Reading Football Suits Up For Thanksgiving

The football team will look for its second consecutive 11-0 regular season on Thanksgiving morning when it squares off against Stoneham at 10:15.

This matchup on paper is clearly in favor of the Rockets as they look towards another long march into the playoffs. Stoneham has only won two Thanksgiving meetings since 1994, and this season it sits at 0-10 at the bottom of the Middlesex League.

But John Fiore hasn't made the Rockets' program in to a success by looking over opponents, and even though his team has locked up a playoff spot, don't expect his team to take this opponent lightly.

"We really have to go there and start fast, finish fast," he said. "We have to worry about our team and playing better."

Don't expect his team to play the game just looking to get through the game healthy either.

"I don't think you can play football that way," he said. "I really don't. We are going out to play a full game and we will see how the game unfolds. We need to play our best football right now and going in to December."

For Fiore, playing on Thanksgiving is very special. The head coach graduated from Reading High School and his final football game in a Rockets' jersey as a player was in 1988, when Stoneham and Reading, who have played for 93 years, tied on the final game of the season.

"It's a lot of fun., a lot of fun," he said. "It's special on Thanksgiving in particular. You get to be with a lot of your friends that you played with. I get a hole bunch of text messages every week. It's nice to hear from people."

While Stoneham will be playing its last game of 2010, Reading will be plotting along for a chance at its second straight Super Bowl victory.

"We are very fortunate to rely on the experience of the last couple of year," said Fiore. "Our junior class and even some of our sophomores got a chance to play a little bit going into the playoffs. We have a lot of kids who understand how we have to practice and prepare. I like to believe that they won't be overwhelmed or distracted by some of the periphery things that are going on.

 "They just have to worry about playing the game, and hopefully they play their best."