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Sports

Middle School Football Game Tuesday Night

Winchester will be hosting Melrose and their will be a special halftime performance by Ernie and the Automatics.

Paul Manganaro is trying to contain his excitement. Not only does the middle school football season start on Tuesday night, but the teams are playing on a brand new field, one that he helped build.

The 2010 Sachem Youth Football & Cheerleading School Pride Kickoff Night will be taking place tomorrow at Manchester Field.

Winchester's opponent this year will be Melrose, who just started its first middle school program. The event starts at 3:30 p.m. when Winchester Black plays Melrose White. At 5:30 p.m. the gates will open for the main show, Winchester Red versus Melrose Red.

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That game kicks off at 6:30 p.m. and will feature a halftime show at the 50-yard line by Ernie & the Automatics, a band that primarily plays popular cover songs. There will also be food vendors selling fried dough, pizza, hot dogs and more and the first 250 students will receive a SYFC super-fan t-shirt.

Admission to the second game is $5 for adults and $2 for students, with all the proceeds going to the Manchester Field Development Council, which is renovating Manchester Field.

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Last year the council finished the football field, stands and scoreboard. Its next project is Phase 2, which includes a new track.

"We're crossing our fingers for good weather and there's a lot of buzz around both communities around the event," SYFC president Paul Manganaro said. "We hope to give the schools and communities an opportunity to show school and community pride."

Each year the SYFC tries to put on a main event that will be memorable for its participants. Last year they travelled to UMass-Amherst where they saw the football team and played a game on campus. In 2008 the UMass marching band came to play a halftime show, and in 2007 they played at Harvard Coliseum.

The game will also be special for Melrose, which already has 70 players and 24 cheerleaders in its first year. The program features strength and conditioning sessions and practices after school under the direction of nine coaches, who are all Melrose High alumni — including head coach Brendan Kent, an '04 graduate who teaches physical education at the middle school.

The decision to invite Melrose to play in this game was made even easier since Manganaro and the Winchester coaching staff were some of the ones to help the Melrose program get started.

"I thought it was great when they first asked for our help," Manganaro said. "They have a great program and look at all those kids that signed up, that's a great turnout."

"Paul (Manganaro) goes above and beyond," said Melrose Program Coordinator John Murcer. "He likes having a big event every year and we were thrilled he called us."

Murcer said that Melrose hopes to reciprocate next year, when the community will be building its own turf field using the same company that Winchester hired.

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