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Winchester High School football coach Wally Dembowski could not have asked for a better start to the season.
The Red & Black totally dominated non-league Peabody last Friday night (Sept. 12) in the home opener at Knowlton Stadium, 42-7. They scored points in each quarter against a team that they know all too well.
The Tanners, the 11th seed in the final 2024 Division 2 power rankings, were their first-round Sweet 16 opponent last year, and as the sixth seed the Winchester boys edged them in a high scoring game, 35-27. But Winchester was eliminated in the Round of 8 by host Marshfield, the third seed, 48-28. But the Northeastern Conference school did have some success against Dembowski’s team, beating them in last year’s opener, 27-21.
It's another year, but there’s something to say about familiarity. But Dembowski understands every season is different, and every team has to recognize the good, while trying to figure out on how to improve the bad.
“It was a good start, but we have a long way to go with assignments and techniques,” the coach said. “But it was good to see that the effort in all three phases of the game was there.
“We did run the ball effectively, despite having three new offensive line starters in the lineup,” he added. “[Among the game’s standouts was] first-year player Will Mango, who did a nice job at linebacker and on special teams.”
Senior captain Ronan O'Connell electrified the crowd right away with a 75-yard touchdown pass to Ted Budreski to begin the onslaught in the first quarter. Will Bolognese then added the extra point.
Captain Gianni Deprimeo finished off another first quarter drive from four yards out to account for six more points, and Bolognese once again tacked on the final exclamation point.
In the second quarter, the defense took over, when Nick Rotondi intercepted a Peabody pass, and took it to the house from 25 yards out. Bolognese made another extra point to give his teammates a 21-0 lead, before the Tanners finally put points on the scoreboard. But it was all Red & Black after that.
Rotondi ignited the spark in the second half with an 88-yard kickoff return. O'Connell then showed off his arm once again with a 38-yard TD pass to Ryan Martin. Nolan Byrne closed out the scoring in this game with a three-yard run to paydirt. Bolognese nailed all three second half extra points to go a perfect six-for-six against the Tanners.
Deprimeo was the team’s leading rusher against Peabody with 122 yards on 11 carries. Rotondi was credited with two touchdowns, one on defense and another one on special teams, an example of how all three phases of the game were working in sync, despite it only being the first game of the year.
Waltham is next up for the local 11 Friday night (Sept. 19) at Waltham’s Leary Field, beginning at 7 p.m. It’ll be the Hawks’ home opener after splitting their first two games of the season on the road. They defeated Belmont on Sept. 4, 24-12, but lost to Newton North last week, 29-0.
“(Waltham) is a big and physical team with a couple of good skilled players,” said Dembowski.
