Melrose Football Searching For A Win

It's been a rough couple of weeks for the Melrose football team. After taking a tough shutout loss to Reading two weeks ago, head coach Tim Morris wanted to see his team respond just like they had after week one.

But turnovers and the inability to cash in on mistakes left Melrose without any points to show for again in its 20-0 loss to Lexington last week and the morale of the team may have taken a little bit of a hit.

But Morris sees a young team that is still trying to learn on the fly and learn from their mistakes.

"The kids are coming out and working hard everyday," Morris said. "We just have to get better in all phases of the game and come out and do it. My whole deal to them is that this is the only way I know how to do it. We are just going to keep working to get better. That's what you have to do when things are going bad. You just have to keep working harder."

The Red Raiders can get a little mojo back with a win over Burlington on Friday night at 6 p.m. on the road. Burlington sits at the top of the Middlesex League Small division with a 3-0 league record and a 4-1 record overall.

The Red Raiders are right behind them in second with a 1-2 league record and 2-3 overall record. The win won't put Melrose in a tie at the top, but it will go a long way to not only lift the spirits of the team, but bring the Red Raiders a spot closer in the division.

"They are a pretty viable team in the league," Morris said. "If we can beat a good team like that then it will definitely lift the morale across the board of our team. Hopefully it will be a catalyst in the second half of the season."

Morris is trying not to make this game the be-all-end-all for the season, but there might be more of a sense of urgency to turn things around this week.

"We want to get a win," said Morris. "I like them to play with a sense of urgency all the time. I don't think it's any different from last week or the week before. Every game is important, so you can't make one more important than the other, but it would be a good win for us."

Morris said that Burlington possesses two very stout running backs and dealing with those two will be a handful all night. But, as it is most weeks for Morris, he wants to see his team worry about not putting the ball on the ground and playing smart assignment football to get the win.

"We just have to play more consistent and eliminate those turnovers," said Morris. "That's kind of what we said, you can't play a half of football, you have to play all four quarters. So that's what we are working towards."