Raiders run over Wildcats 
By Chad Garner
cgarner@sentinelandenterprise.com


GARDNER -- Another dominating performance.

For the second straight week, the Fitchburg High football
team completely ruled both sides of the football.

Fitchburg logged 460 yards of total offense, and the Red
Raiders' three main scoring threats of senior quarterback
Ryan Logan, sophomore tailback William Earley and junior
fullback Matt Donovan accounted for 398 yards rushing and
scored six touchdowns as Fitchburg coasted to an easy,
46-21, victory over Gardner High Friday night at Watkins
Field.

"Those guys are electric. They are fun to watch. It was a
good game for us. Obviously our offense was very good," said
Fitchburg coach Ray Cosenza. "I'm very pleased with a
win. All three of them are great, but I still give the
credit to our offensive line.  They are doing a great job."

The offensive line of center Anthony Murray, guards Joe
Golden and John Lewis, and tackles Mark Thomas and Steve
Marrella continually opened up gigantic holes for the backs
to run through.

The tremendous work done by the line led to Logan leading
the rushing attack with 157 yards on six carries with two
TDs, while Earley carried the ball seven times for 123 yards
and two TDs and Donovan added two touchdowns and 118 yards
on eight carries.

"The coach always has a great game plan," said Logan. "No
one prepares better than our coaching staff. Our offense
line ... you can't say more about them. They create huge
holes."

Fitchburg (2-0), after forcing the Wildcats (0-2) to punt
after a 9-play drive, took the ball at its own 30 and
marched right down the field.

It only took three plays to score. Logan capped off the
3-play, 70-yard drive with a 57-yard TD run on an option
right with 3:56 left in the first quarter. Logan added the
extra point for a 7-0 lead.

"Matt Donovan had a great dive fullback fake," said
Logan. "I came around the end and that cornerback was
frozen. He didn't know what happened. I went around and went
with it."

The Fitchburg defense got the ball right back to the offense
as linebacker Marrella picked off a pass by Gardner QB Greg
Mailloux at the Wildcat 22.

From the 22, Logan dropped back and hit wide receiver Frank
Sienkiewicz on a perfect fade pass in the corner of the end
zone for a 22-yard scoring strike.

With 19 seconds left in the first quarter, Fitchburg led
21-0 on Earley's 60-yard TD run on the first play from
scrimmage. Logan fumbled the snap, but alertly pitched the
ball to Earley, who broke free up the gut and outran the
Wildcat secondary.

On Fitchburg's first five plays from scrimmage, they managed
to score three times.

"It didn't seem like we ran a lot of offensive plays," said
Cosenza. "There's not much I can say. That's a great job by
our offense. If we do stuff like that I think we'll be tough
to defend."

Fitchburg went up 28-0 as Earley took an option right,
rumbled down the sidelines and juked a defender at the 5 for
a 16-yard TD run, which capped off a 5-play, 43-yard drive.

When Logan took off for a 65-yard TD run on another option
keeper, Fitchburg staked to a commanding 34-0 lead with 4:12
left in the second quarter.

Gardner broke the shutout with a sparkling 14-play, 77-yard
drive to end the half.  Gardner junior back Kevin Flanagan
did the majority of the work with five rushes, and Mailloux
ended the drive via a 8-yard TD pass to David Hulette.

The second half was more of the same for Fitchburg. Donovan
got into the scoring act with an 11-yard TD run, and added a
79-yard TD burst for a 46-7 lead.

Gardner added two late touchdowns on the Fitchburg
backups. John Boguzis scored a 6-yard TD run, and Mailloux
(7 for 13 passing, 129 yards, 2 TD, INT) hit Flanagan for an
87-yard TD pass.

Flanagan led the Wildcat offense with 123 rushing yards on 21 carries.

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