Rocket Football Update: Week 3

By Drew Johnson ('15)

After a shaky first two weeks it seems that the Reading Rockets football squad got right back on track with a 13-3 victory at Winchester on Saturday.

“Our Achilles heel on defense has just been poor communication,” Coach John Fiore told me on Monday. “We had some personnel changes on defense and I felt we had a real good week of emphasizing communication. In football, particularly in this day and age, with more spread offenses...it’s very important for the whole defense to be on the same page.”

Coach Fiore went on to praise his entire defense, including senior linebacker and running back Liam Kenneally who “had a really great two-way game,” according to the coach.

Kenneally agreed that preparation was the key to the win. “The whole coaching staff had a great game plan defensively. We had a really physical week of practice which helped how we attacked on defense,” he said.

Although there were many upsides, Coach Fiore believes there is still room for improvement, especially with a tough opponent this upcoming Saturday in Lexington. “We had seven penalties the other day,” he said. “And if we take those out of the game we have quite the lopsided score I think.”

Despite the few mistakes, it’s hard not to point out that Reading went from giving up a combined total of 39 points in their first two games to just 3 points in week three.

The coach stressed just how happy he was with the attitude in practice this week, despite the slow start to the season. “We always say everybody be right together, or everybody be wrong together, but everybody just be together,” he said. “It was difficult coming off a loss but we had a great week of practice, I think that’s a tribute to some of our seniors and our captains.”

Kenneally summed up the win over Winchester best when he said, “This week we weren't thinking, we were just doing.”