Hawks football team falls to Newton North under the lights

You could not ask for a better setting on Friday night at Newton North High School.

A beautiful sunset faded behind the trees as two rivals squared off to usher in the autumn season. It was the classic Friday Night Lights experience, with both the Waltham and Newton North fan sections packed out as the lights flickered on amid a cool breeze.

Unfortunately for the Hawks, it simply was not their night. The Tigers jumped out to an early lead and WHS failed to garner any momentum en route to a 29-0 defeat. The loss drops the Hawks to 1-1 to begin the season.

Jaden Ssenfuma was impressive for Waltham, making a bevy of plays at both wideout and in the secondary. Imposing at 6-foot-2 and 195 pounds, the senior used his physicality to make a few tough catches along the sidelines and wreaked havoc on defense with a collection of tackles for loss. However, it was not enough to make up for some of the lapses made by the Hawks.

Newton North blitzed Waltham immediately out of the gate. Spurred by the jubilant crowd sporting black, the Tigers scored right away on the first play from scrimmage when senior running back Dylan Leone took a screen pass 55 yards to the house. Waltham junior Austin Lucente responded with a great return on the ensuing kickoff and sophomore defensive back Talon Gray hauled in a tipped pass for an interception a few minutes later, but the Hawks just could not seem to get anything going offensively.

WHS appeared to turn the tide at the beginning of the second quarter when Ssenfuma recovered a Tigers fumble. The Hawks then proceeded to march down the field and put themselves deep in NNHS territory following a tough run by captain Wes O’Connor on a fourth-down play. However, Waltham failed to convert the subsequent fourth-down try and the Tigers capitalized.

Newton North quarterback Freddy Torcasio broke free of a sack attempt by O’Connor and raced downfield, setting up a subsequent 30-yard touchdown bomb to wide receiver Jake Svartstrom. Wideout Nico Atwood got open for a two-point conversion and just like that, the Hawks found themselves trailing at halftime, 15-0.

WHS head coach Sean Brackett looked to light a fire under his troops with a spirited halftime speech in the north end zone at the intermission and the Hawks brought some energy into the third quarter. Lucente struggled to find his receivers down the field, though, and two interceptions put the game out of reach.

The Hawks will look to rebound in their home opener at Leary Field this Friday night. Winchester High School comes to town for a 7 p.m. matchup on the heels of its 42-7 bashing of Peabody High last week.

Golf notes

In other news, the WHS golf team captured a massive win over Cambridge Rindge & Latin at Fresh Pond Golf Course last Monday. The Hawks fell to a formidable Concord-Carlisle High School team on Wednesday to drop the team record to 3-4 on the season, but will have chances to bounce back this week against Newton South High School and Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School.