Pioneers defeat the Blue Devils 
Saturday, November 3, 2001

By John McGuirk
CORRESPONDENT 

St. John's 21, Leominster 13 

     LEOMINSTER-- Last night's matchup between St. John's
and Leominster can best be described as opportunities lost
and opportunities taken.

     If you're St. John's, the latter holds true today.

     The Pioneers' defense made two key stops and the
St. John's offense came up with some big plays to take a
21-13 Division 1 victory last night at Doyle Field.

     St. John's (8-0) claims sole possession of first place
in the division with a 5-0 record and leads the postseason
sweepstakes. Leominster is 7-2 (4-1) after losing its second
straight game.
    
     "We now have to hope for a few things to happen,"
Leominster coach John Dubzinski said. "We'll get ready
for Shrewsbury (next week) and Fitchburg (Thanksgiving) and
we'll see what happens."

     The Pioneers, the top-ranked team in the T&G Top 10,
now control their destiny.  Should St. John's defeat either
Fitchburg next week or St. Peter-Marian on Thanksgiving, it
will claim a Super Bowl berth.
     
     Leominster, which l ost at Brockton last week and is ranked
No. 2, held leads of 7-0 and 13-7, but couldn't maintain its
advantage. St. John's took the first lead just before
halftime and cushioned it with a sustained drive late in the
fourth to put away the game.

     "It was a tremendous game," Pioneers coach Tony
Wood said. "That's a very good football team over there,
and they are well-coached."

     St. John's held the edge on offense. The Pioneers
gained 261 yards, Leominster 199.

     St. John's tailback Br ian Cammuso was
instrumental. The senior rushed for 107 yards on 20 carries
and scored once.

     Quarterback Peter Wood completed some key passes when
he most needed to.  Wood finished 4 for 8 for 60 yards. The
junior also rushed for a big score that put the Pioneers
ahead by its final margin.

     Leominster will look back on this affair and realize
that missed chances spoiled its cause. The Blue Devils drove
inside the Pioneers' 10-yard line twice, but came away
empty.

     In the second quarter, with the game tied, 7-7,
Leominster moved to the St.  John's 2. However, a Jesse
Smith sack of quarterback Kevin Barnaby curtailed the drive.

     Early in the fourth, Leominster drove from its own 14
to the Pioneers' 5, but the St. John's defense stiffened and
Leominster turned over the ball on downs.

     "Big defense down close was huge for us," Wood said.

     Another lost opportunity came minutes before the
half. After the Blue Devils took a 13-7 lead with 2:14
showing, momentum appeared to be on their side.

     However, Jose Navaro fumbled a punt that was recovered
by St. John's Michael Cosenza on the Blue Devils' 34.

     A 17-yard pass from Wood to Pat Cusson was followed up
by a 9-yard completion to Jon Edwards. From there, Cammuso
rushed into the end zone from 8 yards out.

     John Goss connected on one of his three PATs to give
St. John's a 14-13 advantage at the break.

     "That was a great two-minute drive," Woods
said. "That was big for us."
     
     Neither team scored in the third with Leominster's bid
coming up short.
     
     After turning over the ball, St. John's started its
series from its own 3. An 18-yard pass from Wood to Edwards
got the Pioneers out of the shadow of their own goal post.
     
     From there, St. John's marched down field before Wood
scampered in from 3 yards out to pad the Pioneers lead and
put away the Blue Devils.

     "They made plays," Dubzinski said.  "They played
well. I thought our kids gave a great effort, but it just
wasn't our night tonight."

     Leominster got on the board first. With St. John's
driving, Anthony Bizzotto picked off a Wood pass and ran it
back 85 yards to put the Blue Devils ahead, 7-0, just two
minutes into the contest.

     The Pioneers responded, though. Behind the running of
Cammuso, St. John's would reach the end zone on a 5-yard
scoring pass to Kevin Gleason with 3:40 to go in the initial
quarter.

     The Blue Devils would get the lead back with just more
than two minutes to go before intermission. Behind the
running of Kevin L'Ecuyer (21 yards, 93 yards), Leominster
moved ahead on a Bill Gabriel 10-yard scoring run. However,
Garrett Donatelli's PAT attempt sailed wide left.

     "St. John's is a good, quality football team," Dubzinski
said. "We had trouble stopping them on defense. We had a
couple of opportunities but they came up big on defense."

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