On a warm November night, the Reading Rockets won the back and forth battle against the Leominster Blue Devils in the first round of the playoffs. The Reading Rockets got out to an 8-0 lead but Leominster countered with a touchdown and 2 pt conversion of their own to tie it at 8-8. Reading scored on a future set of downs and closed out the first half with a comfortable 30-16 lead.
Leominster started off the second half on fire, with a quick touchdown, intercepted Reading on the following possession but fumbled the ball on the 1 yard line. With Reading failing to gain any ground after the turnover, Leominster followed that up with a touchdown and failed 2 pt conversion to bring the score to 30-28 Reading.
Then the back and forth battle continued with a Reading TD for the 37-28 lead, Leominster TD reducing it to a 37-36 lead, Reading TD for 44-36 lead, Leominster TD and successful 2pt conversion tying the game at 44-44.
Unfortunately for Leominster, they left Reading with ample time on the clock and for quarterback James Murphy to lead his team down the field. Murphy would throw a touchdown pass, his 5th on the night, with 16 seconds remaining to Strout to seal the win for Reading 51-44!
Their next game is home vs the Bishop Feehan Shamrocks (5-3), at TBD on Friday, November 11th.
**UPDATE 6pm on 11/11 confirmed.
