Mighty Quinn more than the Bombers can handle
By Sean Sweeney

FITCHBURG - Maybe Fitchburg Athletics Director Doug
Grutchfield should schedule more football games immediately
after field hockey games.

Following the Fitchburg field hockey team's 6-1 win over
Milford earlier in the day, it was the Red Raider gridiron
squad doing the damage behind a 201 yard rushing performance
by Jason Quinn, nailing Westsfield to the wall 36-21 at
Crocker Field on Friday night.

With the win, FHS is now 2-4 while the Bombers drop to 1-4.
It was the first ever meeting between the two schools.

Westfield received the opening kick before quarterback Phil
Frost (6 of 14), 92 yards passing, 2 interceptions)
play-faked to Bobby Williams, rolled to his left and tried
to find Mark St. Germain in the left flat.  The operative
word there is tried, as Frost underthrew St. Germain and
was picked off by Fitchburg safety Danny Ortiz.

"First play of the game and they had us, and Danny made a
great recovery.  That was a great play for them to start
with, and thanks to Danny's recovery, we've got the ball
and we scored.  And that's nice," said Fitchburg coach Ray
Cosenza.

From there, it was all Red RAiders.  On the second play of
the drive (third of the game), signal caller Jason Twomley
called the number of Quinn (20 carries), who went up the
middle before skirting out to the left sideline.  Quinn went
57 yards before being hauled down at the Westfield 4-yard
line by St Germain.

On the next play, Twomley handed off to Saul Sicard who ran
for three yards before Twomely decided to call his own
number, plunging in from a yard out for the Raiders' first
touchdown.  The conversion pass failed, 6-0 FHS.

"We were very pleased with our offensive effort.  Jason
Quinn really picked it up, Norman Cole did a great job and I
tip my hat to our offensive line.  We didn't punt all game.
We were short handed (five starters out with infuries, and
Jim Alexander left in the second quarter with an injured
knee). and Jason Twomley did a terrific job at quarterback.
Defensively, hey, we won and we made the plays.  We had two
big interceptions when we needed them.  But we're thrilled,
we're back on track.  Hopefully we can get some kids
healthy and get on a roll." noted Cosenza.

But on the ensuing drive, Westfield showed the Red and Gray
faithful that they can run too.  On the first play of the
drive, Frost handed off to Bobby Williams (19 carries for
171 yards) who broke one tackle beore being dragged down by
Quinn for a 14 yard gain.  Williams then carried for runs of
4, 8, and 5 yards before Westfield ran into a wall.  four
plays later, Frost faked-punted on fourth and four finding
Wiliams on a ten yard pass to make if first and ten at the
Raider 35.

After a pair of incomplete passes, Frost found Brian Keefe
in the left flat for a 11 yard completion before Williams
swept to the left side following a key block by Nick
Witherell for a 22 yard touchdown.  Adam Galarneau added the
PAT for Westfield's only lead, 7-6.

On the ensuing drive, Quinn and Twomley (13 carries on 46
yards, three touchdowns) exchanged short runs before Quinn
took the handoff and weaved though the defensive backfield
for a 25 yard carry.  On the next play, Quinn again had his
number called and ran for 23 yards, putting him over 100
yards for the game (he had 109 at that point) and the run
set up first and goal at the Bomber 2.  It was Quinn on the
next carry, too.  Going off the left tackle on an incredible
pull by Tim Caron, Quinn hit paydirt from two yards out for
the touchdown.

Westfield contiued the scoring on the next drive, with
Williams rushing for 13 and 8 yards before Keefe reeled in a
27 yard pass from Frost.  Williams then had three carries
before Frost hooked up with Williams, this time on a 12 yard
completion on a nifty shoestring catch.  Two plays later
with a full house backfield, Frost handed off to Dan
LaMountain, a six foot three inch 230 poynd fullback (who
normally plays offensive line), who hurled himself in the end
zone from a yard out.  The point after failed, 14-13 FHS.

Fitchburg scored yet again, with Quinn scoring from seven
yards out on a pair of blocks by Derek Johnson and Marcus
DiNatele.  Also seeing some handoffs was Cole, who exploded
for 84 yards on 14 carries in the game.

Cole was a major factor in the second half, getting a
majority of the carries, including a 19 yard carry during
the Raiders' last scoring drive of the game.

FHS travels out Route 2A to 13 to 119 East to play the
Patriots of Noth Middlesex next Friday night.  The Pats are
in action this afternoon against St. John's.

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