Sam Wolfson and Zachary Johnson

With 14 pizzas and Thomas Paine, a pair of Wayland High School seniors helped tip the balance in favor of a $2.1 million tax increase.

When Zack Johnson and Sam Wolfson learned that without a tax override the town would be forced to close an elementary school and cut 29 teaching positions, two police officers, and two firefighters, they started brainstorming.

``We decided that since most of the high school seniors were going to be 18, it was their duty as citizens to vote," Johnson said.

The two of them, however, were too young to vote in last month's election, Johnson by only a matter of weeks.

But they weren't too young to campaign, although Johnson admits that he felt a bit uncomfortable standing at the polls with a ``Vote Yes" sign while an older member of his church stood across the street waving one that said ``Vote No."

``I find things like that are only awkward if you make them awkward," he said. ``It's not like a personal vendetta or anything." He said many others in town ``just have different points of view, and I respect that."

The seniors got involved in the override battle when a board member of the pro-overide group Save Our Services approached Wolfson at a meeting of the School Council, on which he serves as a student representative.

``They told us we had a fairly unlimited budget to work with to get kids to come vote," Wolfson said.

Recognizing the power of pepperoni, the pair held a pizza party to encourage students to register to vote. They got 96 to sign up, and they're proud to point out that they saved $50 by using the school's Domino discount.

They also harnessed the power of cyberspace, using e-mail and postings on FaceBook to encourage Wayland High alumni to vote.

Johnson and Wolfson turned to old-fashioned campaign techniques as well, joining forces with the Save our Services group for Celebrate Wayland Day, an outdoor festival that drew 250 people.

The two students lined up the day's entertainment, which included Wayland High School's jazz ensemble and its all-male a cappella group, the Testostertones.

As election day drew nearer, daily announcements encouraging students to register to vote were aired over the school's public address system during morning announcements, and fliers were distributed on cars in the senior parking lot and around town.

Thomas Paine entered the fray when Johnson and classmate Nathaniel Rakich adapted the 1776 pamphlet ``Common Sense" to promote the 2006 override.

The override passed by 571 votes. Were the students a deciding factor? ``Absolutely," said Save Our Services cofounder Lisa Verone.

Johnson and Wolfson were already accustomed to the spotlight when they joined the override campaign. Wolfson is senior class president, and Johnson produces ``Sports Talk," a weekly 30-minute television show that runs on Wayland cable television.

Johnson is already making his mark on his next school, Northwestern University. He's organizing a paintball team, a sport he's fanatical about. He also hopes to play hockey there.

Wolfson is bound for Brown University this fall. His sports are tennis -- he's captain of the school team -- and juggling. He founded the school juggling club, which has 30 members.

He says his most unusual combo is a tennis ball, tennis racquet, and basketball; his most dangerous, knives.

Susan Chaityn Lebovits can be reached at slebovits@globe.com.