Saunders Emerging As a Force For Redmen

quarterback Kevin Saunders, the start of his senior season didn't exactly roll out the way he had pictured it.

His offense was held to and even though the Redmen played considerably better football in , Saunders' four turnovers (two interceptions and two fumbles) pretty much cost Tewksury the game.

But last week, Saunders helped  and on Saturday afternoon, the Tewksbury QB may have just come into his own for good.

Saunders completed 6-of-10 passes for 92 yards and a touchdown, and carried the ball 10 times for 63 yards. A two-way starter, Saunders was just as effective from his defensive back position, intercepting a pass, recovering a fumble and making several bruising tackles.

In fact, it may well have been Saunders' thunderous hit on Central kick returner Michael Balsamo on the first play of the game that set the tone for Tewksbury's big day. Balsamo had fielded the game's opening kick-off and was looking to break a big one. He had a full head of steam going and appeared to be turning the corner in front of his own bench when Saunders flew in and laid Balsamo out at his coaching staff's feet with a punishing hit.

Yes, Saunders was flagged on the play, but the message had been sent.

"I like to let them know I'm here," Saunders said after the game. "I may be a quarterback, but I like to hit, too."

If Central didn't know Saunders was in the house on the opening play, the Raiders soon found out. Saunders' second quarter touchdown pass to Frankie McLaughlin was perfectly thrown, and his 24-yard run on first-and-25 in the fourth quarter set the stage for Dan Altavesta's 34-yard game-clinching touchdown run.

"He's a great kid, he's a good leader and he's well respected by his teachers and other students," said TMHS head coach Brian Aylward of Saunders. "He can be a bit flaky and drive me bonkers at times, but nobody can question this kid's toughness and his mettle. He's tough as nails."

So far this year, as has gone Saunders, so have gone the Redmen.

"When he's confident, he wears it on his sleeve,"Aylward said. "And I think he was lacking confidence in those first couple weeks and that's readable by everybody on the team. We talked about that an awful lot this week because we want him to realize that when he's got that confident mode going, all the other guys feed off it."

Against Central, the senior signal caller rallied his troops on both sides of the ball and pulled off a rare feat for a Tewksbury team -- back-to-back wins over Central and Andover in the same season.

That's something no player on the current Tewksbury roster has ever been involved in before.

"It's unbelievable," said Saunders, who had started games at quarterback in relief of Sean Connolly in both his sophomore and junior seasons. "I've never heard of it before. It's unreal. Words can't describe it."

Saunders was also at a loss for words when asked to explain how his team has turned things around from an 0-2 start and knocked off two MVC giants in a row.

"It's a big difference (from the first two weeks), that's for sure," he said. "I don't know what it is, but we're just clicking...We're just putting the pieces of the puzzle together. It feels great."