NORTH ANDOVER – The weather across the Merrimack College campus, where blue tents dotted the landscape and thousands of fans fired up grills, sizzling ribs, chicken, and burgers as they enjoyed ice-cold drinks.
The scene? Electric, with the marching band and cheerleaders in full uniform, television crews from ESPN+ and NESN+ crowding the press box, and everywhere, the buzz of speculation: would the Warriors really be opening next season against Wake Forest, then facing Delaware after that?
The atmosphere was absolutely galvanizing on Saturday afternoon.
A record-setting crowd of 15,462 packed the bleachers like sardines to watch the Warriors defeat Robert Morris 24-7 on Homecoming weekend. It was a moment that showed just how much Merrimack College football has changed—not only from twenty years ago, but even from ten years back when Homecoming drew just a few thousand fans.
The big-time vision for Merrimack football, set in motion a decade ago, has arrived. Saturday was proof.
“I love it. The energy is real,” said Felisha Frazier, whose son DJ Frazier has played linebacker at Merrimack for five years. “This is a lot of people and the most I have ever seen here. We’re always looking forward to home games because we bring the family here, we have people who call us up wanting to come, and then people I’ve met over the years who call us to meet up. It’s so wonderful.”
Felisha, her husband, and six other family members made their usual trip from Washington, D.C. to North Andover. “We love everything about the college and the program,” she said. “We love the enhancements, the new buildings coming up—it’s just amazing. I’m sad we won’t see it all finished, but DJ will be an alum, so we’ll plan on coming back.”
Every time the defense came up big, linebacker Kendall Sims could feel the energy. “I’ve never played in front of a crowd so big. It’s amazing. The environment was great,” he said. “There are people everywhere and it helped me get excited for the game.”
For head coach Mike Gennetti, who’s seen over twenty Homecoming weekends at Merrimack, this one stood out most. “No question, this place is growing. It’s an unbelievable environment,” Gennetti said. “The administration and the college have done an unbelievable job putting this together. It was great to get the win at home for Homecoming in front of so many people. Our guys were jacked up. We had thousands out here Friday night for Octoberfest. It’s just been such a great environment.”
He looked around the stadium one last time and smiled. “It certainly didn’t look like this when I first started here.”
On this Saturday, it finally felt like big-time college football had truly come to North Andover.