WOBURN — Winchester is partying prefer it’s 1990.
The Pink and Black fought by accidents and chilly climate to safe a 28-14 Thanksgiving Day victory over Woburn that helped them seize their first outright Middlesex Liberty title since 1990.
“These youngsters are superior,” Winchester head coach Wally Dembowski stated. “The final two years we have been one recreation in need of successful it so this yr we needed to get it finished. They labored their tails off to get thus far, I’m tremendous pleased with them.”
Winchester (11-1) entered the matchup with out the providers of star operating again Gianni DePrimeo and Harvard-bound linebacker Bryan Harrison resulting from accidents suffered within the crew’s Div. 2 semifinal loss to Catholic Memorial.
“Getting right here to this recreation with individuals who may go well with up was an attention-grabbing conundrum,” Dembowski stated. “We actually couldn’t apply laborious all week; we have been so banged up from the sport earlier than. I feel we put pads on for less than at some point and tried to get some stuff finished. We didn’t know what to anticipate at present.”
The Tanners began with possession, but it surely solely took two performs earlier than Winchester defensive again Will Bolognese broke by with an interception that set the Pink and Black up at midfield.
Winchester capitalized rapidly, with quarterback Ronan O’Connell firing a deep go that Ted Budreski caught and took for a 44-yard landing go to open the scoring.
Woburn was compelled to punt on its subsequent possession however pinned Winchester again at its personal three-yard line. With DePrimeo out, senior Nick Rotondi stepped into the operating again position and was in a position to will the Pink and Black out of hazard with a number of key runs.
“My mindset was to maintain pushing,” Rotondi stated. “They’re a tricky crew, they hit laborious. With Gianni happening, I knew I needed to step up, and it wasn’t an enormous deal for me. I used to be prepared.”
Winchester doubled the lead when O’Connell floated a go to Budreski for a 68-yard landing.
“Ted is such an excellent athlete,” O’Connell stated. “He all the time is aware of which solution to go. If he’s going exterior or inside, he’s all the time in that open window. If it’s a one-on-one scenario, I’m all the time choosing Ted over the contender.”
Woburn would lastly maintain a protracted drive that was capped off by a three-yard landing run by Tom Kineavy. This might be the entire scoring by halftime though Winchester did advance deep into Tanner territory within the waning moments.
The Pink and Black began with possession within the second half and O’Connell would join with Budreski for a 3rd time to increase the result in 21-7. Woburn responded with a 50-yard landing connection between Aidan Wooden and Gavin Driscoll to chop the deficit to 21-14.
Rotondi led the subsequent drive and introduced Winchester into the pink zone earlier than O’Connell hit Budreski for the fourth and remaining landing connection of their careers.
“There aren’t any issues with our crew, we’re so collectively,” O’Connell stated. “We deserve this as a result of we now have labored so laborious all through the season. This feels wonderful.
Whereas that is the top of the highway for this historic Winchester crew, Dembowski stated the impression of this group in town has put this system in a powerful place for the long run.
“11 wins has solely occurred two instances in class historical past,” Dembowski stated. “We didn’t get to the Tremendous Bowl, however 11 wins is 11 wins. This can be a implausible group of younger males.”
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