Leominster puts St. John's on defensive

 Sunday, October 25, 1998

 By John McGuirk
 CORRESPONDENT 

 Leominster 20  St. John's 3
 
SHREWSBURY-- St. John's saw yesterday just how nasty
and dominant the Leominster defense can be.
          The Pioneers couldn't even make a dent in the Blue
Devils' defense as they were held to just 48 yards in a 20-3
drubbing at Pioneer Field.
          The Blue Devils (6-0), who have allowed a mere 3.8
points a game this season, stymied St. John's (3-4) all
afternoon. The hosts' only points came after a blocked punt
deep in Leominster territory.
          The most points the Blue Devils have allowed this
season was eight against Wachusett. They have also
registered two shutouts.
          Leominster held the St. John's running game to a
1-yard-per-carry average and nailed quarterback Matt
O'Malley nine times behind the line of scrimmage for
negative 53 yards.
          "I thought our defense set the tone,"
Leominster coach John Dubzinski said.  "They played great
today. This was a great win for us because that team beat
us, 19-0, last year. We played our worst game of the year
last year against them and we just felt we had something to
prove, and I thought the kids rose to the occasion.  This 
was probably our best game of the year. It was a total team 
effort."
         Leominster tailback Tim Nowokunski was the key
contributor on offense. The senior workhorse rushed for 218
of Leominster's 244 yards on 28 carries, and scored all
three Blue Devil touchdowns.
         After three-and-outs on its first two possessions,
Leominster finally got untracked late in the first
quarter. A short punt gave the Blue Devils the ball on the
St. John's 27. Nowokunski started things with a 14-yard
jaunt. Two plays later, he blasted into the end zone from 4
yards out behind a key block by Chris Powers, giving
Leominster a 6-0 lead with 1:32 left in the opening quarter.
         On their next possession, the Blue Devils used a
grind-it-out style as they marched 70 yards on 15 plays
while chewing 7:16 off the clock. The drive was capped off
by Nowokunski's 7-yard scoring run. Nowokunski also ran in
the two-point conversion to give Leominster a 14-0 lead 1:04
before halftime.
         Leominster coverted a third-and-26 situation from
its own 43 as Nowokunski burst off left tackle for a 33-yard
gain.
         "I thought he was great," Dubzinski said of
Nowokunski. "Every time we needed a big play, he came
through for us. When we got it to 14-0, I thought we had a
good shot to beat them."
         St. John's scored midway through the third
quarter. Andrew Hammond blocked Greg Piermarini's punt at
the Leominster 25 and Manny Lokko recovered at the
Leominster 6. The Leominster defense held, pushing the
Pioneers back to the 8 after three plays. St. John's settled
for a Tim Longden 25-yard field goal with 6:31 to go in the
quarter.
         Leominster increased its lead to 18 points to open
the fourth quarter as Nowokunski took a pitch from
quarterback Jon Quinn and bolted 28 yards with 10:44
remaining.
         "It's personal improvement," said Blue Devils
junior inside linebacker Greg Giadone, who made 10
tackles. "We're getting better every week. It's been
great this year. Now let's hope next week (vs. Brockton)
will be even better."

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