RallyNorth.net

MANCHESTER — Salem has some speedy, powerful running backs, but the way its offensive line was blocking last night against Manchester Memorial, the players’ fathers and grandfathers probably could have been just as productive.

The front seven (tight ends Darren Brown and Kyle Henrick, tackles Andrew Ivas and Dillon Cohen, guards Greg Coleman and Craig Lawlor, and center John Pascal) were a consistent positive in a runaway 35-6 victory at Chabot-McDonough Field.

"That was the weak part of our team going into the season, I thought," said Salem head coach Jack Gati. "We had all new starters. But every day, they’ve impressed me. If I was going to pick one group, the offensive line has done a nice job since day one."

Coached by assistants Steve Malisos and Matt Barry, the Blue Devil blockers tore apart the Crusader defense for 454 total yards, 398 of them on the ground. Even with an 86-yard TD run taken off the scoreboard due to a penalty — one of several miscues in an uneven start to the contest, Salem (now 3-0) averaged almost eight yards per offensive play.

"The fire and intensity we have in our line and backfield, we just want to beat everybody," said Coleman, who was a friendly companion for sophomore Jerickson Fedrick (12 carries, 177 yards, one touchdown) and junior Max Jacques (19 carries, 149 yards, three TDs) to follow safely behind. "I know our backs have the talent to break those big runs, and I want to block my best for my team."

Even with that production, it took a while for the offense to yield points. After the yellow flag removed six points and the drive died on downs, the Blue Devils committed a pair of pass interference penalties, one on fourth down and the other on third down and both in Salem territory. On two Jacques TD totes, one set up on a nice Matt Cannone-to-Mike Lorenz 41-yard bomb, Salem only held a 14-0 lead going into the fourth quarter.

"Each game’s different," Gati said. "Memorial came out playing hard and we struggled a little bit. We’ve got to learn to overcome those little things that happen during the course of a game."

The Blue Devils did with gusto in the final period when Fedrick ran 48 yards behind Coleman to the end zone while three double-digit rushes set up Jacques for a game-clinching 1-yard TD run with 5:30 left.

"From the midpoint of the third quarter till we took out our first group, we controlled the ball pretty well on both sides of the ball," Gati said.

Defensively, Salem kept the Crusaders (1-2) off balance behind junior middle linebacker Joe DiPalma (nine first-hits, one sack and two others for negative yardage), Brown (seven tackles) and Jake Matthews (three near interceptions, one fumble recovery). Only an 80-yard pitch-and-catch from Fred Rogers to Lucas Reynolds — almost one-third of Memorial’s total offense, snapped the shutout against Salem’s backups.

"I have a lot of respect for Memorial’s quarterback (Rogers), he has a good arm and can do some damage on the run," Gati concluded. "We needed to buckle down and play good defense and we did. This was a nice shutout for our first defense."