Forget about last year.
With 36 players turning their tassels at Crocker Field back in June, the Fitchburg High football team is practically brand new in head coach Tom DiGeronimo’s second season at the helm.
But there will be some elements of last year’s team — which missed the postseason by mere percentage points, beat Leominster on Thanksgiving for the first time in nearly a decade, and had a historic rushing season out of Sal Figueroa (1,974 yards rushing, Central Mass-high seven TDs in one game) — still in play when the Red Raiders make the short drive to the foot of Tar Hill Friday night.
Fitchburg will take on inter-city rival St. Bernard’s at the Bernardian Bowl on Friday at 7 p.m.
“People don’t realize, we have five offensive players coming back. Our fullback’s gone, our tailback’s gone. We’re replacing a lot of kids,” DiGeronimo said Tuesday afternoon in the Crocker Field clubhouse. “We have some kids that are coming along who are capable, and we’re pretty happy with what we’re getting out of our running backs up to this point.
“We’re a different team than we were last year.”
Andrew Brooks returns to lead the Red Raiders for his second season in Fitchburg’s Multiple offensive set.
“I think the fact we’ve settled in with what we’ve done offensively, so this will be Year 2 under our system,” DiGeronimo said. “That’s been the biggest improvement for him; it’s not a new offense.
He’s played in Multiple offenses, so the concepts stay the same. He’s really got a grasp of what we want to do.
“Andrew’s a big weight room kid, and he threw a lot in the summer and the spring, so he put in a lot of work on his mechanics and to get stronger.”
DiGeronimo noted that Brooks is only one piece of the puzzle, and that it isn’t on the senior to do it all himself.
“I don’t want him to have the pressure on himself that he has to win every game, where he has to make every throw,” he said. “He has to go out and perform and relax and compete, that’s all. He has to make the correct reads and just manage the game.”
When Brooks drops back to pass, he’ll look for three familiar targets in Devin Deleon, Ozzy Guy and Caleb Smith, all three returning seniors.
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