Hawks try to figure out Green Wave

Defense is the cause for concern for the Merrimack High School football team.

Tomahawks’ coach Joe Batista wasn’t too happy to see the unit out there for long stretches of time during the first half of last Saturday’s game against Hollis/Brookline. Thanks to some big plays on offense, Merrimack was able to pull out a 28-14 win.

Although the defense didn’t give up any large chunks of yardage to the Cavaliers, it was out on the field a lot more than the coaches would have liked.

“In the first half, they just had the ball too much,” Batista said. “They weren’t getting huge chunks of yardage. They were getting small gainers and (H/B coach Milt Robinson) was working the clock real well. It was effective. I was disappointed we couldn’t get more three-and-out situations.”

This week’s opponent presents a different kind of challenge for the ’Hawks.

Merrimack opens Division II play Friday night on the road against Dover. The Green Wave run a spread offense, but that can be somewhat deceiving.

“They’re a spread team, but more of a power spread because they usually have a tight end or a wingback,” Batista said. “They like to run a lot of inside zone and traps, and they use a lot of motion. It’s kind of a different spread than what we’re used to seeing.”

In last week’s 17-14 loss to Exeter, Tyler Zabkar, Dover’s quarterback, completed 10-of-15 passes for 95 and ran for another 31, while running back Corey MacKoul had another 90 yards rushing.

While the Merrimack defense will have to figure out ways to stop Dover’s attack, the ’Hawks will need to quickly figure out how the Green Wave will lineup against their offense.

“They’re going to be giving different looks,” Batista said. “We’re not sure how they’re going to lineup. They’ve got linebackers who can run and are tough. They’ve got speed in the secondary.”

At times last year, Batista saw Dover’s defense lineup in a 4-3 base when going against a spread offense. But when the opponent was in a more traditional formation, Dover brought a fifth lineman up to the line of scrimmage.

“We’ll try to simplify it for them, as far as blocking assignments, so no matter what defense they’re in, they’ll have an assignment and know who they’re supposed to hit,” he said. “But they’ve got to keep their eyes up and make the line calls.”

Batista saw a couple of positives in the win over H/B that he hopes carry over throughout the season.

The first was in the kicking game, where Ty Costain was 4-for-4 on extra points and consistently put the ball deep on kickoffs. The other had to do with adversity, stemming from an early interception that allowed the Cavaliers to control the early part of the game.

“We faced a little adversity in the first half, but we didn’t panic,” Batista said. “We went over there knowing what we needed to do and we were actually able to start doing it.”