Merrimack football takes control early, passes by Salem

MERRIMACK – Deficits don’t worry Kip Jackson.

The Merrimack High School football coach believes his offense is capable of rallying from a few touchdowns if it needed to, so long as there’s time on the clock.

But Jackson knows that’s not the case for every opponent the Tomahawks will face this season, so when Merrimack started fast Friday night, it was a bonus.

Merrimack scored on its first two possessions of each half and held Salem in check for more than three quarters for a 39-20 win over the Blue Devils in Division I South Conference action. The win moves the Tomahawks (4-1) past the previously-undefeated Blue Devils (4-1) in the conference standings.

“We want to play fast, we want to get out to a big lead and keep people on their heels the entire time on offense, defense and special teams,” Jackson said. “We’re a team that’s built to score quickly. If we get down by 14 or 21 (points) quickly, we’re not going to be that phased by it. But teams that run the ball are going to be in a difficult position.”

That’s where Salem ended up Friday, falling behind 14-0, as Merrimack scored on two of its first six plays. The Blue Devils were within two scores at halftime, but the Tomahawks went 60 yards on 10 plays to go up 27-7 to open the second half, and then had a 10-play, 94-yard drive to take control of the game.

Justin Grassini led the way, completing 28 of 42 passes for 468 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. Nine different receivers caught passes for Merrimack, including Justin Weiser, who had eight catches for 216 yards and a touchdown.

Tyler DeNeill (seven catches, 44 yards) and Danny Vanecek (two, 53) also had a touchdown reception each, while Joe Eichman rushed for 64 yards and three touchdowns and also caught seven passes for 110 yards.

“They have so many good players,” Salem coach Rob Pike said. “You can’t take a way one, or one thing. They have six guys you’ve got to defend because Grassini can run the ball, too. We wanted to disrupt their timing, we wanted to come after them and make them throw early, get up and jam and press their receivers to miss up their timing. They made good moves and beat us and it didn’t work out.”

Salem got three touchdowns from Josh Sibanda, two of which came on the ground after the game was in hand. The junior finished with 114 yards rushing – with 67 of that coming on a long touchdown run – and caught one pass for a 33-yard touchdown.

But the Blue Devils couldn’t get anything going early and fell behind following a 5-yard touchdown run by Eichman and a 60-yard touchdown pass from Grassini to Weiser made it 14-0 in the first quarter.

The Tomahawks were driving for more on their next possession, but James LeBlond picked off a pass intended for DeNeill deep in Salem territory and returned it to the Merrimack 33. On the next play, Salem quarterback Matt Soldano (4 of 14, 86 yards) found Sibanda for a score.

Eichman added a 1-yard touchdown run with 4:36 left in the first half to make to 21-7, and Merrimack opened the second half with a drive that included two third-down and a fourth-down conversion, and ended with a 2-yard scoring pass from Grassini to DeNeill.

Salem looked like it would respond, marching 59 yards in 10 plays to get to the Merrimack 5-yard line. But on first-and-goal, Adam Maroun fumbled and Merrimack’s Avery Paulson recovered.

On the next play, Grassini hit Weiser for a 54-yard gain, and nine plays later, Eichman barreled into the end zone on fourth-and-1 from the 2 to make it 33-7.

“That was the biggest play, the turning point, in the second half in terms of putting us into position to play with the lead for the rest of the game,” Jackson said. “It’s an offense where if they try to take away Eichman and DeNeill, we have Brody Kelley, (Dan) McKillop, (Danny) Vanecek came in for McKillop and had a great game. Weiser everyone is talking about now.”

Salem went three-and-out on its next drive and the Tomahawks went 60 yards in 11 plays, as Grassini hit Vanecek for a 27-yard touchdown on fourth-and-10 to make it 39-7 with 10:15 remaining.

“They’re just good and we knew that,” Pike said. “We knew we had to play great to defend them, and to move the ball. They fly around on defense and play with a lot of energy.”

Salem will look to bounce back on Oct. 7 at Manchester Memorial, while Merrimack will host Londonderry the same night.