MELROSE — The Melrose High football team begins their season with tryouts/practice on Friday.
Melrose will play a nine-game regular season, including the 65th Thanksgiving Day game against rival Wakefield on Nov. 27, 10 a.m. at Landrigan Field.
The first game of the regular season will be on Friday, Sept. 5 against Peabody at home. The Tanners won last year’s matchup, 34-13 at Peabody High. That will be the first of four non-league games to start the year as Melrose will then visit Reading on Sept. 12 before hosting Swampscott on Sept. 26 and traveling to Woburn on Oct. 3. Melrose went 2-2 against those teams last year, balancing losses to Peabody and Reading (35-7) with wins over Swampscott (34-27) and Woburn (35-6).
League play starts on Oct. 10 when Burlington comes to Fred Green Field. Burlington, Stoneham and Wakefield split the Middlesex League Freedom Division title last year with 4-1 league records. Melrose fell to all three last year going 2-3 in the league with wins over Watertown (32-0) and Wilmington (47-7).
Melrose finished at 4-7 overall in 2024.
They made the Div. 4 state tournament, earning the No. 15 seed with a record of 4-4. They fell to No. 2 Scituate on the road 41-7 in the first round.
Melrose will need to replace all four All-Stars from last year’s team — Marco Albanese, Quinn Fogarty, Nick Hitchman and Keegan Maloney.
The team has three home scrimmages set up with Billerica (Aug. 24), Masconomet (Aug. 27) and Lynnfield (Aug. 30).