By Kylee Shubert, Staff Writer
October 21, 2024
ROCKLAND- The Rockland High School Football team will play their annual Thanksgiving game this year, but it will not be against East Bridgewater on Thanksgiving morning. This year it will be on Wednesday, November 27, at 6 p.m.
“I really like the Thursday morning game because it's a tradition and it’s what I played in and coached in for forever but I think come Thursday morning I'll be happy to sleep in a little,” said math teacher and football coach Mr. Matt Anzalone.
Mr. Anzalone was a football player at Rockland High School and participated in the Thursday morning Thanksgiving game, which has been an RHS tradition for many years.
The reason for the Wednesday night game is because the team was unable to find an opponent to play.
“The date was changed, so the first thing we were trying to find an opponent we found North Middlesex they're about an hour and 40 minutes away so it worked out for both teams especially them to come down on Wednesday night so they don’t have to miss thanksgiving in terms of traveling,” said math teacher and head coach, Mr. Nicholas Liquori.
They hope to play a different team next year.
With the date change, both teams can play the traditional game and still enjoy Thanksgiving with their family. Also, many other teams do not have the availability to travel and play on Thursday.
“They bailed on us last second, we almost didn’t have a game. I actually like the fact that we have a game on the Wednesday before instead of actually on Thanksgiving because it gives people a chance to actually be with their families on Thanksgiving,” said junior football player, Hayden Hatch.
The team has practice Monday through Thursday after school, and they focus on individual drills on different days. For example, Wednesday is a day where they practice defense drills, Then they come together as a team and do some JV vs. Varsity.
The football team gets ready for a game by having a meeting before to go over the game plan and prepare for the opposing team. If the game is home, then everyone but the linemen goes out to the field to stretch and warm up then after the linemen go out to warm up. If it's an away game, they get ready and go right to the bus.