Table of Contents
After beating three non-league opponents to begin the 2026 season with a 3-0 record, the Winchester High football team is getting ready for its first Middlesex League game Friday night, Oct. 2, against host Melrose at 7 p.m.
The Red & Black’s latest win was against Masconomet in Boxford at the start of last weekend’s storm on Sept. 25. They defeated the Chieftains in a close encounter, 25-22.
Despite another win, Coach Wally Dembowski still sees room for improvement.
“We took a step back in execution against Masco,” he said. “We need to play faster and more physical on both sides of the ball going forward to have more success. Special teams needs to do some cleaning up in terms of execution and assignments. It was not one of our better games at this moment.”
Dom Vozzella pretty much led the offense against the Chieftains with three touchdowns. His all-around effort included 52 rushing yards and one touchdown on 11 carries. He also caught one pass from quarterback Peter Alexopoulos for six more points, and that went for 70 yards.
To complete a fabulous showing in Boxford, Vozzella turned his attention to the defensive side of the ball, where he picked off a pass and ran it back 47 yards to the endzone.
Alexopoulos completed four of six passes behind center for 119 yards, which featured Vozzella’s long scoring strike. He also called his own number twice for 47 yards and one touchdown, and hooked up with Andrew Haigis on two pass completions for 39 yards.
Eddie Sim was the leader of the defensive effort with two sacks, eight tackles and three assisted tackles. Henry Nagler was credited with three tackles for losses. He also had one sack, six tackles and one assisted tackle. Patrick Winn sacked the Masco quarterback three times.
Something about the Red Hawks
Dembowski critiques Friday night’s opponent with a warning.
“Melrose presents many problems on both sides of the ball with its physical and quick offensive and defensive linemen, as well as two quarterbacks, who seem to be very athletic,” he said. “Their running backs run harder than any running backs that we've seen to this point. They all have good vision, while also knowing how to break tackles. The wide receivers are very dependable, and the defense is super aggressive. They like to attack the line of scrimmage, so we definitely need to be ready to go (on offense).”
Joe McConnell is a longtime, award-winning sports editor for numerous North Shore publications. He has been covering Winchester sports for the News since November 2024 and is currently its Sports Editor. He can be reached at editor@winchesternews.org.
