McDonald, Raiders bury Tomahawks
By Tom Emberley
Correspondent

NORTHBORO -- There are three portions to a football team:
its offense, its defense, and special teams.

Friday night, Fitchburg High was clicking on all cylinders
in each aspect.

Behind three touchdowns and 158 rush yards from senior
tri-captain tailback Frank McDonald in the first half alone
-- McDonald finished with 198 total yards on 13 carries --
the Red Raiders scored 28 points in the opening 22 minutes
and never looked back to run their record to 9-0 on the
season, defeating Algonquin Regional, 48-13.

With Leominster's 22-7 loss to Milford also on Friday night,
FHS is guaranteed a spot in the Central-Western
Mass. Division 1 Super Bowl, Dec. 2. Fitchburg dropped a
decision to Springfield Cathedral in their most recent Bowl
appearance in 1998.

"Frankie had a big game for us,'' said Fitchburg coach Ray
Cosenza, "but our entire backfield and line did as well.''

For most of this season, the Raiders have been lighting up
the scoreboard in the game's opening minutes. And Friday
night was no different for the Red and Gray. After a Timmy
Keenan (three punt returns, 70 yards) punt return let the
Raiders set up shop on the Tomahawk (3-6) 27-yard line, it
only took one McDonald run on a left-side counter for FHS to
get on the scoreboard. And though the point-after kick
failed, Fitchburg still had a 6-0 lead with 7:02 left in the
first quarter.

Early in the second quarter, the Raiders upped their lead again.

A two-play, 52-yard drive began when Keenan returned a punt
by Algonquin's Marc Eddy from his own four-yard line to the
Fitchburg 48. Two McDonald runs later, the first of eight
yards and then a 44-yard touchdown jaunt on a left-side
toss, and the Raiders offense found the end zone once
again. McDonald finished off his exclusive drive by adding
the two-point conversion run, and with 8:16 left in the
first half, FHS was up, 14-0.

Eddy, the Tomahawks' highly-touted quarterback, sat out of
the first quarter for what was believed to be disciplinary
reasons. And while his presence wasn't immediately felt upon
entering at the beginning of the second quarter, he was able
to cut the Fitchburg lead in half.

On a 6:23 drive, Eddy capped off a three-for-three drive by
rolling out to his left, and the southpaw threw a 27-yard
touchdown strike to Adam Maloney. Eddy's PAT kick with 1:48
left seemed to give the Tomahawks new life, as the Fitchburg
lead was cut to 14-7.

The 108 seconds left on the clock was more than enough time
for the potent Raiders offense to score not once, but twice.

Recovering the ensuing onsides kick at the Algonquin 46, it
took only four plays and 44 seconds for McDonald to hit
paydirt for the third time on the night. On a first-and-ten
from Algonquin's 23, McDonald looked to score on a pretty
run where he juked five Algonquin defenders at a
minimum. After a holding call brought the ball out to the
Tomahawk 16, McDonald made sure there was no penalties on
this run, bowling into the end zone just inside the left
pylon, putting his team up 20-7 with 1:04 to go.

Cosenza deftly called a timeout as the Tomahawks looked to
run out the clock, and his chess move worked to
perfection. On the ensuing play, senior quarterback/free
safety Jason Twomley (seven rushes, 64 yards) picked off an
Eddy toss at his own 40, and ran it all the way back to the
Algonquin nine with :02 left in the half. After both teams
called a timeout, the southpaw Twomley rolled right, and
found a wide-open Corey Nass in the end zone for the
touchdown. McDonald's two-point conversion run with no time
left on the clock gave the Raiders a 28-7 lead as they
headed to the locker room.

"We played well early, and picked it up right before the
half,'' said Cosenza. "I give Algonquin credit, though; they
hung in there for awhile.''

Receiving the second-half kickoff, the Red and Gray made
sure there would be no thoughts of a Tomahawk comeback just
95 seconds into the third quarter. Two plays after B.J. Fitz
ran the kickoff 39 yards to the Algonquin 48, FHS faced a
third-and-four on the Algonquin 42. After breaking one
tackle within five yards of the line of scrimmage, Twomley
ran Fitchburg's patented quarterback sneak all the way into
the end zone, giving Fitchburg a 34-7 lead.

With less than five minutes left, the third piece of the
Raiders' backfield troika, junior fullback Norman Cole (four
carries, 28 yards), got into the scoring act on a 15-yard
jaunt, allowing Cosenza to insert many of his younger
players into the game for the rest of the game.

As if inserting the second-string didn't show how much
Fitchburg flexed their offensive muscle on the night, Fitz
ran untouched on a 37-yard left-side toss on the second
team's first play from scrimmage, putting the FHS up by a
whopping 48-7 count.

Next week, the Raiders return home for the first of their
final two regular-season home games. Before playing
arch-rival Leominster on Turkey Day, the Raiders will first
face the 10th-ranked Rangers of Westboro.

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