Cole glad to be back
By Tom Emberley
Correspondent


For a junior in high school, playing on the 11th-ranked team
in the East (all schools east of Ohio and north of West
Virginia), according to this week's Fox Sports Fab 50, there
may be some fear stepping out on the field every week with a
bullseye on your team's back.

Not for Fitchburg High fullback Norman Cole.

The six-foot, 190 pounder and his Red Raider teammates,
riding a perfect record into tonight's showdown at Division
1A Algonquin Regional, have fearlessly competed for eight
straight weeks.  And to date, nothing has stopped Cole and
Company from running over teams such as Brockton, Xaverian
and St. John's-Shrewsbury, to name a few.

Not even the injury bug.

Late in the Brockton game, Cole ran up the middle on a dive
play like he has all season long, sharing the ball-carrying
duties with seniors Frank McDonald and Jason Twomley. The
fact that Cole smacked into a Boxer linebacker wasn't
surprising to Cole; he's taken hits for the Red and Gray as
the starting fullback for the last two years. But at the end
of this play, something different happened.

"He kind of banged against my head,'' said Cole, who comes
into tonight's game with 44 points on the season (seven
touchdowns). "It turned out to be worse than I thought it
was, and I had to sit out the next two weeks.''

The very next week was the first game Cole had to sit out,
this time against Eastern Mass. mainstay Xaverian.

No Cole? No problem, as the Raiders reeled off an impressive
31-14 victory, which didn't surprise Cole one bit.

"I really wanted to play,'' explained Cole. "But ever since
we won (their last six games) at the end of last year, I've
had trust in this team. And I knew in the end, we could come
out and beat that team."

After one more win without Cole in the lineup at Crocker
Field against North Middlesex Regional, he would make his
return to the lineup last week at Wachusett Regional, a
place where Fitchburg has tradtionally done well. And to the
tune of 120 yards and two touchdowns on eight rushes, Cole
was back in the lineup, and helped the Raiders to a 45-15
shellacking of the host Mountaineers.

"I felt unstoppable; I felt really good,'' exclaimed Cole of
his first performance back. "I was definitely ready to go
from the opening kickoff."

"We were glad to have him back,'' said Fitchburg head coach
Ray Cosenza, who is three wins away from taking his squad to
their second 11-0 regular season in the last three
years. "Everybody that filled in for him did a great job,
but having Norman back in the lineup was a boost for us,
that's for sure."

Coming into tonight, Cole has toted the pigskin 58 times for
592 yards on the season. But as Cosenza is quick to point
out, carrying the ball isn't Cole's first responsibility in
the Red Raiders' pro-set offense.

"A fullback in our system has to be a good blocker, first
and foremost,'' said Cosenza. "And Norman excepts that role,
takes great pride in it, and does a tremendous job.''

The Red and Gray have three more games left in their
regular-season. After tonight's matchup with the Tomahawks,
the Raiders host Westboro before playing host to arch-rival
Leominster on Thanksgiving morning. If the Blue Devils win
out the rest of their season leading up to Turkey Day, at
stake in the showdown is a berth to the Division 1 Super
Bowl. But as Cole will tell you, the team's formula for
success has worked remarkably so far, and won't change.

"I think we're a dangerous offense,'' he said. "Between
Twomley, Frank and me, and both our offensive line (Jimmy
Alexander, Tim Caron, Steve Marella, Josh Raboin, Marcus
DiNatale, Anthony Fanelli and Sean Roy to name a few), we're
very dangerous. As a team, we've all gone out and gotten the
job done; we're successful in working together."

That togetherness will take the field tonight for the ninth
time this year.

And for the ninth time this year, the Raiders will have a
bullseye on their back, with Algonquin looking to pull off
one of the year's biggest upsets in Central Mass. football.

Cole's attitude, however, epitomizes why the team's chances
for success the rest of this season are very good.

"Every team we may have feared so far, we've beaten, and
that's brought our confidence up as a team," said Cole.

And with that confidence, the Red Raiders will not fear too
much when they step between the lines tonight.  
 Fitchburg
High School Athletics and Competition Home Page