Red Raiders score early but not often
Upset-minded Fitchburg squad falls short
By Rick Eggleston

SHREWSBURY -- Intercepting a pass, and returning it 52
yards for a touchdown, Jimmy Alexander provided just the
early spark the Fitchburg High football team needed in
Saturday's Division 1 match-up at St John's of Shrewsbury.

Coming on St. John's first offensive series of the game,
Alexander's pick and TD scamper not only proved key in
getting the Raiders on the scoreboard first, but it cast an
early scare into an already anxious Pioneer squad which
entered the contest reeling from last week's loss to
Nashobe Regional.

In the end, however, it wasn't meant to be for the scrappy
Raiders, who battled the Pioneeers for three solid quarters
before settling for a 28-14 loss.

"We played hard today against a very good team," said
Fitchburg coach Ray Cosenza, whose young squad hung tough
with the Pioneers early on to retain leads of 7-0 and 7-6.
"We had some guys missing, but you've got to play with who
you have.  (St. John's) played hard in the third quarter,
and we got beat.  Now we'll get back to work and get
better."

Judging by the impressive effort Fitchburg logged Saturday
aginst the bigger and quicker Pioneers (3-1) the Raiders
(1-3) certainly appear headed in the right direction.
Pioneers make big plays
However, heading to their third win in four games, the
Pioneers came up with the plays on both sides of the
football when they needed to most.

Particularly in the third quarter.

Simila to how Alexander and the Raiders started the game with
a big play, St. John's turned the table at the start of the
third when Pioneer linemen Jeff Gaston and Tommy
Dupre-Estime combined to block a Fitchburg punt deep in
Raider territory.

Gaston recovered the ball, and ran it 10 yards before
getting dragged down at the Fitchburg 4.  Three plays
later, quarterback David Frew pounded the ball into the end
zone for the toudhdown, and a game-deciding, 20-14
St. John's lead.

"We made a lot of mistakes in the first half," said
St. John's coach Tony Weed, "so that was a big play for us
to make at the start of the second half."

It turned out to be only play the Pioneers would need in
taking care of the Raiders, whose shot at tying the game
early in the fourth quarter resulted in the Pioneers' defense
stepping up to snuff a Fitchburg first down threat from the
St. John's 15.

Instead, three of the ensuing plays resulted in lost yardage
for the Raiders, including a quarterback sack on third down
for a five yard setback.

From there, the Pioneers went on -- behind 6-of-9 68 yards
passing by Frew, and fullback Jim Fitton rushing for 62
yards in the game -- to score their final touchdown with
6:16 left in the fourth quarter on a 25 yard jaunt by
Fitton.

According to Cosenza his own team had its fair share of
chances at climbing back into the game, not only in the
second half, but in the first as well.

"I felt we should've gone in to the half with the lead,"
said Cosenza, referring to a lengthy 16-play second quarter
drive that stalled on fourth-and-goal at Shrewsbury's 4.
"We made some mistakes."

After Alexander's game starting TD, the Pioneers answered in
five plays, and made it 7-6 when Manny Lokko rumbled in from
14 yards.  The kick failed, maintaining Fitchburg's lead.

On its ensuing possession, the Pioneers went 47 yards for the
lead on a Frew to Mike Hanlon 18 yard pass.  Lokko ran in
the conversion for a 14-7 lead.

Receiving a big day from its quarterback Jason Twomley, the
Raiders fired back before the end of the first quarter.

Running for 62 yards and passing for another 31 in the first
half alone, Twomley chalked up all 62 of his rushing yards
during a five play scoring drive that tied the score at
14-all.

Running a third-and-10 17 yard keeper for a first down, a
play later Twomley scampered 45 yards on a draw for the
touchdown.

The Raiders were also led on the day offensively by running
back Jason Quinn -- in for injured Frank McDonald -- back
Saul Sicard and Harold Mateo.  Chris Giannini paced the
defense, and Scott Gendron came up with several tackles.



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