Fitchburg continues to roll
By Michael James LeClair
Article Launched: 11/15/2008 06:13:52 AM EST

			
FITCHBURG -- It's been a season of streaks for the Fitchburg football
team.

After winning their first four games, the Red Raiders dropped their
next four. Fitchburg then righted the ship with a back-to-back wins,
including a 36-8 drubbing of visiting Marlborough on Friday evening at
Crocker Field.

The Red Raiders (6-4) now gear up for their annual Thanksgiving Day
matchup with Twin City rival Leominster. The winner of that contest
will earn a playoff spot in the upcoming postseason.

"I thought our kids played well in the first half and took care of
business. We did some stupid things early in the second half but
recovered," Fitchburg head coach Ray Cosenza said. "It was a good win
for us. Anytime you can give your seniors a win in their final home
game, that's huge."

Leading the way for Fitchburg was Greg Mendez 135 yards on 11 carries
and a touchdown.

The Red Raiders jumped out to a 24-0 lead at the half and survived a
mini rally from the Panthers (4-6) to open the second half.

Fitchburg wasted little time jumping on the scoreboard, scoring on its
opening possession. Beginning on its own 47-yard line Fitchburg needed
two plays to find the end zone. Following a 40-yard run from Mendez,
Byron Teague found paydirt from 13 yards out with 7:39 on the
clock. Luke Arno's extra point made it 7-0.

That was how things stayed until the second quarter, when the Red
Raider offense went back on the attack. Fitchburg scored 17 points in
the second Advertisement Quantcast quarter to put a stranglehold on
the lead.

The Fitchburg defense forced a fumble that Anthony Colon recovered to
give its offense great field position at the Fitchburg 48. A false
start penalty against the Red Raiders moved the ball back 5 yards. The
penalty did little to slow down Mendez, who took the handoff from
quarterback Kyle Phillips and scampered 57 yards to the end zone with
10:03 remaining. Arno's kick made it 14-0.

The Red Raiders added two more scores before the half: a 1-yard
quarterback keeper from Phillips and a 24-yard field goal from Arno to
cap the first half scoring.

The Panthers tried to catch Fitchburg napping to open the second
half. Marlborough attempted an onside kick and got the ball back at
the Fitchburg 46. Three plays later, the Panthers found the goal line
when A.J. Scerra hauled in a 21-yard touchdown pass from Graham Asum
with 9:09 left. A successful conversion attempt made it 30-8.

The Marlborough defense held strong and got the ball back as the
Panthers attempted to claw their way back into the game. That was
until Quinton Perkins stepped up and made a key interception with less
than four minutes left in the third quarter to steal back the momentum
from Marlborough.

Fitchburg would add two more scores the rest of the way. The
interception by Perkins set up a drive that was concluded with a
5-yard touchdown pass from Phillips to Jake Hachey. Isiah Ford added a
5-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to seal the deal.

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