Red Raiders hope to return favor against Chieftains

Thursday, September 17, 1998

By Dave Nordman
Sports Editor 

That last time Fitchburg and Nashoba Regional met on a
football field, the Chieftains dealt the Red Raiders one of
their worst losses in years, a 37-6 blowout in Bolton.

On Friday night, the Chieftains and Red Raiders will renew
their rivalry, this time at Crocker Field.

While the game is still fresh in the minds of both teams, a
lot has changed since last September.

Nashoba was the veteran team last time around; this year,
that edge is with the Red Raiders. The Chieftains graduated
all but three starters from last year's Super Bowl team. The
Red Raiders, on the other hand, return 16 starters -- eight
on both offense and defense.

"We don't talk about revenge," said Fitchburg coach Ray
Cosenza. "They were the better team that night and they beat
us bad and that's it. It should have no effect on this
year's game.  We don't try to rally around that. This is a
new year."

Nashoba coach Ken Tucker agreed.

"Last year means nothing at this point," Tucker said. "We
had an experienced football team that was ready to play that
night and we had them at home. Now they're the experienced
team and we're the young team and we're the team on the
road."

Coaches dismissed last year

While both coaches dismissed the importance of last year's
game, Nashoba senior quarterback Dave Masi insists the win
gave the Chieftains confidence.

"We beat them last year, so we go into this year expecting
to win again," Masi said. "Maybe last year we didn't expect
to win, but now everyone expects to win. We've proven that
we can beat a team of (Fitchburg's) caliber."

In last year's win over the Red Raiders, Masi connected for
a pair of touchdown strikes. Last week, Masi threw the ball
only seven times, but completed five of those passes for 53
yards and a touchdown as the Chieftains scored a convincing
30-6 win over Doherty.

'We expect to win'

"Even though we're a young team, we still expect to win,"
Masi said. "Regardless of the age of the people on the
field, we still think we have the better team."

While the Chieftains graduted their three-back attack of Wally Zadroga, T.J. Forhan and Jason Strade, the Chieftains picked up last week where they left off in 1997, rushing for 254
yards en route to 307 yards of total offense.

Dominant rushing game

Jarrod Gomes paced the Chieftains with 81 yards rushing and
a pair of touchdowns -- one rushing and one receiving. He
also returned a punt 44 yards. Tony Fuller added 80 yards,
including a 71-yard touchdown run. Lefty kicker Shaun
Feldeisen also booted a 27-yard field goal.

The Red Raiders are also coming off a convincing win, a
41-13 drubbing of St. Peter-Marian on Saturday in their
home-opener at Crocker Field. In that game, Fitchburg
debuted the bruising two-back attack of Dustin and Andy
LeBlanc.

Dustin, a senior fullback, rushed for 219 yards on 18
carries and scored on a 1-yard touchdown plunge. Andy, a
senior tailback, finished with 100 yards on 11 carries,
scoring on touchdown runs of 8, 11 and 43 yards.

Masi feels that the key to repeating last year's performance
will be stopping the Red Raiders' ground attack.

"If we can stop their fullback (Dustin LeBlanc), I think we
can stop their whole offense," Masi said.

Masciarelli was perfect

While Masi will be behind center for the Chieftains, senior
quarterback Dave Masciarelli will again call the plays for
the Red Raiders. Masciarelli threw only once in the Red
Raiders' opener, a 43-yard touchdown pass to Dallas Heckel,
but ran the ball well when called upon.

"I think our challenge is greater this week," Cosenza
said. "Anyone who would go into this game from Fitchburg
thinking that this should not be a tough game is foolish."

It's often said that high school football games are decided
by field position and turnovers. Last year's game was
definitely one of those times. Nashoba returned a kickoff
for a touchdown and set up two others with big returns.

"Any time when you play an early-sea- son game (special
teams) is a key," Tucker said. "That was true last year and
I'm sure it will be true this year."

Other games

Gardner, North Middlesex, Oakmont, Monty Tech and
St. Bernard's are also in action this weekend. Leominster
and Lu-nenburg do not play.

The Wildcats, Patriots, Spart-ans and Bulldogs will play at
7 p.m., Friday, while the Saints will play at 12:30 p.m.,
Saturday.

Gardner, fresh off its 27-26 come-from-behind win over
St. Bernard's on Saturday, plays its home-opener against
Keene, N.H., at Watkins Field.

The Wildcats beat Keene last season in the first meeting
between the two schools in 20 years.

North Middlesex, which lost to Lowell, 28-14, on Saturday,
will also play its home-opener against Chelmsford.

Oakmont, which was shutout by Norwell, 34-0, on Saturday,
will again travel to Eastern Mass. to face Wayland.

Monty Tech, which lost to Murdock, 36-18, on Saturday, will
travel to Ayer, which opened its season Saturday by beating
Worcester North, 7-2.

St. Bernard's will travel to Worcester to face Holy Name,
which beat Marlboro, 10-7, Saturday.