Fans pack Leary Field for homecoming, but Hawks fall to Wayland

The stands at Leary Field were as red as the autumn leaves, with fans of all ages donning their Waltham High School gear for the football team’s homecoming matchup against Wayland High on Saturday afternoon.

It was a brilliant day for a game, and the Hawks showed some flashes of potential. However, the Warriors pounced on a couple of key miscues and surged their way to a decisive 48-21 road victory.

Playmaker Jaden Ssenfuma started off the game with a bang, recovering a loose fumble to halt Wayland’s opening drive. When senior quarterback Ryan Dragone whipped a nice screen pass to junior running back Austin Lucente to begin the ensuing possession, it seemed as though Waltham (1-5 on the season) might finally break its trend of getting off to slow starts.

However, the flaw continued to harm the Hawks in this contest. Wayland stopped Waltham to gain possession and Warriors receiver Aidan Curry followed that up with a brilliant high-point catch over the outstretched arms of Hawks defensive back Ryan Ranucci, jogging the ball in for a 56-yard score.

Waltham managed to fight back immediately. Junior captain Bobby Mendez, who head coach Sean Brackett has pointed to on multiple occasions as a key sparkplug for the team, took a slant pattern from Dragone and ripped off a 77-yard touchdown to tie the game with 5:29 remaining in the first quarter. It was a great example of play action by Dragone on a key third-down conversion.

Unfortunately for Waltham, a key error turned the tide of the matchup just moments later. The Hawks were set to regain possession of the ball, but freshman Julius Genece muffed the punt. Wayland was quick to recover and translate this mistake into a 4-yard touchdown throw by Mikey Johansson to Brajae Walton to end the first quarter up 14-7.

The Warriors hit the Hawks with an inventive offensive scheme the entire game, mixing in plenty of creativity. They marched down the field on their subsequent drive with Johannson finding a wide open Christian Montoya-Wantuil for a 29-yard TD connection before a massive punt return by Walton set up another score. Just like that, it was 27-7 heading into halftime.

Waltham responded out of halftime displaying tremendous resilience. Ssenfuma dodged a bevy of tacklers en route to a scintillating kick return touchdown to open up the third quarter, and Brackett made the aggressive call of going for an onside kick with his team trailing, 27-14. Waltham was a touch shy of recovering the ball before it ricochet out of bounds, but it was clear the Hawks had regained some fire.

Ssenfuma put his team in good field position with another great return on special teams, and Dragone started the next possession with a nice toss to Ranucci as the Hawks looked to cut the deficit to six points. The team had the right play call dialed up as they approached the end zone, with Ranucci breaking loose on a post route toward the left pylon. Dragone dropped a dime, but the pass fell through the arms of the wideout and the team ended up turning the ball over on downs.

It would be the last time Waltham got within striking distance of Wayland, who put the game out of reach with a few more stellar drives.

The Hawks will return to the road to play Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School at 7 p.m. Friday night.

Hall of Fame inductees honored

Following the induction of the 2025 Waltham High School Athletics Hall of Fame class at the Sons of Italy on Friday night, the honorees received another nice moment at halftime of the homecoming contest.

Each inductee was announced individually at midfield to an ovation from the crowd.