Brockton wins OT thriller
By Ross Edwards
redwards@sentinelandenterprise.com

FITCHBURG -- Unbelievable

On a night when even the most diehard Ficthrug fans expected
undefeated Brockton to roll to an easy victory, the Red
Raiders came within 11 yards of pulling off an unimaginable
upset.  As it was, Fitchburg took the contest to overtime,
eventurally losing 22-14 at Crocker Field Friday night.

"I'm proud of our kids, I thought we played tough against a
great team, "said Fitchburg coach Ray Cosenza.  "Still we
lost the game, but I will say this.  Our kids gave
everything they had, our staff did a great job, I'm very
proud of this group."

Fitchburg (20-3) rested heavily on it's defense throughtout
the game.  The high powered Brockton offense pummeled into
the defensive line again and again, but the Red raiders
refused to break.. Twice in the first quarter Brockton
(5-0) turned the ball over on downs after the officials
called for measurements.

In fact, it wassn't until after running back Jim Gomez (17
carries, 68 yards) picked up three yards off tackle with
9:30 left in the second quarter that a single snap from
either team was taken in Boxer territory.

Two plays later, Fitchburg shocked the stadium when
quarterback Jeremy Kimber tossed a screen to fullback Matt
Fraticelli (23 carries 126 yards), and the big man broke
free, rumbling 42 yards down to the Brockton six.

The Raiuders attacked the middle of the line, but the
boxers refused to budge.  On 4th and inches, with
6:28 remaining, Kimber (8 completions, 111 yards) plowed
straight ahead to burst the line and give Fitchburg the 6-0
lead.

Brockton would come back, however, and break open one of its
only two big plays of the night.  Quarterback Jessey Resende
found receiver Korey Brown streaking over the middle
underneath the Fitchburg zone.  AFter catching the pass,
Brown sliced his way through to the left side and into the
end zone, leaving Brockton up 7-6 at the half.

"We respect Fitchburg," said Brockton coach Peter Columbo
after winning in overtime for the second week in a row.
"Ray Cosenza is a good friend and highly respected on this
end... It was a dog fight, I am not surprised."

It looked like the Boxers were going to come out and light
up the scoreboard in the second half.  With it's opening
drive, Brockton quickly pushed down the field to the
Fitchburg 2 yard line.  Those six feet proved to be cruel,
however, as captain Junior Penn fumbled and the Raiders
recovered.  The play would be the first of two costly red
zone fumbles for Brockon in the second half.

With time winding down on the fourth quarter, the Fitchburg
defense appeared ready to put the clamps on another
Brockton drive.  Ironically, however, the Boxers finally
broke through the stingy devense on a broken play.

On 3rd and 15 the snap to Resende, who was lined up in the
shotgun formation, sailed over the quarterback's head.
Resende then, instead of falling on the ball, scooped up the
rock and rolled around the pursuing defenders, turning the
corner and breaking a 22 yard touchdown run, putting
Brockton up 14-6 with 5:01 left in the game.

Cosenza's charges got the ball back on the kickoff, but
instead of changing his offense to a passing attack, the
coach went with what has been working for team all year.
Again and again Coseza called plays that pounded the ball
into the middle, seemingly unconcerned about the ticking
clock.

The strategy worked, as the exahusted Brockton defenxe
yielded first down after first down to the Red Raiders.
Then with only 31 seconds left on the clock Kimer again broke
through on a QB sneak from the 1.  Fraticelli pounded up the
gut for the two point conversion to tie the game and Crocker
Field exploded in celebrations.

Then, the unthnkable happened, Brockton fumbled the kickoff,
giving Fitchburg the ball at their oppenent's 38 with 24
seconds on the clock.  Instead of a pass, Fraticelli led off
the drive with a 16 yard run up the right side, catching the
Boxers off guard.

With only 11 seconds left and no timeouts remaining, the Red
Raiders found themselves at the 11.  Kimber dropped back on
a play actino pass, but as he rounded the corner Brockton's
Glenn Lemieux was waiting for him and recorded the sack to end
regulation.

Fitchburg was just too tired, too overmatched to keep the
much larger and stronger Brockton team out of the end zone
in overtime allowing a Jason Margeson touchdown.  Then on
fourth and 10 on Fitchburg's final shot to even up the
score, Kimber's pass to the deep left corner oh the end zone
flew out of reach of his recievers.

"Give Brockton credit," said Cosenza.  "They're a great tem,
so we're just going to go back to the drawing board and get
ready for next week."
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