Fitchburg 50, Milford 0
Four years of frustration in the title game at WPI vanished in a cloud of majic white dust that blanketed Alumni Field on Saturday. It was almost too easy, as the Red RAiders (10-1-1) buried Milford (10-2) six feet under at halftime before crusing to a 50-0 victory for their first Division I championship since 1991.
"If I had to script something, this is how it would have went. But it never works that way," said Fitchburg coach Ray Cosenza, stunned with the whitewashing. "This ....is crazy."
How crazy, but perfect, was it? It was the most lopsided Super Bowl victory since 1980 when Ayer defeated Monty Tech by a half-centruy to nil as well. This against a Milford team that fell by just an 18013 score during the regular season.
"I can't even describe it, the whole game just shocked me," Cosenza said. Fitchburg rolled up 369 yards of offense -- all rushing, while Milford was thrown for a loss of 15 yards for the game. As Milford stumbled in the heavy snow, the Raiders relished in the white stuff, with tailback Ricky Morales and fullback Chris Roy leading the way with three touchdowns each.
"I never expected the game to be 50-0. The snow, I know the turf was bad. But we came out with our cleats on and we had much better traction with our cleats. They had their shoes and that hurt them. The field was bad for both teams, but we just came out and wanted it more," said Roy, who finished his senior year with a career-high 20 touchdowns.
The raiders' shock tratment began with Morales' hand on the switch first. He scored on the first play of the Raiders' first drive, marching 49 yards for the score, while Roy's rush made it 8-0. It was only the beginning of Morales' performance (177 yards on 12 carries) on the afternoon.
"The line did a great job and Chris (Roy), I was running right behind Chris. Chris was blocking great today," Morales said. "The line and Chris did a great job. The holes were there all you got to do is just run hard and that's what we did."
Roy (8 carries, 133 yards) got on the board himself after the Fitchburg defense, led by Shawn Lord, Fred Robinson, sophomore Keith Leavitt and Matt Sallila stopped Milford in its third possession. Roy galloped in from 4 yards out for the 14-0 lead, after quarterback Devin Gates and Morales had runs of 9 yards each to set up the score.
Milford again was three plays and out thanks to the RAider defense. Morales copped a six with a 51 yard score when a gaping hole was provided through the right side thanks to Guy Lamoreaux, Sallila and Rob Seguin. "I knew I was going to run hard today. It was in my mind (Saturday and Friday night), I just wanted to run in my last football game," Morales said.
Gates added the rush up the middle out of teh I-formation of teh two-point conversion to give tghe Raiders a commanding 22-0 lead.
The same drill continued as the Hawks were three plays and out. The RAiders next touchdown sent the Fitchburg crowd reeling, as Roy skated 65 yards down Alumni Field for his fourth punt return touchdown of the year. It was a amazing return, as he broke a tackle on his own 40-yard line, then another at the Hawks' 45 before sailing for paydirt. "There was a wide open hole and I had to cut in back twice. It was just unbelievable. I got hit, I spun away and I pulled away again... It was just unbelievable," Roy said.
The Raiders defense was unbelievable and shined their brightest in the following series. Running back Jeff Kenny and P.J. Boccia, who entered the game with 20 touchdowns between them, were taken care of. Kenny gained 1 yard, Boccia was thrown for a 1 yard loss by linebacker Robinson, and then defensive end Shawn Lord came streaking out of nowhere to throw Milford quarterback Chad Leverone (1-for-11) for minus-6 yards, 1 INT) for a 10-yard loss. It enabled the Raiders to take over and Morales scored on the second play of the next series from 8 yards out. The defense also took care of Kenyama Collins (14 TDs this season) who missed the regular season matchup. He was a non-factor on Saturday, gaining 2 yards on one carry.
"That's a credit to our defensive coaches, Mike Hurd and Mick O'Reilly. Actually al the coaches, I can't tell you how proud I am," Cosenza said.
They brought out the shovels at halftime, but the Raiders had done their job to clear the Howks off the field, taking a 37-0 lead into the locker room.
"We thought if we had a dry field, we could have used our speed and quickness a little bit more. If Chad could have found some seams throwing the ball. But when it came push to shove, we needed to have a lead and we knew it," said Milford coach Dennis Breen. "I feel awful for our kids, but for us to lose to Fitchburg doesn't make me feel bad."
Indeed the game was all but lost at halftime. Or maybe one minute into the third quarter when, on second-and-five from the Raiders' 37 yard line, Roy decided to try the left side this time, and he didn't stop until he ran 62 yards for a toucvhdown for a 43-0 score.
Enter the Raiders' defense, and three plays later exit Milford's offense, after stops by Genaro Hall and Robinson. The Raiders didn't score in their next possession, but with 8:21 remaining in the game, they hit the big 5-0 when Gates ran in on a 5 yard keeper and Tom Emberley hit the extra point.
The milestone Super Bowl was the Raiders first since 1991, third in school history. "I credit our seniors. They've been here four times and I told them it would be up to them," Cosenza said. "These kids refused to let another loss happen."
After the game, some of the Raiders were shocked and almost speechless. Roy may have put the champiship victory into perspective best when he said simply, "This is the greatest game I'll ever play in."