Leominster puts winning record to test
 By Chad Garner, Staff Writer

LEOMINSTER - If you look at the overall records of the
Leominster and Fitchburg football teams, one surely stands
out as this year's favorite to win the annual Thanksgiving
Day gridiron battle.

But don't tell Leominster coach John Dubzinski that.

"I don't consider us the favorite," said Dubzinski, whose
team enters with an 8-2 record compared to Fitchburg's
sub-.500 record of 4-6. "This is such a traditional game. I
don't think there is such a thing as a favorite. Both teams
are going to be prepared very well, both teams are going to
play very, very well and it comes down to the team that
makes the fewest mistakes and prevents big plays. We
certainly know Fitchburg is a fine, fine team. We expect a
very close, hard fought game."

The Leominster/Fitchburg clash will be the 118th meeting
overall and 96th on Thanksgiving. The Red Raiders have
beaten the Blue Devils three straight Turkey Day contests.

The Blue Devils won their first seven games before losing
back-to-back games to Brockton and St. John's, and
finished with a 15-8 win over Shrewsbury. Fitchburg was the
complete opposite, losing five of its first six games before
winning three of its last four.

"This is always our Super Bowl, and I think Ray Cosenza
would say the same thing," said Dubzinski. "It's the most
exciting game that the kids get the most excited about. It's
a game where the school gets the most excited about and it's
the game that the community gets most excited about. If you
had the choice of winning the Thanksgiving Day game or the
Super Bowl, you'd take the Thanksgiving Day game. It's a
great rivalry and it's a great tradition."

The key to the Blue Devil high-scoring offense is hands down
junior tailback Kevin L'Ecuyer. L'Ecuyer leads all Central
Mass. running backs with 1,882 yards on 214 attempts, and
has scored an amazing 21 touchdowns.

"After the first couple of games I think everybody realized
that our offense revolves around our tailback Kevin
L'Ecuyer," said Dubzinski. "We've seen a lot of teams try
different things to try to shut him down. He's had a great,
great year. Teams have geared up to try to stop him. We're
not going to change a heck of a lot of things. He's our main
guy. We know it and they know it. There's no secret. We're
going to run the ball."

Besides L'Ecuyer, the Blue Devils have a handful of weapons
that can quickly put up points if the Red Raider defense
elects to stack the line of scrimmage, in hopes of
neutralizing L'Ecuyer.

Junior quarterback Kevin Barnaby runs the offense and has
shown great touch throwing the football this season.
Barnaby has thrown for 635 yards and nine TDs. His weapons
include: tight end Mark Daigneault, split end Blake Curry
and flanker Jose Navarro.

"Our skill kids have played very well this year," said
Dubzinski. "Kevin Barnaby is probably our most underrated
player. He does a great job running the option and throwing
the ball."

Another underrated group is the offensive line, along with
senior fullback Bill Gabriel. The group of Eddie Ceric, Ken
Norton, Mark Chiurri, Mike DiLillo and Mark Curley have been
tremendous at opening up mack truck-sized holes for L'Ecuyer
and Gabriel to run through.

"They've done a great job," said Dubzinski. "Nobody can do
it all by themselves. That is probably the area we've
improved the most from last year to this year is our
offensive line."

The Leominster defensive unit was solid early in the season
but did take a step back in its two losses.

"We have eight juniors and sophomores on defense," said
Dubzinski. "We only had three kids coming back on
defense. Like any team that has younger, inexperienced kids,
we're going to have some good days and bad days."

The strength of the base 5-2 defense is its linebacking crew
of juniors Pat Moran and James Giadone.

"The key to our defense is our two outstanding inside
linebackers Pat Moran and Jamie Giadone. They are our
leading tacklers and they've done a great job," said
Dubzinski. "But I think our defense as a group has improved
over the course of the year."

Seniors Bob LeBlanc and Greg McNally will start at the
defensive ends, alongside tackles Kyle Clarke, Jason
Ouellette and John Ciccone. The secondary is led by corners
Tom Fallon and Mark Heinold, and safeties Ryan Rendon, Ryan
Pozerycki and Adam Meza.

"We play a team defense. Everyone has a certain
responsibility," said Dubzinski. "Everyone has to do their
job. We expect all the kids to do what they're suppose to
do."

The defense will be tested by the Fitchburg offense,
highlighted by freshman tailback William Earley and senior
fullback Norman Cole.

"I think Fitchburg has very good offensive personnel. I like
the tailback, but I think fullback Norman Cole is a very good
player. He does a great job for them," said Dubzinski. "I
think those two are as good a combination as we'll face all
year. It's going to be a test for our defense to shut them
down, no question about it."

Although the Blue Devils come in as the favorite, L'Ecuyer
and the rest of the team aren't taking Fitchburg lightly.

"Obviously there's a lot of tradition with it and it's a big
game. Since we're not going to the Super Bowl, we're taking
this as our Super Bowl," said L'Ecuyer. "We don't want to go
in and think that they are not very good because they are
pretty good. We're going to have to execute. We can't
underestimate them."


Fitchburg High School Athletics and Competition Home Page