🏈 Varsity News: 10 things we learned from Week 1

Here are 10 things we learned in Week 1 ⬇️

Feehan’s a force: Bishop Feehan earned the No. 5 spot in the Globe’s Top 20 poll after giving three-time defending Division 1 champion and top-ranked Xaverian all it could handle in a 42-36 overtime loss.

Yellin’ Timber: Walpole, which we ranked at No. 20 to start the season, had the biggest upset: A 16-13 win over No. 5 King Philip thanks to Drew Cantrall’s 11-yard fourth-quarter TD run.

Rust-to-Ramar: Catholic Memorial junior Ramar Thomas displayed an instant connection with QB Kingston Rust, connecting three times for 111 yards and a TD in CM’s 36-14 win over Andover. The Rust twins, Kingston and Christian, are from Rhode Island and moved to Dedham this offseason after playing at three high schools in Florida.

Marshfield statement: The Rams delivered a 42-25 road upset of No. 12 Milton. Senior QB Nate Rollinson threw five TD passes, three of which went to classmate Luke Richardson.

Tanner transfer: Peabody went 2-9 in 2025 and averaged 12.2 points per game. Enter Malden Catholic senior transfer QB Dom Mercier, who threw for 220 yards and four touchdowns in a 34-16 win over Somerville.

White whale: Senior Tru Gonsalves-Cosme, a former Bishop Stang receiver, looked quite comfortable playing QB for New Bedford. He contributed four TDs via run, pass, and punt return as the Whalers snapped a 12-game losing streak by defeating Greater New Bedford 42-8. It was the first matchup between the schools in 46 years.

Menacing Malden: What a showing of talent for the Golden Tornados during a 26-20 win over Lynn Tech. Senior James Powers threw for 175 yards and three TDs, all to Jemiah Charles (100 receiving yards), and junior Jayden McGuffie proved he’s among the state’s top running backs with 175 yards and a TD.

Shawsheen streaking: The state’s longest win streak reached 28 games when the Rams rolled Bedford, 35-7. Their last loss was to Foxborough on Nov. 17, 2023.

New direction: Northeast introduced a new offense and it proved effective: the Golden Knights piled up 544 rushing yards and eight touchdowns in a 64-45 win over Bishop Fenwick. Isaiah Robles (12 carries, 244 yards, 5 TDs) and Lucas De Oliveira (19 carries, 209 yards, 3 TDs) did their damage behind a strong OL.

Fairhaven runs it back: The past two offseasons, the Blue Devils graduated the state’s all-time rushing TD leader and all five of their starting offensive linemen. So after three straight Super Bowl trips, would they finally see a downturn? Nope. The Blue Devils ran for 424 yards in a 39-7 victory over Somerset Berkley.

See all 42 of our players of the week here.

Football: No. 20 Walpole stunned No. 5 King Philip, rallying in the fourth quarter to hand the Warriors their first loss to a public school since November 2022 . . . Field hockey: Freshman Taytum Teehan’s fourth-quarter goal and eighth-grader Grace Champagne’s 12-save shutout lifted Ursuline to its first victory over NDA-H in 17 years . . . Girls’ volleyball: Unranked Hingham earned its first win over No. 14 Duxbury in a dozen years . . . Boys’ soccer: Wayland made a statement by rolling through the defending Division 1 champion Natick thanks to a hat trick and an assist from Tobias Kylberger.

We’re embarking on a season-long debate over the best quarterback in Massachusetts, and Xaverian’s Will Wood gets an early nod. The Penn State commit threw for 324 yards and five touchdowns, including a 10-yard strike to beat Bishop Feehan, 42-36, in OT.

In Canton’s 3-0 sweep of Taunton on Monday, Soley Rodriguez Martinez, a 5-foot-3-inch senior libero committed to Bryant, went to the floor for 16 digs, becoming the first player in program history to reach 1,000 in her career. She opened the season with nine digs in a 3-0 sweep of Stoughton.

Shout-outs: King Philip field hockey senior Ella Morgan set a program record with her 85th career goal in a 10-0 win over Sharon . . . Hamilton-Wenham girls’ volleyball junior Tessa Zielinski broke the school record for aces in a match with 14 during a 3-0 sweep of Georgetown . . . Westwood girls’ soccer senior Sofia Bertone notched her 11th career shutout to become the program’s all-time leader. ... Wayland boys’ soccer coach David Gavron, in his 18th season, picked up his 200th career win with that 6-1 upset of Natick.

🏈 Nothing topped the one-handed catch by Nantucket’s Kyden Whitfield, which made its way to No. 3 on ESPN’s SportsCenter Top 10.

🏈 Bishop Feehan junior Colin Van De Giesen blocked Xaverian’s 25-yard field goal attempt as time expired to force overtime.

🏈 Mansfield running back Andrew Minton refused to be tackled on this 12-yard TD run during the Hornets’ 19-0 win over Bridgewater-Raynham.

There are many highly touted quarterbacks taking the field this fall. How many can you see in one weekend? Matt Porter tried to find out.

Hanover High student photographer Brooke Hill captured the moment as captain Addie Monahan blocked a Pembroke hit in a 3-1 win last week.

You can be like Brooke and join our high school photojournalism program, open to any student at any Massachusetts high school. Sign up by filling out this form.

Sydney Tighe (Governor’s Academy) and Emily Regan (Cohasset) announced their verbal intentions to play women’s lacrosse at Southern Cal. Other women’s lacrosse signees: Duxbury’s Ceci Tremante to Holy Cross, Nobles’s Cecily Baron to Brown, and BB&N’s Toni Lally to Harvard.

Wednesday: Boys’ soccer, No. 12 Cambridge at No. 2 Concord-Carlisle, 4:30 p.m.

Wednesday: Girls’ volleyball, No. 3 Chelmsford at No. 10 Central Catholic, 5 p.m.

Thursday: Girls’ soccer: No. 3 Duxbury at No. 13 Hingham, 4 p.m.

Friday: Field hockey, No. 3 Sandwich at No. 5 Hingham, 3:45 p.m.

Friday: Football, No. 10 Marshfield at No. 8 Mansfield, 7 p.m.

From the source Brendan Kurie can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X @BrendanKurie.