Blue Devils put burning on Pioneers
By John McGuirk
Leominster 42 St. John's 0

SHREWSBURY-- It was the kind of first-half domination
coaches wish they could bottle up and save for later use.
     Leominster, ranked third in the Telegram & Gazette Top
10, played a nearly perfect first half yesterday in its
all-important Division 1 clash with St. John's. The Blue
Devils scored 35 points while holding the top-ranked
Pioneers to a mere 10 yards en route to a 42-0 hammering at
Pioneer Field.
     Leominster is 8-2 overall, but more importantly 5-0 in
the division. The Blue Devils remain the only unbeaten
Division 1 team, making them the front-runners for a Super
Bowl berth.
     St. John's (7-1, 4-1) saw its 18-game win streak, the
longest current streak in Central Mass, come to and end. The
longest streaks now belong to Northbridge (17) and North
(16), the only remaining unbeatens.
     "This is a great win for us," Leominster coach
John Dubzinski said. "Our next two games are league games
(at Shrewsbury, at Fitchburg) and it's going to be difficult
games for us on the road. I've said all along that I don't
think anything will be determined until around noontime on
Thanksgiving."
     For now, though, the Blue Devils can take pride in the
way they pushed around the Pioneers in their own backyard.
     St. John's looked frazzled from the get-go as the Blue
Devils put the ill feelings of last week's loss to Brockton
behind them.
     The defense held St. John's to just 95 offensive yards
and forced five turnovers, three of which led to
scores. They also sacked quarterback Peter Wood and backup
Ben Roopenian five times for a loss of 23 yards. Roopenian
relieved Wood with about six minutes to go.
     Offensively, Leominster had long, sustaining drives all
afternoon and totaled 276 yards. Senior running back Kevin
L'Ecuyer led the way with 135 yards on 26 carries and 2
touchdowns. Anthony Bizzotto added 74 yards on 11 carries
and a pair of scores.
     Bizzotto put the Blue Devils on the board midway
through the first quarter on a 3-yard run that capped a
69-yard drive. Not long after that, L'Ecuyer made it 14-0 on
a 4-yard dash with 7:16 remaining before halftime.
     On the ensuing kickoff, Adam Cordio pancaked Andrew
Heald, causing a fumble that was recovered by John Ciccone
to the Pioneers' 2. Bizzotto barreled in on the next play to
extend the margin to 21-0.
     While St. John's continued to stall offensively,
Leominster's offense continued to roll. With just less than
a minute to go, Kevin Barnaby dove in from a yard out to cap
a 63-yard drive. Seconds later, after Wood was sacked by Tim
DiLillo and fumbled, the Blue Devils offense was back on the
field. Instead of running out the clock, Leominster went for
broke and L'Ecuyer scored from 5 yards out with only 20
seconds showing.
     "We had a great week of practice," Dubzinski
said. "We knew we were going to play well down
here. St. John's is a great football team, but it just
wasn't their day. But I am just very proud of our kids."
     Dazed and confused, the Pioneers headed into the break
without a first down. Leominster's defensive arsenal was
equally tough in the second half, and, with 8:20 remaining
in the game, Pat Moran finalized the Leominster onslaught by
picking off a Wood pass and returning it 49 yards for the
final score.
     "It's an unbelievable day,” Moran said. "If
anyone told us that we would walk off this field 42-0, we
would laugh in their face. We thought this would come down
to the wire, but we'll take this."
     "We've got to think about the Brockton game and how
we got embarrassed," he added. "We've got to come out
and play the same way against Shrewsbury and Fitchburg and
hopefully go to a bowl. This team controls its own destiny
now, and I think we've got a great shot at it."
     After yesterday, why would they think anything else?

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