Brockton wraps up FHS
By Dean Glanzman
Article Launched: 10/06/2007 10:10:21 AM EDT
  	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
FITCHBURG -- Some in the booth, Friday night at Crocker Field, felt
the two-hour bus ride that Brockton made to Fitchburg would slow the
Boxers down in the trenches. It didn't take long for the Boxers (4-1)
to prove those critics wrong.

Three seconds into the game, Brockton's Khalil James-Offley returned a
Luke Arno kickoff 84 yards for a quick Boxers' score.

"Kickoff set the tone for us," said Brockton head coach Peter
Colombo. "That was nice. You never know after a long bus ride -- a
two-hour trip out here on a Friday afternoon -- how you're going to
react and we emphasized, 'Let's come out and be ready.' That kickoff
set the tone."

Brockton, which lost its first game of the season to B.C. High, rode
into Fitchburg (4-1) with three straight wins and rode out with a
fourth. The Boxers silenced a Red Raiders offense that had outscored
its opponents this year, 155-40, with a 28-0 win.

"Our defense played the best they've played," said Colombo, "against a
pretty efficient offense up to this point. Shut them out after all the
points they've scored this year."

Fitchburg went three-and-out on its possession following the
James-Offley kickoff return. After forcing a turnover on downs on the
Boxer ensuing possession, the Red Raiders drove the pigskin from their
own 24-yard line to the Brockton 11-yard line, but a Johnny Gomez run
came up 1 yard short on the team's fourth-and-two. It looked as if the
7:35 drive that ended in a turnover on downs took the wind
Advertisement out of Fitchburg's sails.

"It was a big play," said Red Raiders head coach Ray Cosenza of
James-Offley's opening kickoff return, "but we still had a lot of
football to play. I think they are a great team, well-coached. They
were much better tonight."

Josh Marsh finished a 74-yard drive the next time the Boxers' took
over with a 5-yard touchdown run with 1:52 left in the half.

Cosenza's boys had their chances on several occasions, with
opportunities to convert on key third downs with short yardage
passes. But the Red Raiders' receivers, who had made valuable
contributions in the team's first three games, mishandled more than
just a few of Fitchburg quarterback Jeremy Kimber's touch passes.

Could it have been that the Fitchburg receivers were hearing
footsteps?

"No, our kids aren't intimidated," said Cosenza. "I just think we
dropped passes, but our kids don't back down, they aren't
intimidated. They played hard, we just didn't execute a few times and
stuff like that. But that's what happens."

Play got sloppy in the second half as both Brockton and Fitchburg
started getting physical. Brockton was charged with two
unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.

"It got chippy, they were talking and we were a little undisciplined
at times," said Colombo. "But it went both ways and the refs kept it
under control and that's just part of what goes on out here."

The loss shattered Fitchburg's hopes of repeating its glorious 2000
season where the team finished with an undefeated record and a Super
Bowl Championship. But as Cosenza would say, there is still a lot of
football to play.

"I think today they were better," said Cosenza. "Tonight, Brockton was
better and there is no shame in losing as long as you play your
hardest. We will regroup and get ready for our next game, that is all
we can do. We'll have to rally and come back next week and just work
to get better."

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