FHS keeps rolling
By Mike LeClair
Article Launched:11/19/2006 01:02:52 PM EST

FITCHBURG -- The Fitchburg freshman football team gave the Red Raider
faithful reason to get excited about the future.

Fitchburg put the finishing touches on an impressive 9-1 season with a
16-13 win over archrival Leominster in Saturday morning's Pigeon Bowl
at Crocker Field. Fitchburg ends the year on a six-game winning
streak.

"The key thing is the group we had," said a soaked Fitchburg coach Dan
Roy, minutes after his players gave him the customary water cooler
victory bath. "We don't really have any superstars, as you can see. We
talked about family from Day 1 and these kids really bought into it."

Leominster (6-5-1) will have to wait until next year to try and
recapture bragging rights over its Twin City rival.

"We made too many mistakes in the first half," said Blue Devils coach
Bob Healey. "We played well in the second half, but you can't spot a
team 16 points and then have to come back."

The game remained scoreless until the second quarter, when Fitchburg
jumped on the board first. Glen Barrett called his own number from 2
yards out, crossing the goal line with 9:05 remaining in the
half. Byron Teague took care of the two-point conversion run to expand
the lead.

Nolan Connor made it a two-touchdown cushion when he hauled in a
13-yard touchdown pass from Barrett with three minutes left before
halftime.

Teague again pounded it in from three yards out on the two-point
conversion to make it 16-0 in favor of Fitchburg.

It appeared that the Red Raiders would take their padded lead into the
locker room for halftime but the Blue Devils had other ideas.

Leominster responded by taking the ensuing kickoff and marching all
the way down to the Fitchburg 1-yard line. On the eighth play of the
drive, quarterback Alex Carignan found a seam in the Fitchburg line
and pounded his way through for the touchdown with 14 seconds left. A
failed conversion run kept it 16-6 heading into halftime.

In the second half, Fitchburg opened by putting together a solid drive
that chewed up almost seven minutes of the 10-minute third
quarter. Strong running by Teague and Tim McNamara pushed the ball to
the Leominster 42. However, a fake punt on fourth-and-two failed to
pick up the first down and Leominster took over at its own 42-yard
line with 3:02 to play.

Leominster maintained possession of the football for the remainder of
the quarter as it drove the ball down toward the Fitchburg goal
line. The biggest play of the drive came on third-and-eight when
Carignan found Brett Storro with a pass for a 22-yard pickup. Carignan
connected again on the next play to Miseal Cotto for 10 more yards.

A pair of runs, including a 16-yard rush from Jared Wilbon drove the
ball to the 5. The Fitchburg defense held its ground on the next play,
stuffing Wilbon for a 7-yard loss, but Carignan put six points on the
board when he hooked up with Malik Daniel from 12 yards out and 8:53
left in the fourth to pull within four points. The Blue Devils chose
to kick the extra point rather than attempt the two-point
conversion. Phillip Fevry's kick pulled Leominster within a field goal
with 8:53 on the clock.

It appeared Fitchburg was on its way to putting the game away. Noah
Marceau and Teague teamed up with Barrett to take the ball to the
Leominster 25 with 4:50 left. However, a little trickery came back to
bite the Red Raiders as Teague, attempting a halfback pass, heaved one
up into Leominster coverage. Wilbon came down with the interception at
the Leominster 15 and ran it back to the 25 to give the Blue Devils
one last shot with 4:40 left.

It wasn't meant to be for Leominster though, as the Fitchburg defense
buckled down and held its ground, stuffing the Blue Devils on fourth
down at the Leominster 47 to preserve the win.

Fitchburg High School Athletics and Competition Home Page