By Ken Chaisson
Hometown Weekly Staff
On a warm, rainy night, the 5th seeded Walpole Timberwolves’ football team (6-2) soaked the 12th seeded Westfield Bombers (6-2) at John Turco Stadium on Friday November 6, 2026 by a final score of 48-18 in the first round of the division 4 playoffs.
Senior captain Mason Falcone shredded the Westfield defense for four rushing touchdowns in an overwhelming display by the Timberwolves.
The victory earned Walpole a date with the 4th seeded Duxbury Dragons (7-1) at Duxbury High School on Friday November 13 at 7PM.
Coming into the contest, Westfield seemed a formidable foe. Their junior quarterback Aiden Purdy led the offense setting a single-season school passing record with 21 passing touchdowns.
However, Westfield was not prepared to play in these elements from the start. Bad snaps on special teams, dropped passes, mishandled kickoffs and fumbles all characterized their nightmare first half.
And the Timberwolves were more than happy to pounce on the opportunities in a near flawless first two quarters.
The final score doesn’t reflect Walpole’s dominance in all facets of the game. The defensive unit lived in the Westfield backfield. The offensive line plowed through the Westfield defense opening holes for a pounding running attack from multiple backs. The secondary rarely let a pass go undefended. The vaunted Westfield passing game never got started.
After a methodical run-focused initial drive, Falcone made it 7-0 for Walpole from 26 yards out behind a key block from Mike Motroni at the 4:52 mark.
On Walpole’s second possession, senior captain Dylan Katz ripped off a 50 yard run to set up Falcone from 2 yards out which made it 14-0 at the end of the first quarter.
After an unsuccessful Westfield fake punt on a 4th and 4 from their own 25 yard line, Falcone answered with another 2 yard TD making it 21-0.
Senior Shane Harrington then recovered a fumble in the secondary. Two plays later, he swept around left end for a 31 yard score putting the Timberwolves up 28-0.
After another failed punt by Westfield, junior quarterback Blake Pileski upped the margin to 35-0 with a 15 yard swing pass to senior Aidan Hoyle. The rout was on.
Falcone continued his onslaught with a 57 yard rushing TD to make it 41-0 going into halftime.
Walpole’s defense held Westfield to barely any yards, never mind a first down, in the first half. The Bombers’ biggest gain was on a busted play on a bad snap by their punter.
The Timberwolves played mistake free football in the first half. The wet weather never bothered them. Walpole never punted the entire game.
The second half Walpole went to their bench. Westfield and Walpole traded TDs in the third quarter.
Senior Caden Preto had the last rushing TD following the blocking of Matty Myers. That finished the scoring for the Timberwolves which allowed a running clock for the remainder of the rain-drenched game.
Westfield scored twice late in the fourth quarter but by then the game was long decided.
Kudos to the Walpole cheer team who stayed until the very end on a miserable weather night the day before their Bay State Conference championship meet. You go girls!
