Red Raiders perfect heading into Turkey Day Ten down and two to go
By Dave Nordman Sports Editor
Fitchburg --Ten down and two to go. That was the cry heard 'round Crocker Field after Fitchburg's convincing 41-20 win over Westboro Friday night. At 10-0 the Red Raiders will look to complete their perfect season against rival Leominster on Thankgiving, before wrapping up the year in a Central/Western Mass. Division 1 Super bowl game on December 5. Holding a slim 20-14 leaad, the Red Raiders scored a pair of touchdowns 24 seconds apart on the first two plays of the fourth quarter to seal the win. The Rangers, who ar destined for a Division 2 super Bowl, fell to 7 - 2. Dustin LeBlanc's 5-yard touchdown run gave the Red Raiders a 26-14 lead with 10:55 left in the game. Then, after Josh Cordio recoverd the ensuing kickoff, Andy leBlanc took the first handoff 38 yards for the score. Jason Twomley's conversion run gave the Red Raiders an insurmountable 34-14 lead. Twomley, starting his second game in a row in place of the injured Dave Masciarelli, threw three touchdown passes all to senior wide receiver Tom Snow."Never expected this"
"I never expected it to turn out like this," said Twomley, just a sophmore. "Tommy was just open the whole game." Snow's third TD reception closed out the game with 2:26 left, a 41-yard sprint pattern down the right sideline that erased a 5-yard touchdown pass from Mike Weiss (9 for 21, 115 yards) to Dave Hanaka 6 minutes earlier that cut Fitchburg's lead to 34-20. "With Jason, you've got to be quick on your routes," said Snow, who caught a pair of touchdown passes against Milford earlier this season. "He throws a nice tight ball. All I had to do was catch it and run." Althought the 20 points were the most scored on a Fitchburg defense this season, the Red Raiders, led by Dallas Heckel's three interceptions, held the rangers' aerial assault in check. "I didn't think they could run the football on us the whole game," Fitchburg coach Ray Cosenza said. "We knew they were going to throw and our secondary came up huge." After a scoreless first quarter, Dustin LeBlanc got the Red Raiders upon the board with 8:51 left in the second.Between right tackle and guard
Running between right tackle and right guard, LeBlanc busted into the end zone from 2 yards out. Zack sicard booted the extra point to give Ficthburg the early 7-0 lead. LeBlanc's score was set up by a 41-yard pass from Twomley to Heckel. With the ball positioned at the Red Raiders' 35-yard line, Twomley dropped straight back and lofted a picture-perfect spiral to Heckel down the left sideline. Heckel caught the ball at the 50 and was finally dragged down at the 24. Westboro bounced right back, however, to tie the game on its next possession when Weiss connected with Hanaka on an 11-yard scoring strike. John Seaman added the extra point to make it 7-7. Hanaka's recepton, a slant over the middle, capped a 10-play, 83-yard drive that featured four completed passes to four different receivers. The key play was a 38-yard pass from Hnanka to Chris Grdich down the right sideline. The score would not stay tied for long, however, Twomley would make sure of that. After a penalty and a botched pitch that put the Red Raiders in a hole -- third and 21 from the Rangers' 31 -- Twomley hit Snow with a screen pass over the middle. Snow did the rest, out maneuvering a pair of Westboro defenders enroute to the end zone. "That was a super screen," Snow said, refering to the same pass that helped the Red Raiders beat Brockton. Sicard's extra point made it 14-0, capping an eight-play, 70-yard, that featured a 33-yard pass from Twomley to Heckel. With just 1:44 left in the half and the ball on their own 26, the Rangers were not content with running out the clock. The decision backfired when sophomore Frank McDonald intercepted Weiss and the 35 and returned it to the 24.Pair of incomplete passes
From there, after a pair of incomplete passes, Twomley found Snow in the left corner of the end zone. Rolling to his left, Twomley had Heckel open over the middle, but threw to Snow, instead, who was well covered by Adam Heggerick. The brave choice paid off as the ball fell into the hands of the diving Snow. The Red Raiders had a chance to put the game away on their first possession of the second half, but turned the ball over on a bad pitch at the rangers' 25. Westboro turned the miscue into seven points as Weiss connected with Tim Alves on a 21-yard scoring strike followed by Seaman's point-after to make it 20-14.
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