Red Raiders swat Hawks
By Rick Eggleston
Staff Writer


MILFORD -- The Fitchburg football team's offensive express
zipped through Milford on Friday night, leaving in its wake
a 34-15 win over the Scarlet Hawks at the Milford High
Athletic Complex.

Indeed, the Raiders -- the No. 1 team in Central Mass. --
pretty much had their way with the flightless Hawks,
dominating both sides of the football to chalk up over 300
total yards for the second consecutive week in what was
their first road game of the season.

And holding to true to recent weeks in which they blew out
St. Peter-Marian and Nashoba Regional at Crocker Field, the
undefeated Raiders (3-0) had their offensive and defensive
substitutes well in place midway through the third quarter
before the Hawks finally scored a pair of touchdowns late in
the fourth.

Fitchburg's defense answered the call first, forcing the
Hawks to turn the football over on just their third
offensive touch of the game, immediately capitalizing for a
7-0 lead.

Senior safety Jason Twomley intercepted Milford quarterback
Mike Plichta's pass at the 50 yard line, and ran it out to
the Milford 37 where the Raiders took over on first down.

Five plays later -- bouyed by a Norman Cole's 12-yard
pick-up -- Cole streaked in 53 yards on a run up the left
side for the touchdown. Ryan Logan kicked the extra point,
making it 7-0 Raiders.

According to Fitchburg coach Ray Cosenza, to Milford's
credit, the Hawks did a admirable job in holding explosive
FHS running back Frank McDonald, as well as much of the
Raiders' running attack, in check.

"I thought Milford did a great job -- they gave us all we
could handle, and did a nice job of limiting Frank in the
first half," said Cosenza. "I thought Norman Cole and Jason
Twomley picked up the slack tonight. They did a good job of
slowing our run down, but that's where we feel our offense
is -- we feel like we have three backs that teams are going
to have to stop."

And it was on defense that the Raiders put the stop on the
Hawks.

Backed by the fabulous play of defensive linemen Aaron
Storm, Josh Raboin, Ernie King, Tim Roy and Mike Thomas, and
hits in the backfield by Tom Foote, the Raiders again
stymied the Hawks on their ensuing possession, recovering a
fumble to regain possession at midfield. A lengthy 11-play
drive -- highlighted by a fake punt atttempt that resulted
in running back Frank McDonald taking the snap and running
it 20 yards for the first down -- by the Raiders stalled at
the Milford 17.

But again, the Hawks' offense -- producing just 52 first
half yards -- failed to hold onto the football, as speedy
FHS defensive back Tim Keenan stripped Milford running back
Brock Bell of the ball at the 40 to return it 10 yards to
the 30. That's where Twomley and the Raiders went to work,
engineering an otherwise solid nine-play drive. However,
Twomley's 23-yard touchdown pass to Corey Nass was called
back on a penalty, as the Raiders eventually turned the ball
over on downs.

After committing numerous infractions against Nashoba last
week, the Raiders knew they had be more patient Friday.

"We worked on that in practice," said Cosenza. "Everyday we
made them think about it and went on different counts in
practice. I think for the most part it worked. We really
want to to keep those penalities to a minimum."

After forcing Milford to go four-and-out on its ensuing
possession, the Raiders finally broke into the end zone,
this time on the reliable legs of Twomley and Cole. Cole
rushed for 153 of the Raiders' 242 total yards in the first
half, as a 13-yard gain by Cole was followed two plays later
with Twomley darting up the middle 36 yards on a busted play
for the touchdown. Logan booted the extra point, capping the
66-yard drive for a 14-0 Fitchburg lead.

After the Hawks were again forced to punt, the Raiders
needed just two plays to add a third touchdown to their lead
going into the half. Cole rumbled for a 13-yard first down,
bringing the ball out to the Milford 27 where Twomley hit
senior tight end Jimmy Alexander with a short pass up the
middle good for a 27-yard touchdown. The lumbering Alexander
then broke several tackles on the play, as Logan nailed his
third straight point-after attempt.

The Raiders raced out of the locker room to score on their
first series, a six-play, 56-yard strike that was led by
McDonald managing to break free and carry the ball for solid
gains of nine, eight and 29 yards, before finally taking a
hand-off from Twomley eight yards for the score. Logan
missed the extra point, as the Raiders led 27-0.

Fitchburg extended its hold on the Hawks on its very next
possession, and this time needed only a single down to get
the job done. Cole's 54-yard take up the middle was it, as
the junior fullback capped off his career night for his
second TD on the night. Logan's kick was good this time, as
the Raiders called off the dogs for the start of the fourth
quarter.

"We're 3-0 in the league, and that's key with a huge league
game next week (against St. John's-Shrewsbury)," said
Cosenza. "Everyone's talking about Xaverian and Brockton,
but we have St. John's and that's going to be the biggest
game we play up to this point."

And up to this point, the Raiders have been perfect. 

Fitchburg High School Athletics and Competition Home Page