FITCHBURG — Behind the swift running of senior Jaime Surillo and a pair of TD bullets out of the arm of junior quarterback Brodie Marvin, visiting Greater Lowell Tech recovered from three first-half turnovers and got onto the winning side of the ledger with a solid 27-6 victory over host Fitchburg in the Gryphons’ first visit to Historic Crocker Field Friday night.
The win lifts the Gryphons — which lost to North Reading last week — to 1-1, with a trip to KIPP Academy on tap for next weekend. Meanwhile, in another set of firsts, Fitchburg (0-2) will take a short road trip next Friday night for a historic first-ever grid meeting between the Red Raiders and Lunenburg.
Even though Greater Lowell came out victorious, it did have a couple of injuries to key personnel.
And despite the loss, Fitchburg saw a few good things, particularly out of its defense. FHS had three turnovers on the positive side of things, including picks by Johnovan Torres and Jerome Best. Both were also in on big tackles.
But the Fitchburg offense, which had its difficulties against Groton-Dunstable a week ago, sputtered in its running game. It did get the ball moving through the air, including a massive Cole Lashua reception where he caught the ball with him behind the defender, yet somehow caught it in front of the defender’s face, hauling it in late in the third quarter.
Greater Lowell struck first and didn’t relinquish the lead.
After sending the Raiders three-and-out, the Gryphons ran nine plays for 62 yards, with Jaime Surillo, Greater Lowell’s top tailback, scoring from three yards away. Starting quarterback Kam Ry mixed the playing calling, with Surillo (126 yards on 16 carries) taking a majority of carries, but Ry added a couple of big chunk pass plays to Javiien Lazu to keep Fitchburg on its heels in its initial defensive series.
FHS came up with a huge defensive stop on the next Greater Lowell series, avoiding a two-touchdown deficit in the tail end of the first canto.
Surillo had a huge 39-yard carry where he cut in at the Fitchburg 22, and only Jerome Best stopped him with a tackle from behind. But on the next play, Torres come up with a fumble recovery after the Gryphons lost control of the ball in the backfield.
Fitchburg then had another defensive stop, with Torres coming up with a huge interception at his own 3, bringing it back into Gryphon territory. And after Best came up with back-to-back completions to Jamani LaGuerre (19 yards) and John Hartwell-Cormier (15), Best plowed in from two yards away to get the Red and Gray on the board.
The conversion pass failed.
But FHS’ defense wasn’t done: after a change at the Greater Lowell quarterback position, Best came up with a sliding interception to tilt the field toward Circle Street for the third turnover of the half.
After a hearty punt return by Greater Lowell, Surillo scored from six yards away with :34 seconds left in the half, giving the tourists from Route 113 a 13-6 lead.
Greater Lowell was it 20-6 midway through the third as Marvin, the Gryphon backup signal caller, found Nathan Norman all alone in the left flat for a 57-yard touchdown catch-and-run.
Stephen Chuwang’s kick was true.
Marvin then found Surillo for a seven-yard TD pass with 3:32 remaining in the game.
Fitchburg’s John Hartwell-Cormier carries the ball during Friday’s game against Greater Lowell Tech. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Gary Fournier)
Originally Published: September 19, 2025 at 9:14 PM EDT