No Headline. Saturday, September 20, 1997 By Ken Powers Telegram & Gazette Staff Nashoba 37 Fitchburg 6 BOLTON -- Live by special teams, die by special teams.          Seven days after defeating St. Peter-Marian on the strength of a 87-yard kickoff return with less than a minute to play, the Fitchburg High football team was completely routed by Nashoba Regional, 37-6, in large part because of the play of the Chieftains' special teams.          Fitchburg is ranked first and Nashoba second in the Telegram & Gazette Central Mass. media poll.          As the final seconds ran off the clock, several Nashoba linemen dumped the water bucket on Chieftains' assistant coach John Beary, and then hugged their defensive coordinator.          With a crowd of more than 2,500 looking on, Nashoba delivered staggering blows to the Red Raiders in the form of the opening kickoff return of 37 yards by Jamie Young and a second-quarter punt return of 25 yards by Jason Strade.          The knockout blow, though, was a 65-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Wally Zadroga that pushed Nashoba in front, 30-6, and came directly after the Red Raiders had scored their lone touchdown.          In addition, Ken Tucker's crew used Kevin Little's booming kickoffs to pin Fitchburg deep in its own territory on several occasions.          “Their special teams set the tone for the game,” Fitchburg coach Ray Cosenza said. “They clearly beat us in every aspect of the game, but especially on special teams. They were well-prepared and did a great job.”          Said Tucker: “We tell the kids every week that the play of special teams could determine the outcome of the game, and tonight I think it did. The play of special teams leads directly to field position and tonight that was a big difference, possibly the main difference, in the game.”          What didn't hurt, either, was the running of Strade and Zadroga, the domination of the offensive and defensive lines, and winning the turnover battle, 2-0.          Zadroga rushed for 79 yards on 15 carries, while Strade gained 62 on nine totes of the ball. All told, Nashoba (2-0) totaled 283 yards, 246 coming on the ground behind a cat-quick offensive line, 37 more on four pass completions by Dave Masi.          Masi threw TD passes of 8 yards to Strade and 7 yards to Zadroga, who also scored on a 12-yard scamper and that decisive kickoff return. Sophomore fullback Tony Fuller scored the Chieftains' final TD on a 12-yard run.          Fitchburg (1-1) finished with offensive totals that didn't tell the whole story. The Red Raiders rushed for 91 yards on 28 carries and completed four passes for 97 yards. Of their 189 total yards, though, 73 came on a scoring pass from quarterback Dave Masciarelli to wideout Tom Snow.          Nashoba, on the strength of Young's opening kickoff return, took a 3-0 lead 2:03 into the game on Shaun Feldeison's 22-yard field goal.          Fitchburg was driving on its first possession, moving from its 10-yard line to the Nashoba 38 when fullback Dustin LeBlanc fumbled and the Chieftains' Tim Stock recovered. Twelve plays later, with 20 seconds to go in the first quarter, Zadroga swept in, Fieldeison added the PAT and the rout was on.          “We just wanted to play harder than they did,” Zadroga said. “Both teams are good, both teams are pretty even. We felt that whoever played harder would win, and we wanted that to be us.”          Tucker and Cosenza both pointed to the play of Nashoba's offensive line as another key to the game.          “They beat us physically up front and they were quicker than us,” Cosenza said. “That's a tough combination.”          Said Tucker: “We have a pair of guards in Kevin Little and Jason Patterson who are as fast as Strade and Zadroga, and that allows us to do a lot of things. When you can get those guys out front and two hard runners like Jason and Wally behind them, that going to be a tough play to stop.”          Little said the focus of the line was important. “Blocking is communicating, working together. We just wanted to make sure we had everything covered and never let up. We told each other after every play the score was 0-0.” © 1997 Worcester Telegram & Gazette

 

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