As playoffs begin, Red & Black fall sports teams are well-represented among the state’s best

The high school state tournament season is now underway for five sports after the boys and girls soccer and football playoff pairings were announced over the weekend. Field hockey and volleyball got started with its postseason last week, and on the local front both Winchester squads enjoyed opening round wins.

Coach Michelle White’s field hockey team (15-3, fifth seed) defeated Middlesex League rival Arlington (3-12-4, 28^th seed) in the Division 1 Round of 32 on Saturday, Nov. 1, at Knowlton, 3-1.

With the win, the Red & Black are moving on to play host to Bishop Feehan (9-9-1, 12^th seed) on Tuesday, Nov. 4, in the Sweet 16 after the Shamrocks took care of North Andover (7-7-5, 21^st seed) rather easily, 6-1 in their Round of 32 encounter. Tuesday’s game at Knowlton will begin at 4:30 p.m. A total of 33 teams made the playoffs in this division.

The seventh-seeded Red & Black volleyball team (20-1), coached by John Fleming, shutdown North Andover (10-11, 26^th seed) in the Round of 32 at the new WHS gym on Oct. 30, 3-0. They are scheduled to face Needham (16-2, 10^th seed) back at the WHS gym in the Sweet 16 on Monday afternoon, Nov. 3. The Rockets beat Haverhill (7-10), the 23^rd seed, by the same 3-0 count in their Round of 32 matchup. There are 33 volleyball teams in the Division 1 playoffs.

The Winchester High girls soccer team (14-2-2, seventh seed), coached by Michelle Ross, will get its postseason underway on Wednesday, Nov. 5, at Knowlton, starting at 4:30 p.m., against the winner of the Beverly (12-4-2, 26^th seed) / Medford (13-4-1, 39^th seed) Division 1 preliminary round game. There are 39 playoff teams in the state’s top division this year.

Coach Vin Musto’s boys soccer team (9-3-4, 28^th seed) is scheduled to begin the playoffs against Andover (8-6-2, 37^th seed) on Monday, Nov. 3, at Knowlton. These are two of 42 teams in this year’s Division 1 playoffs.

It’s now onto football, where undefeated Winchester (8-0) is the fourth seed in Division 2. Coach Wally Dembowski’s squad will play host to North Quincy (4-4, 13^th seed) in the Round of 16 game at Knowlton on Friday night, Nov. 7, starting at 6:30 p.m. It’s the first of three straight weeks of playoff games that will determine which two teams advance to the Super Bowl game at Gillette Stadium in December.

Joe McConnell is a longtime, award-winning sports editor for numerous North Shore publications. He began covering Winchester sports for the News last November.