By Michael James LeClair
You knew the Nashoba Regional football team was going to come into this one focused on getting back on track.
Following a tough loss to St. John’s of Shrewsbury last Friday night the Chieftains boarded the bus and headed to Fitchburg’s Crocker Field. When they arrived the Red Raiders of Fitchburg High School were waiting for them.
Nashoba refused to take the winless Red Raiders for granted as it dominated Fitchburg. The Chieftains never trailed from start to finish and cruised to a 42-7 victory.
Nashoba improved to 3-2 on the season while Fitchburg fell to 0-5.
“It definitely was a good win for our team,” fourth-year Nashoba coach Jamie Tucker said. “Our kids did a real good job on defense and the offense played well. We had a good week of practice, probably the best of the year.”
With Nashoba holding a 7-0 lead, thanks to a fumble recovery by senior Nick Rodgers in the end zone, after the first 11 minutes of action, the guests exploded in the second quarter and put the contest away. Nashoba scored 21 of the 28 points in the stanza to take a 28-7 advantage heading into the locker room for halftime.
Despite Nashoba opening the comfortable halftime lead Fitchburg hung tough, tying the contest at seven early in the second quarter with a touchdown run by Alex Marrero and a successful kick by Damian Saavedra.
However that was as close as the home team could get. The rest of the game belonged to Nashoba. Rodgers, Kyle Hume and Breese Hill all found paydirt in the second quarter. Hume’s score was an eight-yard touchdown run. Rodgers once again picked up a fumble, this time running it back 60 yards for the score. Hill’s touchdown was a 20-yard reception from quarterback Owen Fay.
Alex Childs tacked on three successful extra point kicks.
In the second half the Chieftains refused to let Fitchburg creep back into the game. Nashoba added single touchdowns in the third quarter and fourth quarter.
Senior Nate Mansour caught a 10-yard pass from sophomore Sam Bolinsky in the third quarter. Childs point-after kick was good to make it 35-7.
Childs then got into the touchdown scoring fun by adding a 4-yard TD rush in the fourth period. Bolinsky booted the extra point to cap the scoring on the night.
Nashoba will look to string together its second two-game winning streak of the season Friday night when it travels to Marlborough to tangle with the Panthers of Marlborough High School. The Panthers enter with an identical 3-2 overall record and have won two of their last three games. Last week Marlborough crushed Groton-Dunstable 42-14.