Brockton football undefeated no more 
By Glen Farley
 Enterprise staff writer

BROCKTON - Prior to Friday night's game with
Fitchburg, veteran Brockton High School football coach
Armond Colombo described the Red Raiders as a mirror
image of his team. 

They are mirror images no more. 

Last night, the Brockton side of the mirror broke. 

``This is not an excuse. It's reality: You play quality
football teams week after week after week, that takes its
toll,'' Colombo said after his team lost this battle of
unbeatens, 28-14, at Marciano Stadium. ``That's an
excellent football team, a real fine team. Plain and
simply, we just ran out of miracles.'' 

As for the Red Raiders, well, they just ran. 

And ran. And ran. 

Fitchburg, which began the night having thrown the ball
10 times all year in going 4-0, immediately established
their ground attack in Game No. 5, taking the night's
opening possession 78 yards in 16 plays, only one of
them a pass (for five yards), as 210-pound tailback
Frank McDonald, 200-pound quarterback Jason
Twomley and 195-pound fullback Norman Cole delivered
body blows to the Boxers' defense. 

By halftime, the Red Raiders had run for 189 yards. At
night's end, Twomley had run for 107 yards and one
touchdown, while throwing just three passes (he
completed all three for 103 yards). Cole had run for 81
yards and a touchdown. McDonald contributed 56 yards
and two TDs rushing. 

``They played us and beat us up front,'' Colombo, whose
team slipped to 4-1 on this rain-slickened night, said.
``Take nothing away from them: They are solid.'' 

The game's opening drive served two purposes: When
McDonald capped it off by going into the end zone
standing up from the 1 and Ryan Logan tacked on the
point-after conversion, it gave them a lead the Red
Raiders never surrendered; at the same time, it took
9:28 off the clock. 

The Boxers countered by driving 43 yards to the Red
Raiders' 13 only to be stood up at the line of scrimmage
and turned away on third- and fourth-and-one. 

With that, the Fitchburg running attack was back. This
time, the Red Raiders covered 87 yards on eight straight
runs from the same 605 pounds of backfield (McDonald,
Twomley and Cole) taking 3:32, with the quarterback
sneaking in from the 1. Again Logan's aim was true,
giving the Red Raiders a 14-0 lead with 4:36 remaining
in the opening half. 

The Boxers drove the fast lane to get back into the
game, using an end around to deep threat Robert
Whittaker on the first play of their second possession to
cut it to 14-7. In a play that was both well conceived and
well executed, the Boxers got the senior wide receiver
and his track speed around the left corner and into the
open field and he sprinted 65 yards untouched for his
eighth TD of the season. Eric Ampuja tacked on the kick.

But the Red Raiders responded once more, scoring on
their third straight possession of the half with, of all
things, a pass play contributing the bulk of the yardage
in a seven-play, 52-yard drive. With the Boxers'
secondary playing run (with good reason), cheating
toward the line of scrimmage, Twomley sent senior
wideout Tim Keenan deep and hit him in stride down the
left sideline for 39 yards to the Brockton 14. McDonald's
second 1-yard TD run and Logan's third PAT made it
21-7 in a half that saw Fitchburg total 233 yards, 189 on
the ground. 

Taking the opening possession of the second half and
marching 65 yards on eight plays, the Boxers pulled to
within a score again when quarterback Mike Kershaw hit
senior wide receiver Patrick Emmanuel with a quick toss
he turned upfield for a 19-yard score. Senior tailback
James Jackson (four carries, 23 yards) got the bulk of
the work on the drive, but a pair of Kershaw completions
for 37 yards, the second representing his eighth TD
pass of the year, did the bulk of the damage for
Brockton. Ampuja's second PAT of the night cut it to
21-14 with 6:13 to play in the third quarter. 

After turning the Boxers back on downs inside the red
zone early in the fourth quarter, the Red Raiders settled
the issue with a 10-play, 85-yard drive that all hinged on
a 61-yard pass from Twomley to Cole that opened up
when a Brockton defender went for the interception only
to come up emptyhanded. The fullback took the pass in
the right flat and rambled down the sideline to the 6.
With 5:16 remaining, Cole slashed in off left tackle from
the 5 for the score. 

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