Blue Devils Crush Fitchburg

(Courtesy of Sean Sweeney-Fitchburg Sentinel)
The gamer:
FITCHBURG — For his final bow, for his final time in that oversized blue jersey, Osiris Lopez put a neat bow on his career with quite possibly his finest interscholastic performance Thursday morning.
Lopez bid adieu to the Twin Cities with a solid output, setting a state record with his 123rd career touchdown pass on his sixth and final touchdown pass—one every four minutes, on average—in the first half, his 40th of the season, as Leominster came up with an impressive 59-6 win over Fitchburg at historic Crocker Field.
It was the 145th overall meeting and 119th meeting on Thanksgiving Day for these two storied rivals, with the Blue and White now holding a 74-61-10 overall advantage in this series, which dates back to 1894.
In addition, Leominster (8-3) has now won seven straight holiday contests, 19 of the last 21 Turkey Day games, and 21 of the last 25 overall meetings dating back to 2004—a full generation of gridiron supremacy.
Fitchburg’s season ended at 2-9 for the second consecutive autumn.
Leominster sixth-year head coach Devin Gates was obviously overjoyed with the win over his alma mater.
“The kids executed,” he said. “(Offensive coordinator Aaron) Canterbury called a great game, the line was where they had to be; everyone made sure they had a hat on a hat, and the kids played well. We’re happy for the kids, any time you can win on Thanksgiving, it’s great.
“I’m just happy for the kids. They worked hard all year long. And Fitchburg kids, too: I have a lot of respect for them and we want that program to keep on improving every year. The Rivalry is best when both teams are at their best.”
Gates was also obviously happy for Lopez, who will forego his senior season of basketball and head to Coastal Carolina in January 2026 to prep for his first season on Division 1 intercollegiate football, on snapping the state’s standard for career touchdown passes.
“The way it unfolded the way it did, to make (the state record) happen for him, he’s been an advocate for Central Mass. football, to stay where you came from and stay in the public schools, it’s much bigger than the stats,” Gates said.
For Fitchburg, who have now been mercied by their Twin City rival three times in a row on Thanksgiving, the Red Raiders came out with a lot of verve, showing for a time that they weren’t the underdogs many thought they were. A 12-yard carry by freshman Cole Lashua gave the hosts their initial first downs but FHS couldn’t get any further.
And after the Red and Gray forced a punt, Masango Amate Ngabe came up with an 11-yard carry to grab another first down.
But outside of that, the Leominster first choice defense did its job, forcing the Raiders to punt and not yielding on third down (0-8 through the third quarter).
“(Fitchburg) came out and played well,” Gates said. “They started off really tough, got some first downs, and we had to make some adjustments. They came out ready to play; we told the guys they weren’t going to tap out. They came out and played tough.”
Leominster also found itself the possessor of incredible field position throughout the first half, thanks to three exquisite punt returns by Ryan Ricker. The senior found acres of plastic pasture around him and got some key blocks, getting down inside the FHS red zone two consecutive times.
Lashua, who scored FHS’ lone TD with no time remaining on a pass from fellow freshman Blake Doyle some 90 seconds after the clock hit 12 p.m., made both stops with bear-like precision.
The result of Ricker’s work, which amounted to 170 yards? Five TDs.
“Ryan is just good at setting things up, he knows where the blocking is and make it seem like it’s somewhere else,” Gates said. “He’s savvy like that.”
After both teams punted on their opening series, Leominster came up with the first true check of the game as Elijah Rivera picked off Jerome Best and brought it back to the Fitchburg 43. And after Lopez (13 of 19, 150 yards passing) connected with Keyes for a gain of 13, Lopez found no options to throw to and kept it himself. He ran laterally for a gain of 22 down to the FHS 8, and two snaps later, found Jayden Wilbon on a 3-yard quick slant to get LHS on the board.
“(Lopez) performed the way I expected him to perform,” said FHS coach Paul DiGeronimo. “He’s very talented.”
The kick failed, and Leominster had a 6-0 lead.
LHS sent Fitchburg three-and-out on the next series, and the Plastics City boys only needed one play to double the lead. Lopez went left and found Ben Marchetti at about the FHS 45. A Raider tackler made a valiant effort, but Marchetti shrugged it off and raced to the end zone.
Rivera’s kick was good, and it was 13-0 Blue and White.
A Fitchburg three-and-out later, LHS needed three plays to make it 19-0, as Marchetti, cheating over to the right side tight end pre-snap, crossed over to the left even as Lopez rolled right. Lopez stopped on a dime and found Marchetti alone to get into the end zone.
“Ben is such a tough, tough, tough kid,” Gates said of his wide receiver. “He’s a tone setter for us, and he does it on defense, too.”
The conversion kick failed.
On the ensuing kick, Fitchburg fumbled, with Masyn Chester—Lashua’s first maternal cousin—coming up with the recovery at the Raider 18.
Four snaps later, Lopez had his fourth TD pass of the half as he found Ricker from 8 yards away, then found Zackary Oliver on the conversion pass to make it 32-0.
Lopez then found little used Aiden Keyes with a 16-yard TD pass to make it 39-0 with 3:42 left in the half.
Chester, Jack Parisi, and John Wilson rounded out the scoring for Leominster.
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