After a start to their season full of both ups and downs, the Walpole High School Football team is entering the second half of their season. They are currently 1-4, but have played very strong competition and kept it close. The team is still hopeful about their post-season chances and will keep working towards their aspirations.
“The goals haven’t changed at all,” head coach Christopher Sullivan said, “Our goal is always to be one of the last teams standing and try to win the championship.”
Although the team has not changed the destination, due to some key injuries they have been forced to change how they will get there. As the season has gone on, Walpole has gone from a more pass heavy offense to being much more focused on the short and run game, while on defense, they have begun blitzing more often. In many of their losses, Walpole held the lead going into half time, but were unable to finish the job. Though they have been improving on this flaw and are beginning to look better. For instance, they managed to hold the lead for much longer during their game against Needham.
“I told the team that I feel like we hadn’t played four quarters in any game up until this point,” Sullivan said, “the most exciting part for me was to see them go out and compete and stay ahead for three quarters.”
The team’s makeup has changed drastically since last year. Many key players have graduated, but Walpole has also gained many new stars. Many of last year’s freshmen have moved up to varsity and are now making an impact on the team, while the juniors and seniors are falling into leadership roles as experienced members of the team. The new freshmen team has been playing well and Sullivan expects that a large number of them may be able to make varsity come next year, four of five by Sullivan’s count. Although the loss of the graduated seniors is felt, the team has been able to stand on its own this year and will keep moving forward.
“The seniors last year were very good players, we had some dynamic players in that class. We had really good leaders. They were tough, they were mentally tough as well. They’re a big loss for sure, but that’s in the past and the team we have right now is what we care about at this moment,” Sullivan said.
Although not the perfect start to the season that Walpole was hoping for, they have persevered and managed to have a strong first half even with one of the hardest schedules in the state. As the season goes on, Walpole intends to keep doing what has been working and improve upon their weak spots, hopefully leading to a competitive postseason.
