Woburn Football Clips Wakefield, Advances to Northwest Semifinal

Rocky Nelson was confident in his team entering the Division 3 Northwest postseason. And on Friday night, his team showed why.

Woburn played its best defensive game of the season and managed three touchdowns from running back Marvin Jean as the No. 4 Tanners toppled No. 3 Wakefield on the road, 21-7, to advance to the bracket semifinals.

“I thought coming in that we had a chance to win this division,” said Nelson, head coach of the Tanners. “Our approach was that it’s a new season and everyone is 0-0 going into the playoffs. Now we’re 1-0 and hopefully we’ll be 2-0 after Friday.

Friday the locals will have a steep task at hand. Thanks to its quarterfinal win, Woburn advances to play top seed Concord-Carlisle, which is the brackets No. 1 seed.

Nelson praised the effort of his defense Friday night, both on the line and in the secondary, which snagged two interceptions to drastically change field position. The head coach said he was particularly impressed with the performance of linebackers Rob Maracayo and Chris Scichilone along with defensive tackles Imran Gholizadeh and Derek Meaney.

The team’s strong effort Friday wasn’t limited to the defensive and offensives sides of the ball. Nelson said special teamer Nick Dangora had an outstanding night on punts and kick offs, and also added all three extra points.

Friday was the first night the new MIAA playoff format, and with his team playing a meaningful late fall game for the first time since its 2005 Super Bowl, Nelson said he is a fan.

“This is the first time everyone has experienced this new format,” said Nelson. “For us, it was a breathe of fresh air.”