"Everyone was worried about a letdown, but we told the kids there is no such thing, because we work hard all the time," said FHS coach Ray Cosenza. "That would have only been an excuse."
No need, however. Marlboro couldn't stop Fitchburg's senior backfield tandem of tailback Ricky Morales and fullback Chris Roy. Morales carried 16 times for 148 yards and three touchdowns, while Roy chipped in with a solid 112 yards and two scores on nine carries.
The Raiders left no coubt that they had come to play, scoring on the first drive in seven plays. A couple of big gainers by Roy and Morales put the ball on the 7, and after a sneak by quarterback Devin Gates, Morales went over the right side of the line from 3 yards out.
Even more impressive was Marlboro's opening drive -- for Fitchburg that is. Runs of 1,4, and 8 yards -- all in the wrong direction for the Panthers, forced them to punt after three snaps. Five plays later, Roy stumbled through the line and kept his balance, going 22 yards for the score and a 14-0 lead.
Marlboro (2-4) was forced to go with a makeshift lineup, with regular quarterback Gordie Halliday limited to a couple of simple running plays because of a sizeable cast on his left wrist. Fullback Jason Reyes played after being injured earlier in the season, but he had minus-3 yards on eight carries. Shawn Lord, Dustin LeBlanc, Fred Robinson, Tom Snow and Steven Bean kept him contained the whole night, and Morales and Colin Burns had interceptions as Marlboro struggled to get anything going.
"We're hurting, and if we had everyone healthy it still would have been tough," said Panthers coach Dutch Holland. "This is an outstanding football team. We just got beat bad, and it could have been worse."
A fumble recovery by LeBlanc set up Morales' second score from 28 yards around the left side. On the next play from scrimmage Morales picked off a Reyes option pass, sending the Raiders off again as Roy capped the drive with a 20 yard blast almost untouched through the right side.
The only downer for the first half was a knee injury to outsanding two-way lineman Matt Sallila, who left the field on crutches after the game and was taken for x-rays.
"We'll just have to wait and see until we know for sure," said Cosenza. <_P> Fitchburg scored just once in a second half that may have been the fastest in football history. Morales did most of the work and appropriately finished the drive with his third score, this one from 15 yards.