Blue Devils feast on Thanksgiving Day

By Sean Sweeney Fitchburg Sentinel
LEOMINSTER — They made it look so easy, and then some.
Host Leominster had no problems executing against archrival Fitchburg’s defense, scoring at will and putting the 144th meeting between the two schools to bed rather swiftly as the Blue Devils romped to a 46-7 win over the Red Raiders at Historic Doyle Field Thursday morning.
With the win, the Blue and White Express ends its campaign at 9-2, while the Red and Gray finish with two wins and nine reversals. It also marks five straight Thanksgiving wins for Leominster under head coach Devin Gates, and six straight Thanksgiving games since the Thanksgiving Eve win in the Doyle freezer back in 2018.
Leominster also now holds a 73-61-10 overall advantage in this series which dates back to 1894.
Gates was understandably overjoyed at the victory, which came off the heels of a state quarterfinal loss to Xaverian on November 15.
“It’s a win on Thanksgiving, and we’ve been lucky enough to have a bunch of those” he said. “But you know how this rivalry goes; it’s streaky. You never know when it will turn, and we have to keep working one game at a time, one year at a time. We got this one, and we’re excited about it, we’re happy about it.”
Second-year Fitchburg bench boss Paul DiGeronimo didn’t mince words in the moments after the defeat officially registered.
“They’re better,” DiGeronimo said. “We had a few miscues in the beginning, and those seemed to snowball. We’ve got work to do, and we’ll keep at it.”
The tale of this one was Leominster’s offensive efficiency, which was purely exquisite. The Devils scored touchdowns on each of their first three series, series that only lasted two plays each. No, you didn’t mis-read that. Furthermore, LHS feasted as it racked up 325 yards of offense in this rapid Turkey Day tilt, and its defense limited FHS to 74 yards of offense, as well as came up with two interceptions of sophomore QB Zacchaeus Collins (1 of 7, 17 yards passing; 43 yards rushing on 16 carries).
“We pride ourselves on not taking any negative plays,” Gates explained, “and whether run or pass, we want to be able to see how the defense is aligned, and just be able to call the right play in that moment. (LHS offensive coordinator Aaron) Canturbury does a great job of calling it, and Osiris (Lopez) does a great job of seeing it.
“Just alignment-wise, (Fitchburg) gave us things in the run game we liked; they wanted to stop the run, and that gave us cushion in the pass coverage.”
LHS made it 6-0 right from the jump as Lopez (5 of 7, 170 yards, three TDs) opened the scoring by flinging a soaked spiral to Jaidis Delgado, who was several strides behind the Fitchburg secondary as he caught it. He then waved toodle-oo for a 52-yard scoring strike with only 20 seconds elapsed.
The Raider front crashed through and blocked the ensuing PAT, but Leominster was off to the races, 6-0.
After sending Fitchburg three-and-out on its first series, the Blue Devils struck hard as Lopez found Ryan Ricker on second-and-5 from 57 yards away on a hook and a spin, with Ricker racing 57 yards toward the Route 12 end zone.
“He’s an elusive kid, and even when you throw that hitch to him, he’s above to make moves and makes special things happen,” Gates said.
The conversion run failed, and it was 12-0 Leominster.
LHS got the ball back two plays later as Benjamin Marchetti picked Collins off at the FHS 42, and two plays later, Aramis Reyes bounced off the unman on second down, stepped right, and rumbled into the end zone from 37 yards away.
Reyes’ conversion run was good, and it was 20-0.
The two teams traded punts, but a Leominster defensive touchdown, this time on a 59-yard pick six by Owen Parlin, made it 27-0 following Elijah Rivera’s kick, but Leominster recovered a fumble on the ensuing kick at the Raider 17.
Xavier Cora then scored on the first snap, doing so on the counter.
33-0.
Another FHS three-and-out later, Lopez connected with John Reed from nine yards away for his third scoring strike of the morning, with Rivera adding the point-after.
39-0.
Three straight Cora runs of 23, 39, and 10 yards then made it 46-0 with 2:20 left in the first half.
“Cora’s an absolute warrior, and he runs with violent intent,” Gates explained. “He did that all year long.”
Things calmed down after the interval, but it remained that way until six minutes left to go in the game, when Collins led the Red Raiders down with a pair of 12-yard runs to get into scoring position. Massango Amate Ngabe, who had been a mainstay in the Fitchburg line, then lined up at fullback, Refrigerator Perry style, and he took two consecutive handoffs of four yards each to get into the end zone and erase the goose egg.
“He worked very hard, and it’s a nice reward for him,” DiGeronimo said.
Allen Hall’s kick was true.
Blue Devils 46
Red Raiders 7
1 2 3 4 F
Fitchburg (2-9) 0 0 0 7 7
Leominster (9-2) 33 13 0 0 46
First quarter
L — Jaidis Delgado 52 pass from Osiris Lopez (kick blocked), 11:40
L — Ryan Ricker 57 pass from Lopez (run failed), 8:44
L — Aramis Reyes 37 run (Reyes run), 6:36
L — Owen Parlin 59 interception return (Elijah Rivera kick), 1:31
L — Xavier Cora 17 run (pass failed), :54
Second quarter
L — John Reed 9 pass from Lopez (kick failed), 6:44
L — Cora 10 run (Rivera kick), 2:20
Third quarter
No scoring
Fourth quarter
F — Massango Amate Ngabe 4 run (Allen Hall kick), 6:03