Beware of the 'Big Mac'
Beware of the 'Big Mac' By Chad Garner Staff Writer
FITCHBURG -- Opponents beware of No. 20. The reason: because Fitchburg High senior running Frank McDonald is back and more dominent than ever. The six-foot-1, 210-pound bruising tailback had a disapointing junior campaign for the Red Raiders because of an injury that force him to miss the final eight games in Fitchburg's up-and-down 7-4 season. McDonald, playing in the third game of the season against Milford, suffered a season-ending thigh injury -- diagnosed as a calcified hematomo -- which forced him to watch his team start out 1-4 in their first five games and finish with a six-game winning streak. It took McDonald four months to beginning running after the freak injury, and after he and his teammates worked out in the off-season for three mornings a week, McDonald was prepared for a record-breaking season in 2000. And through four games in his senior campaign, McDonald appears to be running on all cylinders. McDonald, who has rushed for 548 yards with nine touchdowns and two, 2-point conversions, has been a major key in the Raiders' 4-0 start. In McDonald's first game back from injury, he carried the ball 26 times for a team-high 168 yards and scored two touchdowns and one two-point conversion, lifting the Raiders to a 21-0 win over St. Peter-Marian at Crocker Field. It may have been just another game to some, but for McDonald it was the type of game he was waiting for after working extremely hard in the off-season to get prepared for his senior year on the gridiron. "I knew coming into this year that I was going to have to work a little extra because I didn't have last year like everyone else did," said McDonald. "I had to get on the same wavelenght as them and go further after that. I worked double hard this year than I've ever worked. I've been waiting to play since the middle of last year. "I was going to make sure this year that I have no regrets after this year because I really wanted to play this year," he continued. "I really wanted to go out the first game and prove to myself and my team that I could carry the load this year running the ball -- it was a good start." For Fitchburg High coach Ray Cosenza, he couldn't have been happier with the way McDonald rebounded from last season's injury. "He's a type of kid that football means a great deal to him," said Cosenza. "It's just real good to see him on the field and see him do what he loves to do and not have to sit and watch. I was more happy for him than I was for our team. Seeing him healthy was great to see." Not to be outdone, McDonald turned in his best performance to date in the Red Raiders' second game of the season against the defending Division 1 Super Bowl champion Nashoba Regional Chieftains. McDonald single-handedly torched the Chieftains, scoring three TDs on runs of 39, 64 and 35 for a career-high 180 yards on eight carries -- all in the first half of Fitchburg's 43-18 blowout win. "Last year in the second game of the season I remember getting beat up by Nashoba," recalled McDonald. "The team pretty much mentally prepared themselves for the game. Last year we were shut out and we didn't want that to happen again. I saw the holes a lot better that game. There were a couple runs against St. Peter's that if I cut outside I could have broken a couple of runs. After watching the game film and knowing where everyone would be on the field, I pretty much got everything together." In the Red Raiders' third game, Milford keyed on McDonald but the senior bulldozer managed to rush for 95 yards and one touchdown. And last week against St. John's of Shrewsbury, McDonald continued his touchdown streak with three more (5, 29, 29) on 18 carries for 103 yards and one two-point run. Over four games, McDonald has proven to the doubters that he's back and better than ever. The road gets a lot tougher the next two weeks as the Red Raiders take their undefeated record on the road to face powerhouse Brockton on Friday before heading home next week to host Xavarian. But with all the obstacles that McDonald has hurdled over the past year, he knows he doesn't has to prove anything to anyone. "I don't care about proving anything to anyone else, but my teammated and my coaches," said McDonald. "I always want to play good but as long as my team wins and we go to a Super Bowl this year, I'll be all set with that."
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