PEABODY — Things are going to look a bit different for the Fenwick football team this Thanksgiving, as the Crusaders won’t be playing against regular Turkey Day foe St. Mary’s for the first time in several years.
This year, Fenwick will go up against a former Thanksgiving Day opponent in Malden Catholic.
“We actually played Malden Catholic on Thanksgiving about 10 years ago and we did that for about six years, so it’s not an entirely new opponent even though the players and coaches are different,” said Fenwick coach Dave Woods. “We also played them last year during the regular season, so we do have a little bit of familiarity.”
Fenwick (9-1) blew through its competition this season, with its only loss coming in overtime to Catholic Central League rival Cardinal Spellman. Strong performances from David Cifuentes, Chrys Wilson, Joe Rivers and Stefano Fabiano have helped propel Fenwick through the year.
In 10 games, the Crusaders have scored 34 points or more in all but three of them. Fenwick pitched a shutout against St. Mary’s during the regular season and then blanked Ipswich in the first round of the Division 6 North playoffs.
After wins over Greater Lowell in the Div. 6 North semifinal and then over Stoneham in the North final, Fenwick will play Ashland in the Div. 6 Super Bowl at Gillette Stadium next Saturday (11).
Going up against Malden Catholic — which is 2-8 this season — is not something Fenwick is planning on looking past.
“They’ve got a new coach this year so they’re running some different schemes from last year when we played them, but really they just have some great players,” said Woods. “They have athletes who can really make things happen on offense, and on defense they are very aggressive and really get after it. We’ll have to bring our best game if we want to come out with a win.”
And that’s exactly why all focus this week is on the game against Malden Catholic. As a matter of fact, Woods hasn’t even spoken to his team about next week’s Super Bowl.
“We haven’t even talked about it,” Woods said of the Super Bowl. “I told the team after we beat Stoneham to get into the Super Bowl, the way we prepare for that game is by preparing to beat Malden Catholic. Focusing on anything other than Malden Catholic is the wrong thing to be doing right now.”
Fenwick and Malden Catholic will kickoff Wednesday night (6) at Brother Gilbert Stadium in Malden.