Another holiday for Red Raiders
By John McGuirk CORRESPONDENT
Fitchburg 28 Leominster 20

FITCHBURG-- There are certain things you have come to expect
on Thanksgiving: turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and a
Fitchburg victory over Leominster.
     In a rivalry that has expanded more than a century, the
latest entry came yesterday and what has been the case of
late, Fitchburg prevailed once again.
     The fifth-ranked Red Raiders (8-3) extended its winning
streak over the top-ranked Blue Devils to five following
their 28-20 victory at Crocker Field in front of a crowd of
5,000 who battled a bone-chilling wind.
     Fitchburg has manhandled Leominster over the past
decade, having won 11 of the last 12 meetings. It leads the
all-time series, 57-53-9.
     “Our kids are so tough,” praised Red Raider coach
Ray Cosenza. “I'm so proud of this group because they are
tougher than any other group around. We may have lost some
key games this year, but our kids proved what they had
today.”
     With the score knotted at 7 at the half, Fitchburg
warmed up in the second half to score 14 third-quarter
points to leave the Super Bowl-bound Blue Devils in its
wake.
     To say the Red Raiders dominated their arch-rivals in
the second half would be a vast understatement. Having
gained only 66 yards in the first half, Fitchburg netted 262
in the final 24 minutes (the game was played with 12-minute
quarters) for a total of 328.
     The key to its offensive attack was the play of
workhorse tailback William Earley. The sophomore ran
rampant, gaining 226 yards on 36 carries and scoring 3
touchdowns. Earley had 68 in the first half. He closes his
season having rushed for 1,647 yards.
     “There is no question what kind of running back he
is,” Cosenza said. “He had a great game today. He is
so good and he's only going to get better.”
     The same couldn't be said for the Blue Devils (9-3).
     Instead of finding a way to build momentum heading into
next week's Super Bowl against Minnechaug, the Leominster
offense hit a snag against a punishing Fitchburg defense.
     Leominster gained 143 yards and it's 1,000-yard rusher
Kevin L'Ecuyer was held to a mere 30 yards on 20 carries,
none in the second half. In fact, the only positive on a
negative day for the Blue Devils was the play of quarterback
Kevin Barnaby, who completed 7 of 8 passes for 105 yards.
     Fitchburg took possession to begin the second half and
did exactly what it wanted, which was to keep the Blue
Devils' offense off the field.
     The Red Raiders ground it out down field, driving 80
yards behind Earley and fullback Matt Donovan. They chewed
up 7 minutes on the clock before Earley bowled in from 4
yards out to put the Red Raiders ahead, 14-7.
     “We got off the ball better than they did,” said
Fitchburg senior offensive tackle Steve Marrella, who also
anchored the defense at linebacker. “This is an
unbelievable feeling. It's the best way to go out, but I
can't believe it's over.”
     After Leominster failed to convert on a fourth-down
play, Fitchburg extended its lead. On a third-and-1,
quarterback Ryan Logan's sneak for the first turned into a
71-yard gallop as he busted through the Blue Devils'
defensive line to push the Red Raiders' lead to 21-7 with 75
seconds remaining in the third.
     “We just couldn't come up with the stops on defense
at any point in time during the game,” Leominster coach
John Dubzinski said. “We didn't tackle well and I thought
that was the difference in the game.
     “We just didn't play very good defense,” he
added. “We had a very hard time stopping their
offense. I'm disappointed with the way we played
defense.”
     Leominster chopped the lead in half. Aided by an
unsportsmanlike call against Fitchburg, the Blue Devils
marched 62 yards before Barnaby ran the final 10 yards into
the end zone to make it 21-14 with 8:28 to go in the final
quarter.
     The scoring was far from over, though. With their minds
set on trying to run time off the clock, the Red Raiders got
more in the form of 48-yard jaunt by Earley with 4:49
remaining to up their lead to 28-14.
     Once again, Leominster battled back and capitalized on
a soft zone coverage by the Red Raiders. Barnaby connected
with Adam Cordio on a 55-yard scoring reception with just
less than four minutes remaining. Garrett Donatelli's PAT
attempt sailed wide and Leominster trailed by eight.
     With no timeouts remaining, Fitchburg ran out the clock
out and left the Blue Devils shaking their heads once more.
     “We may not be going to the Super Bowl, but who
cares,” Cosenza said. “We won our Super Bowl
today. This game and this win is bigger than the Super
Bowl.”
     Leominster grabbed a 7-0 first quarter lead when
Anthony Bizzotto picked up an errant Logan pitch to Earley
and returned it 10 yards for the score.
     With less than a minute left before intermission,
Fitchburg's offense awoke as it drove 40 yards on 14 plays
to set up an Earley 1-yard run to send the teams into the
locker room even at 7.

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