LEOMINSTER — According to Fitchburg junior varsity football coach Max Schiavone, the Red Raiders’ top sub-varsity squad hasn’t been one to come out of the gate and score.
Thankfully for Fitchburg’s sake, there are two halves in football.
The Red and Gray scored 19 unanswered points against archrival Leominster Friday night, with Chris Garcia’s 1-yard plunge capping things off early in the fourth as Fitchburg came from behind to knock off the Blue Devils, 19-10, to claim the annual Chicken Bowl junior varsity showdown at Doyle Field.
Schiavone was all smiles as the Red Raiders ended nearly 10 straight quarters of scoreless football against the Blue Devils, dating back to a year ago Thursday with LHS’ 36-0 win over FHS on Thanksgiving Eve.
“We haven’t been a first-half team the whole year, but I’ll tell you something: What we’re building with this program is that these kids don’t quit,” Schiavone said. “They show up every day, no matter when it is — summer, winter — and they work hard, and they don’t stop until the bell rings.
“For kids this age to be down and to fight back, to have that grit, you don’t see that nowadays.”
While Fitchburg broke its scoreless streak against the Blue Devils late in the first half — Red Raiders freshman quarterback Tyler Brassard found Nico Caputi in the end zone from 6 yards out — the visitors took control late in the third quarter.
After Leominster turned the ball over on downs, Fitchburg took over with 4:24 remaining in the third and ran a nine-play, 38-yard scoring drive, aided by a defensive holding on LHS on third down that kept the drive going.
And while the Red Raiders nearly shot themselves in the foot with a holding penalty as Duncan Poitras (103 yards on 18 carries) looked to go in from 12 yards away, it was on fourth-and-6 that Brassard found Caputi in the end zone for the second time, giving Fitchburg the lead.
“Our O-line came together in the second half and allowed some things to pop up,” Schiavone said. “They really came in as a unit, and Tyler, he’s going to be a heck of a leader when he gets older.”
On the ensuing kick, Leominster didn’t pick the ball up, and Fitchburg recovered the Blue Devil 27.
FHS then marched 27 yards in five plays, with Garcia plunging in from a yard away to give the visitors a 19-10 lead with 8:50 remaining in the game.
Fitchburg found itself in a 2-0 hole two plays into the contest, as Caleb Natachioni sacked Brassard in the end zone. And it stayed that way until the second quarter, when Leominster executed an 11-play, 80-yard drive finished off when LHS quarterback Anthony Page found Nathan Taylor for a 7-yard scoring strike.
The big play in the drive was a 55-yard completion from Page to Jack Fish running a post pattern, with the Red Raiders making a last-ditch tackle at the 15, keeping the Blue Devils out of the end zone for the time being.
Four plays later, Page found Taylor in the middle, and Taylor took a bump, spun and waltzed into the end zone. A 2-point conversion run from Larry Noujam made it 10-0 Leominster with 5:18 left in the half.
The Red Raiders pulled within three on the next series, as Poitras did a bulk of the carrying, grabbing a pair of first downs right off the bat. Poitras then converted a big fourth-down play with a 7-yard carry to get FHS into the red zone.
On second-and-goal from the LHS 6, Brassard dropped back and found Nico Caputi for the scoring strike, their first of two TD connections, on the right side of the field. Alex McCloskey’s kick was good, and Leominster held a 10-7 lead at the break.
While most of the first half was a defensive slugfest, both Noujam and Poitras had their way in running the ball on the seasonably cold night on Priest Street.
Fitchburg, though, had a three-and-out, and was unable to convert a 32-yard field goal with the wind to end the first quarter.
