A standout in basketball, Wareham's Ajay Lopes is also shining on the football field
WAREHAM — As a two-time Standard-Times Boys Basketball Player of the Year, Ajay Lopes has the ability to take over a game on the basketball court.
He’s doing the same on the football field this fall.
The senior running back scored three touchdowns on Friday night to power Wareham High to a 30-0 victory over Upper Cape in Mayflower Athletic Conference action.
“He’s impressing me on every play,” said Wareham head coach Brandon Perry. “I was expecting it to be a 10-yard gain and he turns it into like a 60-yard touchdown.
“Sometimes he makes my job easy because I just know I have to get the ball in his hands.”
Lopes scored on runs of 65, 18 and 41 yards with highlight-reel moves.
“He goes one way and flips around and a couple of spin moves and he ends up on the other side of the field,” said Wareham senior quarterback Will Halloran. “I don’t know how he does it, but thank God he’s on my team. He played a great game today and helped us get the win.”
Lopes added, “I just have to avoid the defenders. I’m more of a juke guy than a contact guy; that’s why you see me doing all these moves.”
Lopes isn’t Wareham’s only offensive threat this year.
“It’s great because we all share the ball,” said Lopes, who leads the team with nine touchdowns this season. “Last year we didn’t share the ball at all. This year, everyone is getting touches.
"It’s just amazing. Our quarterback has an arm and we have receivers that can catch the ball. The offensive line played great today too.”
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Halloran connected with senior wide receiver Jayce Travers on a 35-yard scoring strike in the second quarter.
“Today we did a great job of getting everybody in position to make the great plays and they made the plays,” Halloran said.
“That’s the best part of this team is we’re not one-dimensional with the run or the pass,” Perry said. “We can do both.”
It was Halloran’s fourth touchdown pass of the season.
“He’s got a great arm so he can always go deep,” Perry said. “He’s a field general out there. He’s really taking care of the offensive line and moving people around. The biggest thing is him leading the team.”
The victory was a big one for Wareham. It helped the Vikings above .500 and helped them surpass last year’s win total of two.
“This is a new Wareham football team and we’re coming out and showing that and the community is rallying behind us with these huge crowds,” Perry said. “It’s good to see the fans and it’s good to give them what they want.”
Lopes added, “We’re 3-2 and we haven’t been positive in a while. I’m glad that we’re positive. It feels amazing.”
HOW IT HAPPENED
It didn’t take long for the Vikings to strike. On the fourth play of their first possession, Lopes took it to the house on a 65-yard scamper down the left side. The first of a pair of 2-point conversion runs by sophomore Jayden Medeiros gave Wareham an 8-0 lead with 7:56 left in the first quarter.
Wareham went up 16-0 early in the second quarter on a 35-yard pass play from Halloran to Travers. Medeiros punched in the two points.
The Vikings made back-to-back stands against Upper Cape in the red zone in the second quarter. Then Lopes added an 18-yard touchdown run with 28 seconds left in the first half.
“We wanted the shutout,” Perry said. “That was our main goal all week. Last week we played a tough opponent (Old Colony) and we struggled a little bit on defense and didn’t show what we can do. Our main goal this week was to show our defense is tough and maybe even at times is better than our offense which is tough to say.”
Lopes’ final TD came on a 41-yard run with 2:04 remaining in the third quarter. He carried the ball nine times for 223 yards.
“It’s really tough for a defense to key in on him,” Perry said. “I think they know that he’s going to get the ball, but we’re not one-dimensional this year so they’ve got to worry about other guys. That opens up the opportunities for him even more. When he gets the opportunities, it's always a big play for him.”
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WHAT IT MEANS
With the win, Wareham improves to 3-2 and 1-1 in the MAC. The Vikings visit Holbrook on Friday. … The loss drops Upper Cape to 0-5.
SOUTHCOAST PLAYER OF THE GAME
Lopes surpassed 200 yards and scored three touchdowns.
COACH’S CORNER
“If we’re going to get our goals of the season, this is one that we had to have. The kids were locked in and focused.” — Perry
WAREHAM 30, UPPER CAPE 0
UPPER CAPE;0;0;0;0 — 0
WAREHAM;8;16;6;0 — 30
Scoring
First Quarter
W: Ajay Lopes 65 run (Jayden Medeiros run), 7:56
Second Quarter
W: Jayce Travers 35 pass from Will Halloran (Jayden Medeiros run), 10:41
W: Ajay Lopes 18 run (Ajay Lopes pass from Will Halloran), :28
Third Quarter
W: Ajay Lopes 41 run (run failed), 2:04
Fourth Quarter
None
Individual Statistics
Rushing — UC: Jeshua Pandiscio 11-(-13), Amari Williams 3-11, Vincent Hume 5-11, Dominic Carrier 1-7; W: Ty-Rell Pires 6-64, Ajay Lopes 9-223-3, Will Hallordan 2-5, Jeremiah Lawson 2-4, Elijah Key 2-5, Jayce Travers 1-29, Jayden Medeiros 2-13, Taj Lewin Pina 1-(-6), Malikhi Tavares 1-11.
Passing — UC: Jeshua Pandiscio 5-10-60; W: Will Halloran 1-6-35-1-1.
Receiving — UC: Brodie Scott 2-51, Aidan Mills 1-7; W: Jayce Travers 1-35-1.
This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: Wareham beats Upper Cape football in Mayflower League action
