Watertown News (https://www.watertownmanews.com/tag/state-tournament/page/16/)
Watertown High School’s football team made the MIAA State Tournament for the fifth straight season, despite a losing record.
The Raiders (3-4) are the sixth seed in the Div. 5 North Section, and will travel to face third-seeded Swampscott (6-1) for the section quarterfinal. The game will be played on Saturday, Oct. 28 at noon. In the past, Watertown has found success starting on the road in the playoffs.
BURLINGTON – The Watertown High School boys basketball players and their fans could not contain themselves when the final buzzer sounded Saturday night. Having won the a thrilling North Section final, 59-52 over Bedford, WHS students poured out of the stands to celebrate with their classmates. Each game during the Watertown High School boys basketball team’s tournament run someone stepped up to make key plays, and Saturday night the Raiders had to dig deep onto the bench to secure the win and the trip to the Garden for the state semifinal. Watertown basketball coach Steve Harrington, a veteran of 10 section finals, said Saturday’s win was one to remember. “It was as intense a game as I’ve been involved with,” Harrington said.
After reaching the State Final last year, the Watertown girls basketball team’s road to Springfield has some familiar foes in the way, including their archrivals. The MIAA released its girls basketball state tournament brackets Friday morning, and Watertown could have rematches against teams they played in the regular season, including playoff clash with Belmont for the third straight year. The Raiders, which finished 14-4, received the third seed in Div. 2 North, while Belmont claimed the stop seed with a 16-4 record. There are three other Middlesex League teams in the bracket.
WORCESTER – The Raiders found themselves in an unfamiliar spot with just under 11 minutes left in Saturday’s state final – tied and with momentum on the side of their opponents – but Watertown’s senior co-captain Kourtney Kennedy made the game changing play and the team lifted the Div. 2 Field Hockey State Championship trophy for the eighth straight time.
Watertown High School’s field hockey team seemed to have a solid lead, up 3-1 early in the second half of the state final at WPI, but a feisty Oakmont team battled back with two goals making it anyone’s game. Along with an aggressive attack, the Spartans’ defense focused on Kennedy, and kept her largely hemmed for the majority of the game. Six minutes after the score was tied, Kennedy found space in the middle of the circle and blasted home the winning goal late in the 4-3 win. “Initially I thought, just get the ball in the circle, and then I saw I could get past another girl and then I knew I could get that shot off,” Kennedy said.
After facing Auburn the past few years in the Div. 2 field hockey State Final, Watertown will have a different foe – Oakmont. Those who have have followed the Raiders over the years will recall, however, that Oakmont has been Watertown’s opponent in the final in the past. The last time the two teams met, 2012, the Raiders won 1-0. The previous year, Watertown came away with the 3-1 victory.
READING – Watertown’s field hockey exploded for four first half goal and cruised to a 5-1 victory over Foxborough in the Eastern Mass final and booked their eighth straight state final. The South Section champions stayed with the Raiders for most of the first half of the game. Junior Maddie Leiter broke the deadlock with a goal from in close after getting a pass from senior Gabby Venezia with 13 minutes left in the half. Less than three minutes later, Sydney Poulin makes it 2-0 Watertown. This time Leitner had the assist. Leitner then got her second goal when she tipped in a ball hit by senior Kourtney Kennedy with seven minutes left in the first half.
NORTH ANDOVER – The Raiders had their hands full for much of the North Section Div. 2 final against Ipswich, on Saturday, but Watertown pulled away for the 3-1 win at North Andover High School. The win gave the Raiders their ninth straight North Section title, and Watertown seeks its eighth straight State Championship. The first half of a rough and tumble game with the team from the Cape Ann League ended 0-0. Watertown co-captain and senior Kourtney Kennedy changed that early in the second half, banging home a goal 2 minutes into the second stanza.
The Raiders battled hard to keep their MIAA football tournament run alive, but a combination of a hot Triton offense and turnovers resulted in a 42-36 loss for Watertown in the North Section Div. 3 final at Victory Field, Friday night. After scoring first on a Deon Smith to John Korte 19-yard pass, the Raiders (8-2) suddenly found themselves down 21-6. Triton quarterback Lewis L’Heureux scored a pair of touchdowns on the ground, and then the Vikings scooped up an errant lateral and ran for a third score. Watertown’s spirit would not been held down despite, however, and they battled back again and again.