LeBlanc leads Raiders to second straight win

By Jim Clark
sports editor

FITCHBURG -- Finally, the Fitchburg High football
team appears to have momentum headng in the right direction.


The Red Raiders followed up last week's win over Brockton
with perhaps their most convincing effort of the season,
rolling to a 36-0 win over Marlboro Friday night at Crocker
Field.  The Red Raiders improved to 4-2 and finally broke a
string that had them alternating wins and losses the first
five weeks of the season.


Andy LeBlanc took care of the offensive part of the show,
rushing for 178 yards on 23 carries and scoring three times.
Just as impressimve was the Fitchburg defense, which
limited the Panthers to 7 yards total offense and two first
downs, and also reached the score board on Rob Seguin's
fourth-quarter interception return.


"We're really happy with the way the defense played, giving
up only one first down in the first half," said FHS coach Ray
Cosenza.  "They ran around, and the kids hustled to the
football."


Field position a key

Just to show how dominant the defense was, with the help of
the kicking game, only seven plays were run in Fitchburg
territory the entire game.  "It's very tough, especially
playing a physical, big team in Fitchburg," said Marlboro
coach Paul Duplessis.  "We have an awfully young team, only
three seniors, but we're not making any excuses."


LeBlanc scored all three of his touchdowns in the first
half, piling up 152 yeards by the intermission as the
Raiders took a 19-0 lead into the locker room.  He scored on
Fitchburg's first drive, which started after a Marlboro punt
at the Panters 48.  LeBlanc's 29-yard burst up the middle
was the key play, putting the ball on the 9, from where he
scored on a toss around the right side with a great block
from fullback Dustin LeBlanc.


His second score was a 16-yarder on which he made a great
effort to break a pair of tackles.  Then, following Seguin's
first interception, LeBlanc took a pitch from quarterback
David Masciarelli, who got blasted on the blitz but got the
ball off just in time.  LeBlanc took advantage and sailed
around the left side for the score.


"Andy is doing a great job," Cosenza said of the junior, who
took over three games ago for the injured Colin Burns.  "We
don't have that one premier back, but a lot of kids
shuffling in there.  Andy's gong to be a good playher.  He
has good speed and good strength and he's getting better
every game."


No offense for Panters

The offense did have its moments of breakdown, but it hardly
mattered the way the defense was playing.  Marlboro got its
only first down of the half midway throught the second
quarter, but only got as far as the Raiders 45 before
turning it over on downs.  Seguin was all over the field, as
usual, while Keith Leavitt, the LeBlancs, Andy Roy, Jeremy
Saucier and Steve Bean all made big plays throughtout the
evening.


Granted, Fitchburg's stats were padded a bit when Marlboro
snapped the ball over the head of Jon VIves on a punt, a
30-yard loss putting the ball on the 11.  Marlboro held and
forced a 30-yard Zack Sicard field goal, but Seguin did his
job two plays later when he read a screen pass, picked off
jason Reyes' throw and went 34 yards for the score to make
it 29-0.


The last drive was a showcase for the future, with freshman
Frank McDonald dazzling and eventually scoring from 4 yards
out with 2:16 to play.


It was a good sign for Cosenza and his crew, which didn't
have any problems coming off a big win the previous week.
Even bigger is that Fitchburg still hasn't lost at home,
and stays there to play Oakmont and Wachusett the next two
weeks.