of Grade A saves and only surrendering one goal before being relieved by MacDonald half way through the first period. Wayland Senior Griffin Wood, a first-line winger all season long, got the scoring going for a team short on goal-scoring all season. He rambled down the right wing and put a shot on DSW goalie William Goldstein, a shot that wasn’t blistering but nonetheless on net and hard for him to handle: 2:29 in on Senior Night Watertown/Wayland had the lead. DSW tied it four and a half minutes late, but the Raiders, despite being outshot and defending their zone more then they would have liked, were right there with DSW after one period.
Watertown senior Fahad Kahn, on the top step, won the 106 pound class MIAA Div. 3 North Sectional Meet for the second year in a row. (Watertown Athletics)
Several Watertown High School wrestlers extended their season by finishing well in Saturday’s MIAA Div. 3 North Sectional Meet in Dracut. One repeated as section champ.
Watertown/Wayland Hockey deserves so much credit, in my opinion. From the coaching staff on down to the last player on the roster, there has been little to no quit despite winning very infrequently. They play in a very competitive and physical league with a young and undersized roster, yet they always hang tough, even when the score might indicate otherwise. With the regular season winding down and still no league wins next to their name, Watertown/Wayland found the secret sauce against a Wakefield squad, who in addition to clearly getting out-played, left their A-game, let alone their C-game back in Wakefield. Final score, which is music to the ears of EVERYONE associated with Watertown/Wayland, Watertown/Wayland 7 Wakefield 2. It started very rocky for the Raiders. SIX seconds in captain Luke Egan was sent to the penalty box for hooking. But the Raiders executed a good kill, and junior Goalie Finnley MacDonald, called upon all season long to make quality and quantity saves, faced two good scoring chances and steered them aside. But a funny thing happened on the way to getting back to full strength —the Raiders failed to execute the transition from Egan leaving the box to a line shift, and were immediately back on the penalty kill, guilty of a bench minor for too many men on the ice.
Now, if you believe in fate, I’d recommend the story of the rest of the period as proof that it exists. The Raiders not only killed the second penalty, but settled down, played solid hockey, and at 11:14 went on the power play thanks to — yup, a Wakefield penalty for too many men on the ice. And 28 seconds later they were whistled for a tripping, giving Watertown/Wayland a two-man advantage. And what did the Raiders do better than Wakefield with their power play opportunities? That’s right hockey fans, they scored, first a 5-on-3 power play goal courtesy of a Griffin Wood wrister, and then they pulled off the daily double as Michael Philbin scored a 5-on-4 power play goal to make it 2-0. Now, to be clear, I’m neither making light or making fun of what I’m about to say, but there have been very few opportunities to say “Raiders are up 2-0 with two minutes left in the period.” It sounds good, right?
Up first, the Boys… Senior night honored three young men who have devoted their time and effort to Watertown Basketball — Higor Camara, Andrew Malovanyi and Benjamin Teixeira. Congratulations to all three of them and a tip of the hat for their contribution to Watertown Athletics and Raiders Basketball! A season that has seen mostly struggles has been better of late, with the Raiders winners of four of their last five. Two were non-league blowouts against an inferior opponent (a home-and-home), but two were league wins, and one on the road. Every team wants to win Senior Night, and tonight was no different. For most of the contest it seemed as though Watertown would do just that — win — but, they went cold and flat in the fourth while Melrose, fighting to stay in contention for a D2 Tournament berth, found their way just in time to bring about overtime. And in overtime it was ALL Melrose as the Red Hawks outscored the Raiders 14-2 to defeat Watertown, 59-47. The first quarter was a bit of a slog, as both teams struggled offensively. The only offense for the Raiders came courtesy of junior Michael Nshanian, who scored 8, four of four from the line. Both teams lit it up, relatively speaking, in the second. While Melrose featured a balanced output, Nshanian added 9 more on the way to 36 on the night. But, despite that impressive number, it was a harbinger of sorts for how the night would turn out. As Nshanian continued to score, the rest of the team stood around and increasingly their half-court offense became downright stagnant.
Watertown Wrestling Coach Kevin Russo watches his team practice in preparation for the Div. 3 State Meet in 2025. (Photo by Charlie Breitrose)
Watertown High School’s wrestling team wraps up a challenging 2025-26 regular season this week as the team prepares for the MIAA state competitions. Watertown Wrestling Coach Kevin Russo added some stiff competition for the Raiders this season. “This year we really beefed up our schedule.
Girls Basketball, with but one senior starting along with two freshman, one sophomore and a junior, had the chance to clinch the Middlesex League’s Freedom Division crown Friday night with a win. They entered the game with a three-game lead with three league games remaining on the regular season schedule. The Boys faced a squad with but one win ALL season, and it came at the expense of the Raiders back in early January on a night when one of the Raiders key players got sick during the game, which left the team shorthanded. Revenge was on the mind of Boys Basketball on this night. So, onto the games… Watertown Girls Basketball has had a successful season by any metrics. A young team that really only goes six deep, has come to play most nights and has never suffered more than a two-game losing streak. In league play they have simply been outstanding, as they entered Friday night’s game at 9-4 and in first place by three games. They knew a win tonight at home would clinch the Freedom Division, and that’s exactly what they did as they beat Wakefield 53-41. The first quarter made one wonder if it was going to be the Raiders night though, as they just couldn’t get the ball to fall through the hoop with any consistency, scoring only 9 in the quarter. In the meantime, Wakefield, who came into the game 6-10 overall (6-7 in the league) and averaging only 39 points per game on the season, scored 17 in the quarter. Oh oh.s But, one quarter does not make a game, and the Raiders stuck with it and somewhat righted the ship despite what I’m about to tell you. The second quarter was a slugfest, with the Raiders managing all of 6 points. The good news?
