Fitchburg makes it 3-0
By Dean Glanzman
FITCHBURG -- Remember the last time Fitchburg started its football
season 3-0?

Neither does head coach Ray Cosenza.

"Well it might have been in 2000, although I don't know for sure,"
said Cosenza. "This is a great way to start the year."

Fitchburg returned home to Crocker Field after winning its first two
games, and, just as fast, sent St. Bernard's home packing. The Red
Raiders put together 303 yards on offense in a 28-point first half
that led to a dominating 41-0 win over the Bernardians, Friday.

"It's unbelievable," said Kimber about starting the season 3-0. "It
gives us a lot of confidence."

The fact that the Red Raiders had so much going for them made it
impossible for St. Bernard's to ever get anything really going.

Jeremy Kimber, Johnny Gomez, Tim Douglas, Orlando Anderson, Josh Less,
Matt Fraticelli and Luke Arno all contributed on offense.

"Kimber does spread it out, Fraticelli in the backfield, he gets the
ball to who's ever open and that's the sign of a great quarterback and
someone who has played a lot," said Cosenza.

Kimber was the offensive centerpiece, throwing seven complete passes
on seven attempts for 137 yards and four touchdowns. Each of Kimber's
touchdown passes were accounted for by a different Fitchburg receiver.

"They just find the holes," said Kimber of his receivers. "Our coaches
call the perfect plays and everyone was open. It was easy for me."

The Red Raiders ran a couple key play-action passes to perfection for
the team's first two touchdown scores of the game in the first
quarter. Kimber faked a handoff to Gomez and hooked up with Anderson
for 33 yards and the game's first score. Then he faked another handoff
to Gomez and found Fraticelli in the flat, who then ran for a 46-yard
touchdown.  "Play-action is real good for us because Johnny (Gomez) is
an unbelievable running back for us, so they have to key on him," said
Kimber. "So if I fake it to him, they have to follow him and that just
opens it up for me."

According to St. Bernard's head coach Tom Bingham, the Bernardians had
quite a few young guys on the field Friday night.

"I think coming over here to Crocker Field, I was pretty concerned
with the guys we had getting off to a good start and putting the ball
on the ground and taking care of business and obviously we didn't get
that done," said Bingham. "Fitchburg is very well coached and very
athletic, they are a good football team and they got after us a little
bit."

The Bernardians totaled 157 yards -- 41 of which were in the second
half -- because Fitchburg's defense was relentless in pursuit of the
ball.

The team forced two fumbles and applied tremendous pressure on
St. Bernard's quarterback Taylor Lively, led by Steve Silvar (sack)
and Manny Guerrero (three tackles).

St. Bernard's began the season 2-0 before being shut out by the Red
Raiders Friday night.

"No I don't," said Bingham in reference to whether or not he thought
the 41-0 loss to Fitchburg would hurt the team's morale. "I think that
you should challenge yourself and come over and play a game like this
and we did. We hope we get the opportunity to do it again.

"We start our league play next week and you know we are pretty excited
to be back in Central Mass. and back in Division I. We started out
2-0, we learned a lot tonight, and we will start getting back to work
on Monday.

Douglas and Less each caught short-yardage touchdowns in the second
quarter. Fitchburg started the second half with a drive that ate up
six minutes off the clock and saw 15 plays and 65 yards culminate in a
Gomez 1-yard touchdown run. Second-team tailback Byron Teague scored a
16-yard touchdown run with 6:53 left in the game.

Fitchburg will take its confidence and its three-game winning streak
into Townsend for a clash with North Middlesex Regional next week.

"We are going to practice like we have been all year," said
Kimber. "Come out like we have been the last two games, come out
fighting."



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