Bret's a good Reid: Junior quarterback helps Sachems head in winning direction

All it takes is one group of dedicated athletes to quickly turn around the fortunes of a team.

The football Sachems have been everybody's patsy for a long time, but since last year's Thanksgiving Day win over Peabody, a new attitude seems to be permeating the landscape surrounding the program.

Going into the Thanksgiving Day game at Stackpole Field against new rival Chelsea, the Sachems compiled a 6-3 record and, but for a close four-point loss to Swampscott, they just might have been planning for the Division 3 Super Bowl playoffs against Arlington Catholic next week. Nevertheless, the program has made monumental strides.

Players like junior quarterback Bret Reid can be proud of the fact they endured through those bad times to witness a growth spurt. And now, everybody wants to play on the team.

Reid has been in the program since his freshman year, the last two as the varsity starting quarterback.

"I was a quarterback on the freshman team, and I came up to the varsity as a wide receiver that same year against Peabody," Reid said. He switched back to quarterback in 2006.

Football didn't always appeal to him. Reid started out with Saugus Pop Warner on the D-team on defense.

"I was not outgoing back then, and I really didn't like football," he said. "I gave up the sport the next year, but my dad talked me back into it. I didn't think I was that good, but he said I was good.

"I then joined the B-team as a running back, and I also wanted to get back into it because of my brother, Ryan, who's now a sophomore at Bridgewater State College," he said. "I really liked football the second time around. I was with my friends, and it was a lot of fun. I also had a coach [Tony LaConte] who wasn't that strict. He would yell but only in certain situations."

Like all athletes, Reid prefers the games to the practices.

He also played basketball in the Saugus Youth Basketball Association and on the Saugus High freshman squad. He might take it up again this year on the varsity team.

"I was tired after last year's Thanksgiving Day game, but I'll probably sign up for basketball this year," he said.

But it's football that is first and foremost on Reid's mind.

"Coach [Mike] Broderick has really made a big difference in the game," said Reid, who lives with his parents, Ed and Beth, on Lenox Avenue.

Everything falls into place