Earley and often

By Chad Garner 
cgarner@sentinelandenterprise.com

FITCHBURG -- Fitchburg High junior tailback William Earley
put on a jaw-dropping show Friday night in the Red Raiders'
home opener.

The elusive and power running Earley shredded the Oakmont
Regional defense for 210 yards rushing on 13 carries and
scored five touchdowns on runs of 55, 2, 6, 10 and 12 yards,
as Fitchburg ended its mini one-game skid with a sound,
41-14 victory at Crocker Field.

"There's no mistake that we're going to have to give
(Earley) the ball quite a bit until the rest of our offense
catches up," said Fitchburg coach Ray Cosenza.

"He responded and our offensive line did. William had a
great game. I'm really happy with the way we played. It was
a great win for us."

Earley was a force from the first time he touched the ball
-- a 55-yard TD scamper -- to the last when he darted 12
yards late in the third quarter for his fifth and final
TD. He had 175 yards on eight carries and four touchdowns in
the first half.

"Earley is a bull of a back, probably the best one we're
going to see all year and he showed it," said Oakmont
first-year Bryan Brown. "He just ran our kids over. Too much
Earley."

After the Spartans (0-2) were forced to punt on a
three-and-out series to start the game, Fitchburg (1-1) set
up shop on its own 45. On a simple counter left, Earley
exploded off the left guard and blew past the secondary for
the 55-yard jaunt to paydirt. Tom Benoit's extra point gave
the Red Raiders a 7-0 lead.

Another three-and-out series gave Fitchburg the ball on its
own 49 with 5:30 left in the first quarter. On a six-play
drive, sophomore quarterback Raymond Earley (3 carries, 78
yards) highlighted the drive with a 38-yard run down to the
2 on an option left and William Earley plunged in from two
yards out for the 13-0 advantage.

The Spartans came back to end the first quarter as safety
Pat McClenahan intercepted Raymond Earley, and bolted 60
yards down the far sidelines for the touchdown.

With a 13-6 lead, Fitchburg gave the ball right back as a
fumbled pitch was pounced on by Peter Normandin at the
Fitchburg 26.

But Fitchburg got the ball back three plays later when
Earley intercepted Oakmont quarterback Nate Anderson and
rumbled 85 yards for the TD. But a block in the back
nullified the score, as Fitchburg set up at the Oakmont 42.

William Earley went right back to work with a 41-yard
scamper before McClenahan made a touchdown-saving tackle at
the 1. A penalty put the ball back to the 6 where William
Earley plowed in a pile and spun off for the 6-yard TD run.

Earley gave the Red Raiders a 28-6 halftime lead when he
capped off a four-play, 67-yard drive with a 10-yard TD run.

Backed by the solid offensive line play of Joe Golden,
Austin Douglas, Anthony Murray, Brad McNamara, Logan Johnson
and fullback Eldred Wright, the Red Raiders outgained
Oakmont, 218-74 in the first half and 330-190 in the game.

"We did not play well last week, we got shut out," said
Cosenza. "We had a lot to prove to ourselves and I think our
kids answered the challenge this week."

A comedy of errors -- four to be exact -- plagued both teams
to begin the third quarter. Fitchburg fumbled twice as
Normandin and Justin Nussey recovered, while Oakmont fumbled
once (Jeremy Rosado recovery) and threw one pick (Matt
Thibeault INT).

But Fitchburg regrouped and marched 48 yards on four plays,
capped off by Earley's 12-yard TD on a counter play. Earley
added a 19-yard run to begin the drive.

Fitchburg added to its lead late in the third when fullback
Wright (7 carries, 42 yards, TD) carried three times for 22
yards and bulldozed his way in from 2 yards out on second
down.

"I was very happy to see Eldred Wright do a great job
... run the ball and get a touchdown," said Cosenza.

To its credit, Oakmont continued to battled and scored its
second touchdown of the game with 4:30 left. On a halfback
option pass, McClenahan found Chris Vallee for the 22-yard
scoring strike, while Brett Christian added the two-point
run.

"They never gave up," said Brown. "I'm proud of them because
they fought the whole game and never gave up one second."

Kyle Sheldon led Oakmont's ground attack with 42 yards on 10
carries. Both teams committed four turnovers.

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