Red Raiders own second half
FHS defense dominates Shrewsbury By Mike LeClair Correspondent
FITCHBURG -- Back on track. Knotted at seven through the first half, Fitchburg scored 22 unanswered, second half points as it picked up a solid 29-7 win over visiting Shrewsbury Friday night at Crocker Field. In their opening two games against Eastern Mass. opponents the Red Raiders (1-2) scored only six points in each contest but Fitchburg muscled up 29 points Friday night en route to the triumph. "We needed this one bad. I think our kids questioned their confidence after our first two games," said Fitchburg coach Ray Cosenza. "Even in the first half Shrewsbury outplayed us. We were lucky to get a score right before the half and it gave us a little bit of confidence and I was very happy with our second half." Shrewsbuty (1-2) broke through with the only points of the first quarter on its first possession. From the Fitchburg 28 yard line, halfback Dan Frederickson capped a 10 play, 69 yard scoring drive with an option pass to Joe Scala, who ran it to the house to grab an early lead with 5:48 to play in the frame. It took the Red Raiders most of the second quarter but they responded, Sophomore quarterback Jeremy Kimber hooked up with David Cosenza on a 27 yard touchdown pass with 36 seconds left to conclude a 10 play, 70 yard drive with 3:19 left on the clock. In the second half it was all Fitchburg. Forcing the colonials to punt from deep in their own territory, Fitchburg started with optimum field position at the Shrewsury 37 with 6:14 remaining. The Red RAiders once again put together a 10 play scoring drive, but this time Kimber used his legs instead of his arm to give Fitchburg the lead. On fourth and goal from the 1, Kimber took the snap and plowed his way into the end zone on a quarterback sneak to put Fitchburg up, 14-7, with 1:36 remaining. A personal foul on Shrewsbury allowed Fitchburg to cick off at the 45 yard line and an onside kick was recovered by David Cosenza at the Shrewsbury 25. Fitchburg took advantage of the situation and pumped the ball into the end zone six plays later with a 10 yard touchdown pass from Kimber to Matt Fraticelli. A conversion pass from Kimber to Cosenza made it 21-7 with 9:47 remaining. "Jeremy does so much back there," said coach Cosenza. "He's just a sophomore but he stays so cool. He missed a few passes early, but he came back and made some great throws. It's something we haven't been able to do in the past and it gives an added dimension." Fitchburg added another score thanks once again to Kimber's arm. This time a 70 yard bomb to Cosenza and Fratecelli tacked on a conversion run to round out the scoring. "The key in the second half was the way our offensive line played," said Cosenza. "We needed to create a little attitude and we did that."
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