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The Winchester High School football team (5-0) took a giant step forward in the Division 2 power rankings this past week, going from fifth to second after defeating Middlesex League rival Reading (1-4) at Knowlton last Friday night, Oct. 10, 42-14. The latest state weekly seedings came out on Tuesday, Oct. 14, and only Catholic Memorial is ahead of the Red & Black in the 22-team division, even though both squads have identical undefeated records.
The Winchester boys, who have now outscored their five opponents by a combined total of 224-57, certainly know something about consistency. In four of their five games to date, they have scored exactly 42 points in each of them.
“We did some good things on both sides of the ball (against Reading), and even created a turnover in the kicking game,” said coach Wally Dembowski.
Dembowski was especially pleased with the play of the offensive line and running backs during the Reading game. His linemen helped open up holes for the backs, who altogether gained 331 yards on 29 carries to personally put four touchdowns up on the scoreboard.
The veteran coach also praised the efficiency of the passing game that completed six of seven aerials for 96 yards, two of which went for touchdowns to seniors Ted Budreski and Will Nelson. Senior captain Gianni Deprimeo led all rushers with 138 yards on 15 carries. Quarterback Ronan O'Connell completed five of six attempts for 86 yards, including those two aforementioned scoring strikes.
It was a group effort on defense after limiting Reading to 93 rushing yards on 19 carries and 119 yards in the air, with 55 of those coming on the last drive. The Rockets threw the ball 23 times with not much luck against the staunch Winchester defense.
Senior captain Bryan Harrison was once again the defensive leader with three solo tackles and one assisted stop. He also had one hit behind the line of scrimmage, plus a sack.
Placekicker Will Bolognese starred once again on defense, picking off a pass to account for his third theft of the season. Ilyas Malik led the defensive linemen in tackles with four. Mike Ficociello was credited with his first sack of the year, while senior first-year defensive back Declan Ross chipped in with three tackles.
The game against Reading started slowly, with the first quarter coming up empty for both sides. But the Red & Black exploded for 28 second quarter points to take a commanding lead at halftime, 28-6. They tacked on their final 14 points of the game in the third quarter, before the Rockets accounted for their last eight points in the final stanza.
Deprimeo ignited that second half explosion with a four-yard touchdown run, and Bolognese made his first of six more successful extra points. There was one blocked kick later on in the period.
Junior backup quarterback Peter Alexopoulos then scampered the final 17 yards to account for the team’s second score, followed by O'Connell hooking up with Budreski for a 28-yard TD pass.
After Reading spoiled the defense’s bid for the shutout, senior Nicky Rotondi got it right back with a two-yard run to paydirt.
O'Connell started the second half off with a 38-yard bomb to Nelson. Deprimeo then accounted for his second rushing touchdown of the game, this time from 12 yards out to close out the team’s offense against Reading.
But Dembowski and his players have now turned the page to Arlington, where they will be taking on the host Spy Ponders Friday night (Oct. 17) at 6 p.m.
“Arlington is going to be the biggest and strongest team that we've faced so far this year, with BC-commit Brady Beckenhuis leading the way on the offensive line,” said Dembowski, “and Bryant-commit Drew Beck among the leading skilled position players at tight end.”
The Spy Ponders utilized multiple defensive fronts, and are extremely aggressive with their front seven. They run multiple miss direction and play action passes to slow opposing defenses down. Dembowski says that his team has to be disciplined on defense, while being physical on offense to beat Arlington. “It should be a great challenge,” he added.
Joe McConnell is a longtime, award-winning sports editor for numerous North Shore publications. He began covering Winchester sports for the News last November.
