The Wellesley Raider football team is once again off to a successful start to the 2016 season as they currently sit at 4-0 on the season and have out scored their opponents thus far 125-13. I was able to chat with Coach Jesse Davis about his team’s start and he was quick to attribute the success to a well rounded team and coaching staff, “Excellent assistant coaches who work hard year round on their craft and players who have bought in to the program and made football a priority in their lives.We also have an excellent senior class. Guys that have come up and played in our youth program and we even have some guys who are out for football late in their high school careers who are making an impact on our team. It comes down to seniors who are great teammates and great team leaders.” Last year one of the Raiders biggest hallmarks was their defense and it certainly has been the case again this season as the Raiders have allowed only 3.25 points per game and have pitched 2 shutouts in their first 4 games. “Our defensive coordinator John Griffith does an excellent job putting together the defensive game plan week to week and our players do an even better job executing that plan in the games,” Said Davis. “The backbone of our football program is to play fast, tough, and aggressive team defense.”
Offensively the Raiders have certainly been lighting it up as well thus far averaging 31.25 points per game so far and while the Raiders have stuck with the triple option scheme that they went to last season, they have made some minor adjustments including using more of a shot gun based triple option which Davis says fits the mold of this team talent wise, “We still run triple option but we have tweaked the offense to match our talent. My offensive philosophy is to be flexible and to match the scheme to the personnel that we have on the field. I think that option football is good for the athletic skill sets that we typically have in Wellesley, but what we are today might not look the same as what it did last week. We have to be flexible to make adjustments and put ourselves in the best position to win. It’s not about the scheme, its about the players on the field.” Davis also had high praise for junior quarterback Jack Tishman who in his first season under center has seen tremendous success thus far, “Jack Tishman has been very impressive this offseason and into the start of our season at QB. He has embraced the role of team leader and has great command of the offense. No one is harder on Jack than himself and he works hard to improve everyday in practice. It also helps to have a veteran offensive line in front of him.”
The last two weeks presented some extra adversity for the Raiders as due to continued field work at Hunnewell Field the Raiders were forced to play their 2 “home” games at Weston High School, a challenge Davis says his team embraced head on, “Weston was great to us and we are very grateful for letting us play two game there. Very early in the preseason we started talking about having a road warrior mentality. Good football teams like to compete on the opponents home field. It’s a mentality that our players have embraced. The focus for us is in practice each day and getting ourselves better week to week, not really where the games are being played.” The Raiders now enter the home stretch of their schedule against three of the Herget Division’s finest in Walpole, Norwood, and defending Herget champion Milton, all on the road, but Davis says his team is ready for the challenge, “Those are all excellent football teams who will be well coached and prepared to play. We need to make sure that we have an excellent week of practice and get better in all 3 aspects of the game every day. We can’t afford to have one bad practice day moving forward. Our coaches and players know this and are more than ready for the challenge. Our focus needs to be on the day to day improvement of our football team.”
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