The Tewksbury Memorial High School football is off to a great start. The pre-season is finally over and the Redmen are 1-1 after a great team win against Needham, and a well-done effort with Methuen. At the first game, Captain Shane Aylward had 2 touchdown runs and a 90 yard kick return for a touchdown. Junior QB Ryne Rametta has a lot of shoes to fill after 3 year starter Jay Connolly graduated in the spring, but Rametta got the job done. He was 9-12 134 yards and a touchdown pass. The Redmen are working to get ready for their game against Boston College High School this Saturday. 

The Redmen have 5 captains this year, 3 of which are returning starters. The captains are Tyler Keough (WR,DB), Antonio Capelo (C,DT), Mike Woodford (T,DT), Robby Kimtis (G,DT) and Shane Aylward (RB,DB). Our head coach is Brian Aylward, this is his 23rd year coaching the Redmen. Our assistant coaches are Steven Kasprazak, Paul Norton, Mark Bradley, Brian Hickey, Tommy Bradley, and Rob Aylward. 

The Redmen have many traditions. Every year at the end of the off season players participate in ̈Iron man”. Iron man is when everyone on the team works to get their max weight on lifts such as bench press, squats and hang cleans. Another tradition we have is preseason camp. We have two practices a day and between practices the players all eat lunch. For the past couple of years Coach Aylward has brought the team to Wamesit Lanes to bowl and eat pizza. Other than the games, players look forward to spaghetti supper, better known as “spag,” the most. Spag happens every week the night before the game. 

Being such a successful and winning program opposing teams want to beat the Redmen more than other teams. Some teams’ season will be a success if they beat Tewksbury. This year the Redmen have a tough schedule from week 2 through 4. Last Saturday they took on Methuen– a team who Tewksbury beat last year because of a last minute field goal by Tyler Keough. Week 3 they take on Boston College High School, a team that laughed at the Redmen while they were walking out onto the field. Tewksbury beat them 12-0 last year. Then in week 4 Tewksbury takes on North Andover the defending division 2 state champions. North Andover is very good team this year. Tewksbury’s last 3 regular season games are against Billerica, Chelmsford, and Dracut, all of which are MVC teams. But as of now Coach Brian Aylward, the rest of the staff, and the players are focused on Methuen and working to remain undefeated.