Woburn Travels to Melrose With Football Title on the Line

The Woburn High School football team is closing in on its final destination along the Road to Gillette. But on Friday night, one of two remaining roadblocks remains for the Tanners.

Woburn is two wins away from a berth in the Division 3 state championship game at Gillette Stadium. But before the locals can earn a spot in the state playoff bracket, they take on Melrose. Here are five things to prepare you for the division title game.

1. Who, What, Where, and When: The Division 3 Northwest championship game takes place Friday night at 7 p.m. on the grounds of Melrose High School. The winner takes home the division title and plays in the state semifinal round against the Northeast Division 3 champion, either Tewksbury or Marblehead.

2. How Woburn Got Here: While the Tanners fell in their final two games of the regular season, they certainly bounced back in the postseason. Woburn opened the postseason as the No. 5 seed with a 21-7 win on the road in the quarterfinals against Wakefield. Top-seeded Concord-Carlisle was the next team dispatched by the Tanners. Woburn toppled the Patriots, 17-14, to improve to 7-2 and set up Friday's match up with Melrose. 

3. The Red Raiders' Road: Melrose, the tournament's No. 2 seed, outscored No. 7 Burlington, 47-28, in the quarterfinal. The Red Raiders then went on to the semifinal round where they thumped fellow Middlesex League champion Arlington, 48-7. Melrose earned the Freedom Division title with an 8-1, 4-1, record while Arlington won the Liberty Division with a 7-2, 4-1, record.

4. Rankings and a Prediction: According to the Boston Globe's football rankings, Melrose skied from the No. 27 team the previous week to No. 9 entering the semifinals. Woburn, meanwhile, made of a jump of its own. The Tanners were at No. 36 last week and are currently ranked at No. 14 in the state. Over at the Boston Herald, veteran sports writer Dan Ventura predicts a Woburn loss at the hands of Melrose. "Red Raiders are peaking at the right time," Ventura wrote.

5. Game Coverage: Woburn Patch will be on the sidelines and providing up to the minute details of the game. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for updates, and we're also trying something new this time. Every tweet using the hash tag #WoburnMelrose will be embedded into this article. So refresh the article throughout the night and you'll get a running update of what's happening in the game. Your own tweets will be included in the article if you add #WoburnMelrose when tweeting. Enjoy the game!