Wellesley High School Football Gets Back to Basics

The varsity football team won their first game this season yesterday afternoon under sunny skies and a group of parents, middle and elementary school football players, the marching band, cheerleaders and a few fellow high school students.

There were also some faculty members milling in the small crowd.

The atmosphere was jovial as parents congratulated each other when their sons’ made a play and the band playing after each touchdown during the 34 to 13 win over Milton.

The game was played on Friday afternoon rather than the traditional Saturday afternoon in deference to the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur which began at sundown Friday.

Other than that, it was typical of most Wellesley High School football games - lots of parents and just a few students.

Which means it had little resemblance to the football game held a couple weeks ago under temporary lights on a rainy Friday night.

That game has been the in classrooms, town hall and presumably dinner tables across town because of the underage drinking that sent two students to the hospital and resulted in several students being suspended from school.

At that game, according to parents and administrators who were there, the number of students far outnumbered adults. And because of the rain, many families contacted by Patch who had planned on attending stayed home.

The atmosphere at that game, according to parents and students who were there, was rowdy and “unsettling” with students in the stands cheering and whooping it up at least a half hour before the opening kick-off.

Rumors flew around town about all kinds of problems at the game, most of which were refuted by police who took the unusual step of issuing a press release the following Monday afternoon “to provide residents with accurate information.”

The release also states that there six police officers present at the game, and that no alcohol was found on any student, or during a search of the stands and surrounding area after the game.

Bags, food and beverages are not allowed to be brought into the game, whether at night or during the day, and parents, school staff and police were at each gate making sure nothing was carried in.

But several parents of students at the game and at the high school have told Patch that their children came home with stories of alcohol, vodka in particular, being passed around the stands in water bottles presumably filled with the alcohol before the game and thrown over the fence and under the stands to be retrieved during the game.

The parents also say their teenagers told them that a few classmates drank heavily before the game, showing symptoms of being intoxicated once they got to Hunnewell Field.

This is something High School Principal Andrew Keough told the School Committee at its last meeting that students discussed with him after the night game.

He said some students told him their peers look at drinking as a way of relieving pressure.

He said students look at it as, “If I can swig this before I get through that gate I’ll be all set.”

Keogh told School Committee members this after they had heard a report by Health and Fitness Director Joanne Grant on findings of a taken by students at the middle school and high school done by the MetroWest Community Health Care Foundation.

According to results of the survey, 45 percent of Wellesley High School seniors report they have been drunk, and 37 percent report they have binged on alcohol within the past 30 days.

At that meeting School Committee Chairwoman Suzy Littlefield said it is up to parents to start addressing these issues.

Keough held an assembly following the game to speak with students about the risky behavior, and follow ups are being planned to discuss the survey results with parents and students.