Table of Contents
The three-game winning streak is over, but not without a fight.
The Winchester Red & Black football team (3-1) invaded Melrose’s Fred Green Memorial Field (Oct. 2 to trade punches with its Middlesex League rivals, but when the game reached its most decisive moments, the visitors couldn’t contain the Red Hawks (3-1) rushing attack.
As a result, the home team was able to prevail, 35-21, but the final score didn’t reflect the competitive nature of this game.
After Melrose ran a punt back for a touchdown in the first quarter, senior captain and quarterback Peter Alexopoulous found fellow captain and wide receiver Will Bolognese in the end zone for a 25-yard touchdown pass. Bolognese then tied up the game with another successful extra point.
But finding ways to create offense against Melrose was difficult. The defense, however, helped them out early on with an momentum-shifting play, when sophomore Pierre Bodo recovered a fumble in Melrose territory.
Alexopoulous wasted no time to capitalize on the turnover by using his legs to find the end zone to give the visitors their first lead of the game.
But Melrose came right back with a long drive before halftime to tie up the game on an 8-yard touchdown reception by sophomore tight end Conor Barrington, followed by the extra point.
The halftime break didn’t slowdown the back-and-forth nature of this game.
Winchester swung back big to break the tie when Alexopoulos found Bates College commit Andrew Haigis for a 77-yard scoring strike. Melrose, however, continued to find answers.
With seconds left in the third quarter, Barrington caught another touchdown. The game was tied again, this time at 21 to begin the fourth quarter.
Melrose continued to effectively run the ball, finding lanes that put the Winchester defense on its heels. It led to two unanswered scores that secured the win for the Red Hawks.
Winchester Head Coach Wally Dembowski said that his defense struggled containing the cutbacks of the Melrose runners.
“They’d cut it back, they’d get 10, and then we try to tackle, but they’d turn it into big plays,” Dembowski added.
The Red Hawks eventually broke down the Winchester defensive wall late in the game. The Red & Black had one final opportunity to turn the game around, and make it interesting, but a Melrose interception ended any thoughts of a comeback.
It led to another long drive, with their running game once again steadily moving the chains, which eventually put the final dagger in Winchester’s dreams of another undefeated regular season.
For Dembowski, his frustration stemmed from the areas that the team prepared for during the week.
“What we practiced on and what we showed tonight, I (definitely) don’t know about the solar system, because we weren’t in the same stratosphere,” he said.
Winchester's passing game was solid in the second half, producing multiple explosive plays, including two long touchdowns. But they also had multiple missed opportunities through the air.
“That was a good pass, but again we just can’t live on those big plays,” the veteran Winchester coach said of the Alexopoulos to Haigis aerial show. “We simply need to execute (all the time). There are so many things that we can correct and get better at, but it’s still early. However, we got our hands full next week (in Reading).”
The Red & Black will be taking on the host Rockets on Friday, Oct. 9, in another league battle, starting at 7 p.m.
Boston University junior Jackson Lewis is a Winchester News intern for this semester.
