Schools

Watertown Middle School Expanding Offerings in Sports Programs

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Watertown Middle School

Watertown Middle School has a tradition of not cutting players from its after school sports teams, but some sports have attracted many more players than can play in games. The School Committee approved a change to the program to allow more students to participate. The Watertown Athletic Department has come up with a plan to add intramural teams for the most popular sports, as well as adding a few new teams, said Superintendent Dede Galdston. “We looked at various option we can implement to reduce the impact of how many kids we have who want to play middle school sports,” Galdston said. “Currently there is a no cut policy — not a policy, but a practice that has been around for a long time.”

Sports

Watertown Football Team Looks to Return to Winning Ways in 2019

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The Watertown High School football team hopes to celebrate more wins in 2019 after the team’s string of winning seasons, winning streak against Belmont, and playoff streams were broken in 2018. For the Watertown High football team in 2018, it is safe to say things did not go according to plan. Injuries to key players before the regular season even started set the tone for a year that led to a final record of 4-7. The 2018 season saw the end of many streaks the Raiders were accustomed to extending such as beating Belmont on Thanksgiving (five years in a row), making the playoffs (five straight seasons) and finishing with a winning record (nine straight years). All those streaks will have to start over in 2019.

Sports

Watertown Rower Part of Crew That Qualified for Olympics

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Watertown-native Alexander Richards and the U.S. men’s eights boat qualified for the 2020 Olympics. Watertown-native Alexander Richards rowed with the United States men’s eights crew at the World Rowing Championships, and on Monday the team qualified for the 2020 Olympics. Richards, who competed at Belmont Hill School and Harvard, rows in seat 5 of the eight man boat that competed in the World Championships in Linz, Austria. The final was held on Sunday, and the U.S. grabbed the last automatic qualifying spot by finishing fifth in the final, according to the U.S. Rowing report. The team completed the 2000 meter course in 5:23.92, which was half a second ahead of New Zealand.

Sports

First Game of Legend Basketball League Goes to OT

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Teams in the O’Brien-Jeharian Legends League final got underway Thursday with an overtime game. Pictures is action from the semifinals at Saltonstall Park. The Recreation Department provided the following information:

The Johnson Club survived an overtime challenge from the Finnegan Club, winning game one of the O’Brien-Jerahian Legend Finals by the score of 58-46. Danny Kelly led all scorers with 16, while teammate Jeremy Kullman chipped in 15 for the victors. Marcus D’Angelis and Mike Simoni scored 14 and 12 respectively for the runner-up Finnegan Club.

Legends League

Finals of Summer Basketball Legends League Begin Thursday

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Teams in the O’Brien-Jeharian Legends League battled for a spot in the finals Tuesday night. The matchup for the finals of the O’Brien-Jerahian Legends will pit the top two teams in the Watertown Summer Basketball League’s legends league. Both semifinals went to three games. On Tuesday night, Johnson Club defeated Control Club, 54-49. In the other semifinal, Finnegan Club won by 10 points over Kaos Club, 59-49.

Soccer

Watertown High Soccer Teams Close to Kicking Off Season

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Watertown’s boys and girls soccer teams will soon be taking the field for the 2019 season. Here Rodrigo Freitas dribbles the ball against Gloucester at Victory Field. Pictured, Watertown’s Justin Viasus passes during the State Tourney against Pentucket at Victory Field last season. The Watertown High School soccer teams will soon kick off their season, and both the boys and girls teams will look to do even better that last year. In 2018, the boys made the State Tournament but were knocked out in the sectional quarterfinal.

Field Hockey

Watertown Field Hockey Opens Season Next Week

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The Raiders won the North Section title in 2018 but fell short of winning the state championship. The 2019 campaign begins in the first week of September. The Watertown High School field hockey team will be seeking to retake the State crown in 2019 after falling in the playoffs, last year, for the first time in nearly a decade. The Raiders, who are coached by soon-to-be hall of fame coach Eileen Donahue, have a scrimmage at Div. 1 power Walpole on Sept.

Eileen Donohue

WHS Field Hockey Coach to be Inducted into Hall of Fame

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Watertown field hockey coach Eileen Donahue speaks to her players. Donahue will be inducted into the National Field Hockey Coaches Association Hall of Fame. The following announcement came from the National Field Hockey Coaches Association:

The National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) is honored to announce that head field hockey coach at Watertown High School, Eileen Donahue, will be inducted into the NFHCA Hall of Fame  this year. This fall, Donahue will begin her 33rd season at the helm of the Watertown High School field hockey program — a team she’s led since 1986. Her tenure with Watertown is full of record-breaking performances and a dominance enjoyed by only a handful of coaches in the history of high school sports.