Reading Still Rolling Along

The Reading football team heads back into Middlesex League play this Friday against Belmont, and it returns with its shutout streak intact.

After defeating nonleague opponent Lincoln-Sudbury 21-0 last week, the Rockets (6-0 overall) have now posted a shutout in three straight contests. Reading has posted 101 points over the stretch, but they would have been just fine with a percentage of that total.

Head coach John Fiore has seen quite a few strong defenses in his day — like the stretch in the early 2000s that he highlighted — and in coach speak he still sees some adjustments that need to be made to get better on the defensive side of the ball.

"I'd like to see us get a little better, more consistent pass rush," Fiore said. "Better on third downs, and better and more consistent play out of our linebackers."

Fiore said that some of his defenses earlier in the decade were some of the more talented units he has seen, but late in games sometimes opponents would put up a few points on his defense that he thought could post double digits shutouts that season.

This unit still has a long way to go, according to the head coach, and it's not a matter of wanting to get better as the season heads towards the home stretch, it's a matter of needing too.

"It has to be," Fiore said when asked if the team's best days are ahead of them. "It's not whether I want it to be or not. We all have to have our best football (going forward). We will all work very hard to make that possible."

Not that the team has needed any help on either side of the ball, the Rockets should get a shot in the arm when Sean Gildea returns to the gridiron. Gildea has missed the last four games with mononucleosis, and the wide receiver should add another weapon for Brian Bourque to key in on.

Gildea is a 6-foot-1, 190 pound threat on the outside, and as a three-year starter he brings some leadership to the team.

"He's been an important part of our offense," said Fiore, "and he's given us a lot of positive contributions."

Like the 100-yard receiving performance he put up in the Masconomet game before he went down with mono.

Belmont has won two games in a row after losing the first four games of the season, including three times without recording a point. But Fiore said they are a young team that has a growing confidence and that no team should be taken lightly in the league, no matter what their record says.  

Fiore was also quick to denounce the idea of this game being a trap game with Burlington — the first place team in the Small division — waiting in the wings next week.

"No more trap games," Fiore said.  "Right now this is a Middlesex League Large game. This is a Middlesex League overall opponent. It's huge."