By JENNIFER GENTILE
MELROSE—After a stinging loss to Woburn last Friday night, the Melrose Red Raider football team bounced back with a 33-14 home win over Burlington on Oct. 22 at Fred Green Field to improve their record to 2-5 with one last regular season game at home this Friday evening against Watertown at 7:00 p.m.
Melrose is fighting for a playoff spot and the fate of a post season should be determined this weekend. Melrose (at press time) was still in the thick of things, ranked #16 in Div. 4 within the 16 spot threshhold. Those rankings could change this week and a win against Watertown may be essential to those efforts.
Against Burlington, Melrose enjoyed an explosive second half with three unanswered touchdowns that took the Red Devils out of the game. It was a particularly strong effort from Melrose quarterback Trevor Botto, who threw for three touchdowns (145 yards throwing) and ran for one. The senior captain tallied nearly 100 yards in rushing as well, while Melrose running backs Shea Fogarty and Liam Maher also ran for touchdowns, and senior Rob Colozzo caught two.
Burlington showed signs of strength behind their solid quarterbacking efforts from Ronan Noke and an effective run game from Adam Eldeeb. The two helped find the endzone during Burlington’s opening drive when a Noke rushing touchdown gave Burlington a 7-0 lead. But Melrose responded when Trevor Botto connected on a 58-yard pass to Rob Colozzo who ran it into endzone for a touchdown. A Zach Federico’s kick tied it up 7-7.
Eldeeb would score on Burlington’s next possession, a 26-yard touchdown run to give the Red Devils their last lead of the night at 14-7 as halftime approached. Things looked tricky for Melrose when Burlington’s Aman Hirani picked off a pass by Botto and returned it to the 50, giving Melrose fans an October fright, but Burlington gave up the ball on downs. Melrose took advantage of that. Benefitting from a personal foul call on Burlington, they launched a seven-play, 70-yard drive that was capped off by a 20-yard run by Botto that put Melrose right in the game, 14-13 (a missed extra kick).
On Melrose’s next posssession, Trevor Botto connected with a beautiful long pass to Jamie Haggerty for a 21-yard touchdown that gave Melrose their first lead of the night at 19-14 (an attempt at 2 was no good). After forcing the punt, Melrose scored again on their next posession thanks to a 20-yard run by Liam Maher that set up Melrose on the 27. From there, senior captain Shea Fogarty broke several tackles into the endzone to lift Melrose 26-14 in the third quarter. Defense came up big for Melrose on Burlington’s next drive with tackles from Pat Lucien, Dom Delgado and Ian Gauch thwarting any running attempts. Defensively over the night, Melrose saw quality stops from Jake Skane, Zac Federico and Steve Fogarty as well.
The Red Raiders would score on their final possession when Botto connected again with Rob Colozzo on a huge 30-yard pass for Melrose’s touchdown that sealed the deal, 33-14.
At 2-5, Melrose would like to cement a win against Watertown tonight in order to help secure a place in the Div. 4 playoff field. Watertown is coming off a win over a surprisingly strong Wakefield (4-2), 22-20.
Should Melrose qualify for a post season, they may do some traveling. On Thanksgiving, they will be heading to Warrior land, making this evening’s game potentially the last of the season at home.
If the Red Raiders do not qualify for a postseason they will take part in a few weeks of consolation games. Look to our print coverage and social media pages for up to date info.
Freedom League Standings
Team League All
Stoneham 4-0 7-0
Wilmington 3-1 4-3
Watertown 2-2 4-3
Wakefield 1-2 4-2
Melrose 1-2 2-5
Burlington 0-4 0-7
