The varsity football team faced Holliston High School for their first regular season game on Friday, Sept. 5. With this game being their home-opener, it was “Youth Night”, an annual event where the Wayland youth football and cheer teams come together to support the Warriors. Although Wayland’s defense was strong throughout the game, Holliston’s offense proved too much to handle, as the Warriors ended up losing 14-0. With senior captain Alex Evangelista not being able to play due to a shoulder injury and only a few seniors starting, the juniors and underclassmen had to step up to take on Holliston.
First quarter:
Wayland received the ball to start the game, but wasn’t able to get a first down. Once Holliston had possession of the ball, their running back wasted no time, as he was able to plow through several Wayland defensive players for Holliston’s first touchdown of the game.
Second quarter:
After Holliston’s first quarter touchdown, Wayland’s defense began to settle in, with sophomore Teddy Richter making a couple nice plays to prevent any more Holliston touchdowns in the first half. Although Wayland had a stronger defense in the second quarter, they were unable to score any points of their own. At halftime, the score remained 7-0, Holliston winning.
Junior Mikey Johansson obtained a minor injury from a Holliston defensive player, who slammed into him while trying to pass the ball. This hit put him out of the game, with sophomore George Bressler taking his place.
During halftime, the youth cheer teams went in the center of the field, showing off some of their routines to the spectators.
Third quarter:
Similarly to the second quarter, the defense on Wayland’s side was strong, preventing Holliston from scoring any touchdowns. Even though Wayland wasn’t able to put any points on the board in the third quarter, their offense started to improve, getting multiple first downs.
During the game, the cheerleading team played multiple games with the student section, such as a dice game and a “pool floatie” toss. For the dice game, there was a dice given to a student, and whatever number they rolled determined the trick that some members of the cheer team had to perform. One of the numbers correlated to “tumbling”, where senior captain Juliana McDonald and senior Reese Dallin performed multiple flips.
“I really do hope to get the student section more engaged this year,” McDonald said. “I really hope that they can get to know some of the cheers better, so they can all have fun doing them with us.”
Fourth quarter:
At the start of the fourth quarter, Wayland’s defense was overwhelmed with Holliston’s offense, and Holliston scored another touchdown. Wayland was unable to put any points of their own on the board, so the final score was 14-0.
The Warriors’ next game is on Friday, Sept. 12 at Hopkinton.
“Into our next game, we’re excited,” sophomore Alex Pearlman said. “We got that first game energy.”
