Devils just too strong

By Eric Avidon 
eavidon@sentinelandenterprise.com

TOWNSEND -- The Leominster High football team immediately
set the tone for its game against North Middlesex Regional
at John E. Young Memorial Field, taking a 6-0 lead before it
ever ran a play from scrimmage.

Junior Andrew Moran fielded the opening kickoff on his own
45-yard line, broke one tackle and was gone down the
sideline for a 55-yard touchdown.

Leominster never looked back, ultimately beating North
Middlesex 49-6.

"That was very nice," Leominster coach John Dubzinski said
of Moran's runback.

"He did a great job. It's nice to have that happen once in a
while."

After the Leominster (1-1) defense forced a three-and-out
from the North Middlesex (0-2) offense on the Patriots'
first possession, the Blue Devil running attack took
command. Anthony Bizzotto, Tom Fallon and Adam Cordio each
carried the ball as Leominster marched 49 yards in eight
plays, ending with an eight-yard run by Fallon.

The next time Leominster touched the ball quarterback Chris
Swart, who never threw a pass in the game, ran the ball in
for a 21-0 lead. On the third Leominster possession --not
including the kickoff return -- Cordio scored, and the
fourth time the Blue Devils held possession it was
Bizzotto's turn.

At halftime, Leominster led 36-0. In the first two quarters
Bizzotto rushed the ball five times for 65 yards and a
touchdown, Fallon ran nine times for 68 yards and a
touchdown and Cordio gained 55 yards on six carries and
scored once.

None of the three played in the second half.

"I thought the three kids all did a great job," said
Dubzinski. "We wanted to run the ball at them, and we wanted
to put pressure on their quarterback. Their quarterback had
more than 300 yards passing last week. I thought we
accomplished both goals."

North Middlesex, which employs the run-and-shoot offense,
could never get its passing game untracked against the
Leominster defense. Patriots quarterback Tim Kelleher
completed just six of 24 passes for 59 yards. He had a
chance to throw a touchdown pass early in the second quarter
and possibly cut the Leominster lead to 14-7, but on
second-and-goal from the six-yard line he tried to throw the
ball toward the sideline and was intercepted by Tim DiLillo.

"That was a beautiful drive, but you have to know what you
can and can't throw at the goal line," said North Middlesex
coach Mark Keisling. "Anything on an angle is the worst
thing you can do. We should have gotten into the end zone."

North Middlesex finally scored with 2:06 left in the game on
an eight-yard run by Carey, but they were already down by 43
points by then.

Kelleher occasionally had open receivers, but because he was
under constant pressure by the Leominster defensive front he
sometimes just missed hitting those receivers and sometimes
never even got the chance to get rid of the ball.

The Blue Devil defense sacked Kelleher five times for 41
yards, and added a four-yard sack of Kelleher's replacement,
Tom Carey, late in the second half.

"He's a good kid, a smart kid," Keisling said of
Kelleher. "What impresses me most is the way he squares up
when he throws, which is something some college kids don't
do. Imagine if he had time to throw?"

Keisling added that while he was impressed with Kelleher's
performance under immense pressure, he did not like the way
the North Middlesex defense played.

"The defense is what (ticked) me off more than anything," he
said. "They were very passive and let Leominster dictate
what was happening. They didn't attack. There were no
positives at all."

Dubzinski, however, liked what he saw one week after
Leominster lost by 22 points to Eastern Mass. powerhouse
Everett.

"We corrected some things this week," he said. "We have a
big game Thursday night with Nashoba so it's going to be a
short week. We have a lot of work to do, but we're pleased
to get the win. We were disappointed last week that we
didn't get that win. The kids worked very hard this week and
I'm happy for them."

North Middlesex plays Gardner at home next Friday, while
Leominster plays at Nashoba Thursday night.

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