National Football League

Red Raiders survive scare, explode in 2nd half

Published Oct. 18, 2010 10:13 a.m. ET

foxsports

With his team trailing Burncoat High at halftime, Fitchburg High coach Ray Cosenza showed a measure of restraint.

An upset was brewing with the underdog Patriots ahead of the sixth-ranked Red Raiders by six points, but there was a sense of calm in the cold, windy rain outside the FHS locker room.

"There wasn't a lot of yelling, we just made some adjustments for the second half," Cosenza said. "There was no real panic in the room - to make five turnovers and to be down only six points, we just knew we had to take care of the ball and we'd be all right."

The Red Raiders also had to keep giving the ball to their bread-and-butter man on offense, junior running back Quinton Perkins.

Cosenza's approach paid off, as Fitchburg responded in the third quarter by ripping off 22 unanswered points in just 10 plays, including touchdown runs of 6 and 31 yards by Perkins, en route to a convincing, 34-12 victory last night at Commerce Bank Field at Foley Stadium.

"(Perkins) does so much for us, we just try to find a way to get him the ball," Cosenza said. "The first half was a credit to Burncoat. It wasn't like we weren't playing hard, they just played better than we did. They outplayed us in the first half."

Perkins simply outran the scrappy Patriots in the second half, rushing for 154 of his game-high 226 yards.

"We played good in the first half, but Quinton Perkins is just a great player," Burncoat coach Jim Pisegna said. "He turned the tide for them in the second half. We had a hard time tackling him."

Meanwhile, Fitchburg's defense lowered the boom, shutting out the Patriots as Tyler Robare notched his fourth sack late in the third quarter.

Burncoat (1-5) stuck it to the Red Raiders (4-2) in the first half, turning two of Fitchburg's five turnovers into points.

Senior Adrian Rivera recovered a Fitchburg fumble on the Red Raiders' 42, but the Patriots had to punt from the Fitchburg 36. The Red Raiders muffed the punt at the 1-yard line and were forced to fall on the ball in the end zone for a Burncoat safety and a 9-6 Patriots lead with 7:28 left in the second quarter.

Fitchburg turned it over again at its own 24 when tackle Jake Smith jumped on a loose ball.

On fourth-and-long from the FHS 19, Kevin Tarwa booted a 36-yard field goal into the wind to give the Patriots an improbable 12-6 halftime lead.

The Red Raiders drew first blood, opening the game with a 10-play, 70-yard drive highlighted by a 20-yard keeper by quarterback Anthony Figueroa. Perkins eventually hauled in 17-yard touchdown pass from Figueroa.