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Concord, Timberlane

PLAISTOW — Of Timberlane's five straight losses this fall, this one might have hurt the most.

The Owls had a ton of momentum in the first quarter against equally winless Concord, and lost it. Then they lost two of their best skill players to injuries, probably for long term, and then they lost the game, 28-14.

And it started out so promising.

On the very first play from scrimmage,Concord snapped the ball way over quarterback Ronan McGonagle's head. He went back to get it but then fumbled it into the endzone, allowing Owl senior Cam Lovett to pounce on it for a touchdown after just six seconds of play.

A short punt on Concord's next possesion gave the Owls the ball at midfield, from where some strong running by Dominic Pallaria (9 carries, 51 yards) brought the ball down to the 18, from where Mike Giangregorio just missed on a 35-yard field goal.

Still leading 7-0, the Owls got another break when McGonagle fumbled again on the Timberlane 16-yard line, Two Pallaria runs brought the ball to the 1-yard line with a first down. But a fumble on the next play gave the ball back to Concord.

"We had our opportunities and we should have been up by more," said Timberlane coach Kevin Fitzgerald.

Concord took advantage two possessions later when it got the ball on the Timberlane 37 following a short punt. Six plays later, Cortland Miller punched the ball in from four yards out ti tie the score, 7-7.

If that wasn't discouraging enough, Palaria suffered what looked like a broken collarbone in the first half and would not return. Then, late in the third quarter, one series after hauling in a 58-yard pass, Lovett went down with an ankle injury, relegating him to watching the rest of the game on crutches.

Concord, meanwhile, keyed by senior QB Ronan McGonagle, scored on two of its first three possession in the second half to take a 21-7 lead with 8:43 left to play.

To their credit, the Owls didn't throw in the towell and put togethertheir best drive of the game, of 80 yards, keyed by some solid runs by freshman Dan Post and three receptions by Robert Olson, the final from 13 yards out, cutting the lead to 21-14 with 4:55 left.

Whatever momentum that generated was short lived, however, as Concord scored on the very next play from scrimmage on a 46-yard run by Jackson Tewksbury to account for the final score.

Although the end result was disappointint, Fitzgerald did see some positives in defeat.

"Our guys competed and that's as good as we've run the ball all year," said Fitzgerald. "We're starting four freshmen, which no one in our league is doing, and they played pretty well.

"We just have to regroup. Nobody is going to feel sorry for us so we have to just keep working at it."

The Owls will probably try to keep getting the ball to Olson. The junior receiver made some nice catches in the second half and finished with eight catches for 102 yards and a touchdown.

Nothing will come easy, however, starting nest week when Timberlane is scheduled to play at Pinkerton.