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Local Sports

Red Raiders learning on the run

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Coming into his first season at the helm of the Fitchburg High football program, head coach Paul DiGeronimo knew what he was getting into.

Numbers weren’t what they once were, experience was lacking and losses were lined up in bulk. Still, DiGeronimo’s goal wasn’t to immediately come away with a winning season.

His sights were set on bigger things.

Building a culture in the Crocker Field fieldhouse built around hard work, accountability and doing things the right way, both on and off the field. Set the right tone and go about things the right, he believes, and wins would eventually come.

Season 1 of the Red Raider re-tooling is nearly complete and while FHS is still searching for its first win under DiGeronimo, he’s seen the progress he hoped for.

“It’s been a tough season, but we see the strides this team is making,” DiGeromino said Friday as his team prepares for its Thanksgiving Eve matchup with Leominster High at Fenway Park. “This team has taken some big steps since Aug. 18. The attitudes have been good and the kids are putting in the work.

“Everybody wants to win, but there are steps to take to make sure we’re building a program.”

Throughout an 0-10 season, there have been the drubbings at the hands of tough opponents, but there have been close losses, too; the kinds of defeats that have positive moments from which lessons can be learned.

The Red Raiders hung tough with Nashoba Regional in a 19-12 defeat on Oct. 20 and led throughout a Nov. 3 tilt against Groton-Dunstable before coming up just short in a 16-12 loss.

Seniors Devanni Deleon, Lukas Beaulac and Nyle Sim have all been strong players on the field, leading a young and inexperienced group by example.

Fitchburg's Devanni Deleon carries the ball during a Nov. 3 game against Groton-Dunstable. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Gary Fournier)
Fitchburg’s Devanni Deleon carries the ball during a Nov. 3 game against Groton-Dunstable. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Gary Fournier)

“We have a lot of young kids who in their wildest dreams didn’t expect to be playing varsity football this fall,” DiGeronimo said. “The grade doesn’t matter to me. If you’re a freshman or sophomore who can play, you’re playing. We’re thrown a few kids in the fire and some have played well, while others are still learning.

“There have been games that have led to a certain level of frustration for us, but the kids are doing their best. They keep plugging away.”

Their most recent contest saw the Red Raiders fall to Assabet, 41-14, on Nov. 9. DiGeronimo says things never got moving in that game, but rather than let his team hang their heads over it, Fitchburg got right back to work.

“A lot of teams will take extra days off leading up to Thanksgiving, but I thought it would be better for our guys to get back to work,” the coach said. :We were back on the field, back learning and working on things.

“We’ve won a lot of little battles this season. Just being in school, being ready to go when we get on the field. … We’re working on becoming a better football team every day.”

Win or lose on Wednesday, this group of Red Raiders will play on a stage grander than any group that has come before them. And the chance to play at Fenway Park won’t likely present itself again any time soon.

“It’s a great opportunity for the kids,” DiGeronimo said. “And it’s Thanksgiving football. This is what it’s all about.”

Blue Devils found their spark

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Down 25-7 to host Wachusett Regional as halftime neared on Oct. 13, it looked like more of the same thing that had plagued the Leominster High football team throughout the first five games of its season. Fall behind early, show a little life, come up short.

It had been the formula for nearly every game Leominster had played to that point.

Mired in a 1-4 start and set to head into the locker room at Hal Lane Field with another loss looking them square in the eyes, the Blue Devils needed something, anything, to give them a hint of a spark.

The spark came. So did a full-on ignition to a team on fire after halftime.

Quarterback Osiris Lopez broke a 41-yard scoring run to close the opening half, cutting the lead to 25-14 at the break and giving the visitors a surge of momentum that night in Holden. It wasn’t apparent at the time, but that play wasn’t just the catalyst for a 38-32 victory; it was the turning point in the Blue Devils’ campaign.

“It would’ve been easy to just say ‘We’re done’ during that Wachusett game,” Leominster head coach Devin Gates recalled. “But Osiris had that 41-yard run right before the half that gave us life. It was a season-changing moment. All of the sudden, our confidence went up.

“We knew we were close and had been able to stay close with good teams.”

Lopez ran for two scores in that game and threw for three more, two of which were snagged by Domenic Swaine. And Leominster’s defense sealed the win, stopping the host Mountaineers on a potentially game-winning drive as the clock turned to zeroes.

Prior to the win at Wachusett, Leominster’s lone victory was a 21-13 win at Westford Academy. But the team had squandered chances against St. John’s of Shrewsbury, Doherty, North Attleboro and Peabody, all resulting in losses.

Leominter's Tony Kendall (69) and Anthony Mastroberti carry American flags prior to a Sept. 9 game against St. John's of Shrewsbury. After a 1-4 start, the Blue Devils turned things around. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Gary Fournier)
Leominster’s Tony Kendall (69) and Anthony Mastroberti carry American flags prior to a Sept. 9 game against St. John’s of Shrewsbury. After a 1-4 start, the Blue Devils turned things around. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Gary Fournier)

It was a slow start. An ill-timed turnover. A dropped pass. Simply running out of time in a comeback bid. Often, it was a combination of any of those things that led to the humbling start.

“I think we really became self-aware. We came in thinking we’d win because we were able to win last year, but we had to replace 19 of 22 starters,” Gates said. “But guys got sick of losing and we’ve played good football in the second half of the season.

“It took some time for the chemistry to be there. You can practice as much as you want, but it takes real games for things to come together sometimes.”

After topping the Mountaineers, Leominster bested Shrewsbury and Algonquin Regional to put together a three-game winning streak that put the Blue Devils at 4-4 and earned the team the 16th seed in the Division playoffs. Falling to top-seeded St. John’s Prep has done little to sully the attitude of the Blue Devils, as indicated by last week’s 41-14 drubbing of Westboro at Doyle Field.

Now, their attention has turned on going out on a high note on a grand stage. The Blue Devils will be the visitors in Wednesday night’s rivalry tilt against Fitchburg High, with the contest being played at Fenway Park.

“It’ll be a cool experience,” Gates said. “We’ll be coming out of the third base dugout at Fenway Park and playing a football game. And with how we’ve played in the second half of the season, I know we’re going to give it our best effort.”

The Best Images of the Fall Season

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With the fall sports season coming down the home stretch, here’s a look back at the last few months through the lenses of photographer Gary Fournier.

The Leominster High football team defeated visiting Westboro on Friday night, 47-14, in a non-playoff meeting. Here, Osiris Lopez, left, and Ryan Ricker celebrate after Ricker's touchdown. (Gary Fournier/Sentinel & Enterprise)
Osiris Lopez, left, and Ryan Ricker celebrate after Ricker’s touchdown during a Nov. 10 win over Westboro. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Gary Fournier)
Lunenburg's Anthony Silvera moves the ball during a Nov. 8 game against East Boston. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Gary Founier)
Lunenburg’s Anthony Silvera moves the ball during a Nov. 8 game against East Boston. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Gary Founier)
Emma Miller Ayala and North Attleboro's Emily Burnham battle for possession during Thursday's Division 2 tournament game.
Leominster’s Emma Miller drives past North Attleboro’s Emily Burnham during a Nov. 2 Division 2 tournament game. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Gary Fournier)
Fitchburg's Richard Salomon pulls in a pass during a Nov. 3 game against Groton-Dunstable. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Gary Fournier)
Fitchburg’s Richard Salomon pulls in a pass during a Nov. 3 game against Groton-Dunstable. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Gary Fournier)
Clinton's Emily Jones tries to move around Lunenburg's Hope Burns during a Nov. 6 tournament game. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Gary Fournier)
Clinton’s Emily Jones tries to move around Lunenburg’s Hope Burns during a Nov. 6 tournament game. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Gary Fournier)
Oakmont Regional's Reyad Magdoul controls the ball during Thursday's win over Holliston. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Gary Fournier)
Oakmont Regional’s Reyad Magdoul controls the ball during a Nov. 9 win over Holliston. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Gary Fournier)
Nashoba Regional's Dylan Devine fires a pass during Friday's game against Fitchburg at Crocker Field. Nashoba won, 19-12. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Gary Fournier)
Nashoba Regional’s Dylan Devine fires a pass during an Oc.t 20 game against Fitchburg at Crocker Field. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Gary Fournier)
St. Bernard's Chris Jean-Baptiste leads the way in a defensive stand for the Bernardians during Friday's game against Auburn. Unfortunately for the Bernardians, the Rockets came away with a 26-12 victory. (Sentinel & Enterprse / Gary Fournier)
St. Bernard’s Chris Jean-Baptiste leads the way in a defensive stand for the Bernardians during an Oct. 6 game against Auburn. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Gary Fournier)
Lunenburg's Hunter Matson tries to evade Ayer-Shirley's J.T. Bresnahan during Friday night's game. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Gary Fournier)
Lunenburg’s Hunter Matson tries to evade Ayer-Shirley’s J.T. Bresnahan during a Sept. 29 game. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Gary Fournier)
North Middlesex Regional players celebrate after scoring during Thursday's game against Groton-Dunstable. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Gary Fournier)
North Middlesex Regional players celebrate after scoring during a Sept. 21 game against Groton-Dunstable. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Gary Fournier)
Leominster's Abigail Barnaby fires a shot past a Nashoba Regional defender during Thursday's game. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Gary Fournier)
Leominster’s Abby Barnaby fires a shot past a Nashoba Regional defender during a Sept. 14 game. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Gary Fournier)
North Middlesex's Corey Mills runs for big yardage during Thursday's win over Fitchburg. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Gary Fournier)
North Middlesex’s Corey Mills runs for big yardage during a Sept. 7 win over Fitchburg. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Gary Fournier)

Bulldogs hungry for holiday win

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FITCHBURG — When the Monty Tech football team takes to the field Wednesday evening in Westford, it will look to do something that hasn’t happened since the current roster was in elementary school: win back-to-back games over Nashoba Valley Tech.

This year marks the 31st meeting on Thanksgiving Eve or Thanksgiving Day between the Monty Tech and Nashoba Tech, with the Vikings holding a dominant 23-7 lead in the series.

Last year at Bulldog Field, Monty Tech cruised to a 44-8 victory. The Bulldogs last won consecutive years in 2015 (44-16) and 2016 (20-12).

“It’s getting better the last few years. Monty Tech didn’t win much early on, but we’ve been splitting time with the trophy a little bit more now,” said Bulldogs head coach Anthony Secino, now in his seventh year at the helm. “We’d love to be able to hang onto the trophy for a second year in a row.”

The Bulldogs have won four of the last seven meetings with the Vikings.

The two former Colonial Athletic League rivals moved their yearly matchup to Thanksgiving in 1992 and have played each other at the end of November ever since. The Vikings left the Colonial Athletic League in the fall of 2018 to join the Commonwealth Athletic Conference, but kept their Thanksgiving rival on the schedule, meeting every season except 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nashoba Tech claimed victory in the first 11 Thanksgiving meetings before Monty Tech finally ended the streak with back-to-back wins in 2003 and 2004. Monty Tech and Nashoba Tech enter Wednesday night’s tilt with matching 5-5 records.

The Bulldogs’ last game was a 52-0 loss at the hands of Greater New Bedford Tech in the quarterfinals of the Large School Division of the Massachusetts Vocational Tournament. The loss snapped a four-game win streak for the Bulldogs.

“A win on Wednesday would be really big for us, especially where we started the season with a really tough schedule and opened 1-4,” said Secino. “The kids didn’t give up and they really stuck with it. They bounced back and won four straight games. Greater New Bedford was a tough game for us. They had some real size and speed and we had trouble all game long. Hopefully we don’t carry the mindset from last week’s game into this one.

“I think Wednesday will be more competitive game against a team we’ve had some pretty good matchups with over the last seven or eight years.”

Secino, an Oakmont Regional graduate, has been a member of the Monty Tech coaching staff since 2008, serving as an assistant coach for the first eight years before taking over as head coach.

“Thanksgiving is special. Myself and all the coaches are from the area; I played for Dave LaRoche up at Oakmont and remember our battles with Gardner,” said Secino. “This is the game you remember forever. There’s a finality to it. I marks the end of your season. As a player, I remember beating Gardner in my junior and senior years. A win on Thanksgiving always makes the turkey taste a little better.”

Secino and his staff have spent the last week putting together a game plan to shut down the Vikings.

“Nashoba Tech is physical this year. They are running a lot more double wing, double tight and they come right at you. It’s a tough offense to defend,” said Secino. “Earlier in the season, they ran some spread and have morphed during the season. We are prepared to see more than one look from them offensively. We will have our hands full. They are well-coached and talented up front so it will be a challenge that our defense will have to be ready for.”

According to Secino, the Bulldogs enter Wednesday’s battle with a few bumps and bruises for generally healthy. Monty Tech will be without one key weapon as junior Art Walch suffered a season-ending knee injury against Greater New Bedford.

“He’s such a tough kid, we had to drag him off the field. He wanted to play on one leg,” said Secino. “He’s a weapon we’ll be short, but we will replace him with Sam Proctor. Offensively, Ryan Quinn is our main weapon. He’ll get the ball a ton and Dylan Hunton our quarterback throws a pretty good ball, so we’ll try to spread them out and create matchups on the edge and see what we can do.”

Monty Tech celebrates after Aidan LeBlanc scored a touchdown during Friday's game against Sutton.
Monty Tech hopes to celebrate Wednesday night in Westford during its annual clash with Nashoba Tech. (Sentinel & Enterprise File Photo)

Weather could be a factor on Wednesday evening as current forecasts call for a strong chance of rain in the morning and afternoon. Temperatures are expected to be in the mid to upper 30s at kickoff.

Looking ahead to Thanksgiving football

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Thanksgiving football games and the rivalries that come with them have become a fluid situation in recent years.

It’s become fairly commonplace for the annual matchups to change. Storied rivalries are becoming harder and harder to come by.

And even then, one of the state’s most historic rivalries is experiencing change this year.

So if you’ve been living under a rock or simply had your focus turned intently to high school postseason tournaments, here’s a quick primer on what to look for next week.

Old rivals, new venue

For well over 100 years, the Fitchburg High and Leominster High football teams have clashed on the gridiron. And those meetings would always draw crowds to one of the Twin Cities.

This year, supporters of the Blue Devils and Red Raiders will have to head more east to catch the rivalry game. And they’ll have to do so a day earlier than usual.

Richard Solomon and Fitchburg High will be the home team at Fenway Park on Wednesday night. (Sentinel & Enterprise File Photo)
Richard Salomon and Fitchburg High will be the home team at Fenway Park on Wednesday night. (Sentinel & Enterprise File Photo)

In case you somehow missed it, this year’s contest will take place Wednesday night at 6:30 at historic Fenway Park. That’s right; the 2023 edition of the rivalry game is being played in Boston.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” Leominster head coach Devin Gates said a week prior to the game. “Or at best, it’s something that I don’t think we’ll be doing again any time soon. It’ll be pretty cool to be part of something historic like that in a rivalry that has so much history already.”

The Red Raiders will be the home team in the game, which was originally slated to be played at Crocker Field. Concerns over ongoing construction on River Street near Fitchburg’s hallowed grounds and the unbelievable opportunity to play at the home of the Boston Red Sox combined to help make the change of scenery possible.

The Blue Devils enter the contest at 5-5, while Fitchburg comes in at 0-10.

Finish above .500?

With a win in their respective finales, both Monty Tech and Oakmont Regional can close the season above .500. Each team enters action next week with 5-5 marks.

Both teams will have to win on the road Wednesday evening in order to finish with a winning record.

The Bulldogs head to Westford to square off with Nashoba Tech (5-4), while the Spartans visit McCarron Field at Lunenburg High School to play the Blue Knights (4-6).

Regardless of how things go when North Middlesex Regional heads to Manchester Essex on Thanksgiving morning, the Patriots will end the season with their best record in recent memory. Entering the game at 7-3, the Patriots continue to make strides under second-year head coach Jordan Murphy, who closed his inaugural season in Townsend with a 4-4-1 mark last fall.

Three-peat for St. B’s?

St. Bernard’s (3-7) can capture its third straight Bishop’s Cup when it meets St. Paul (1-8) at the Bernardian Bowl on Wednesday evening.

St. Bernard's Jarius Williams carries the ball during an Oct. 13 game against Sutton. (Sentinel & Enterprise File Photo)
St. Bernard’s Jarius Williams carries the ball during an Oct. 13 game against Sutton. (Sentinel & Enterprise File Photo)

The Bernardians enter the game on stretch of torrid play, having topped Lunenburg and Quabbin Regional in back-to-back victories. Those two wins saw St. Bernard’s outscore their opponents a combined 80-8.

Thursday morning action

While most of this year’s local action is taking place Wednesday night, another pair of area matchups will kick off on Thanksgiving morning.

Clinton (6-4) heads to Bolton to face host Nashoba Regional (1-9), while Ayer-Shirley (1-7) will visit Littleton (5-5).

Spartans fall in D3 semifinals

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WALPOLE — There’s that old saying in sports: It’s not how you start, buy how you finish.

Neither of those things went the way of the Oakmont Regional boys soccer team Tuesday night.

A rough start saw the top-seeded Spartans fall behind almost instantly and their struggles to finish at the other end proved too much to overcome as Oakmont fell, 2-1, to No. 4 Pembroke in a Division 3 semifinal at Walpole High School.

The Titans (18-2-1) will face Norwell in Saturday’s final, with a time and venue to be announced. The third-seeded Clippers ended the Cinderella run of No. 26 Dighton-Rehoboth by a 2-0 score Tuesday afternoon.

The season ends with a 20-3-0 mark for the Spartans, who won the Central Mass. Athletic Directors Association Class B title and picked up three postseason victories before running out of gas.

The semifinal proceedings couldn’t have possibly gotten off to a worse start for the Spartans than what occurred Tuesday.

After goalkeeper Ben Forbes turned aside a long, high drive into the box just seconds after kickoff, the rebound sprung free and the Spartans were unable to clear. Pembroke junior Colin Blake alertly raced to the bounding ball and nodded it into the net for a 1-0 lead in the opening minute.

The Titans added some insurance with 23 minutes remaining as Matt McAuliffe headed home a corner kick to double the advantage after controlling much of the game’s play.

The Spartans eventually broke through in the game’s final minutes as Gael Vera capped his high school career by heading a free kick past Titans goalie Jack Eva (three saves) to cut the lead in half.

Oakmont struggled to string passes together at midfield as the Titans packed the center of the pitch all night and denied easy entry into the attacking third.

The Spartans had their best chances to dent the net early, with Reyad Magdoul heading a ball just wide of the net in the 14th minute and Oakmont getting looks off back-to-back corner kicks midway through the opening half.

With a two-goal lead and the Spartans pressing, the offense opened up for the Titans and the game’s outcome would have been more lopsided if it weren’t for the efforts of Forbes. The senior made seven of his 10 stops in the second half, often in spectacular fashion.

He denied Blake on a point-blank shot in the 60th minute and made a sprawling save on Shane Crowley four minutes later as the Pembroke junior broke in alone.

Forbes also benefitted from a bit of luck, as a drive by Gabe Lamar rang off the iron with 10 minutes left, keeping the deficit at two.