Shrewsbury - Football fans at Shrewsbury High Friday night didn't have to worry about the Homecoming bonfire buring up Bergstrom Field; Bill DeMalia was doing a great job of that himself.The senior tailback scorched Fitchburg for 259 yards and four touchdowns on 17 carries as Shrewsbury had more weapons in a 40-28 shootout win.
DeMalia's heroies overshadowed a brilliant performance by Fitchburg junior Andy LeBlanc. Getting the start at tailback in place of the injured Colin Burns, Le blanc carried 26 times for 209 yards and scored all four FHS touchdowns.
A different story
It was a big test for the Colonials, who for the second year in a row were 3-0 entering a meeting with the Red Raiders. Shrewsbury was blown out in last year's game at Crocker Field, but it didn't take long to realize this one would be much different.
"It was this Shrewsbury team against that Fitchburg team," said DeMalia, refusing to look in the past. And it was a bleak past for the Colonials, who won for only the second time in the series, the first such success since 1979.
"We knew we could beat them, we saw them and the coaches saw them and told us about it," DeMalia said. "We knew we could do it, but we didn't want to get too cocky."
Nothing was decided until DeMalia broke away for his final touchdown, a 45 yard jaunt with 1:05 to play. fitchburg (2-2) which never led, notherless had tied it on three occasions and pulled to within 33-28 with 2:10 left. "We couldn't stop DeMalia. We moved the ball, and we did what we had to on offense," said Fitchburg coarch Ray Cosenza.
The teams struggled to get their offenses going for much of the first quarter, but it was a completely different story after that. five consecutive scoring drives betweent the two teams left the Colonials with a 21-14 lead at the break.
Shrewsbury started it off after taking over on a punt at midfield. Two plays later, quarterback Brian O'Connor made a perfect fake to fullback Mike Mastro on the dive, then took it himself around the right side for a 46 yard score.
Back-and-forth action
Fitchburg answered with a 74 yard drive of its own, with Andy LeBlanc scoring on the 10thy play when he swept the left side and scored from 29 yards despite running into his won blockers halfway down the sideline.To that point, the Raiders had done a decent job containing DeMalia, but the speedy senior broke a 60 yard score on a draw play. DeMalia had broken a similar play earlier in the game, but the touchdown was called back by a clipping penalty well behind the play.
Our linemen did an unbelievable job," said DeMalia. "they were bigger than us. but we just outquicked them, got in front of them. The holes were huge. We ran the draw a few times and it was wide open."
While DeMalia was clearly working for Shrewsbury, LeBlanc contined to have success for Fitchburg. He was able to break through the line and score from 40 yeards to tie it at 14-all with 1:56 left in the half.
Zack Sicard's kickoff pinned Shrewsbury at its 18, but it wasn't content to run out the clock. O'Connor, displaying his multi talents, dropped back and found Ryan Cooney streaking behind the defense behind the right side. Cooney was dragged down at the 5, but it only delayed the inevitable as DeMalia scored on a toss sweeep on the next play to send the Colonials into the locker room with the lead and the momentum.
"Every time they had third-and-long, they made the plays," Cosenza said. "We din't have the speed to match them. That long pass right before the half, when they scored, that was probably the turning point. We had just tied it up."
Fitchburg did tie it again to start the second half, thanks to more work by LeBlanc. A 37 yard jump pass from David Masciarelli to tight end Rob Seguin set the tone for LeBlanc's 1-yard plunge that tied it again at 21. "He did well. I thought offensively we did a pretty good job," Cosenza said of LeBlanc. "Andy came up big. He's a fullback and plays defense, but we moved him to tailback and he ran great."
But another DeMalia draw on third-and-five set up his touchedown run from 24 yards that gave the Colonials the lead for good 27-21. Fitchburg looked to have been in good shape when Andy Roy recovered a Shrewbury fumble on the 2 as the Colnials were knocking of the door. But three plays later, Mike Duggan sacked Masciarelli and forced a fumble, scooping it up and finding the end zone for a 33-21 lead.
Fitchburg wouldn't give up, though, taking advantage of a short O'Connor punt to cut the lead in the final minutes, LeBlanc again scoring from a yard out. But Shrewsbury recoved the onside kick, and DeMalia iced it with his final breakaway run.
"We're not going to take one thing away from them," Cosenza said. "Give DeMalia and Shrewsbury all the credit."