HAVERHILL – Salem doesn’t have a running back problem. The Blue Devils can hand the ball off to about ten guys and be comfortable.
But after Friday night’s 30-7 season opening loss to Londonderry — the defending New Hampshire Division 1 state finalists — Salem head coach Steve Abraham said that he has a problem of deciding who should be handing the ball off to those elite backs.
While the three-man rotation is a puzzle that needs to put together – sooner rather than later – that took a backseat to the team’s other problems throughout the four quarters.
The Blue Devils had two costly turnovers, couldn’t convert on three scoring opportunities in the first half, and the lack of tackling in the second half helped the Lancers take a 9-0 halftime lead and turn it into a 23-point one-sided victory.
“That score is deceiving. Here we are in this game. We out gained them in the first half and played great defense. We just didn’t finish (our scoring chances),” said Abraham.
Londonderry stormed out to the 9-0 lead with a touchdown and a safety. Salem had the ball inside Lancers’ territory three times in the first half, turning the ball over with a fumble on the 21, an incomplete pass on fourth down from the seven, and then falling short on a run play from the 11 with under a minute left in the half.
On the second offensive play of the third quarter, things changed dramatically for Salem as running back Kevin Todisco took the ball to the right side, turned the corner and went untouched for a 98-yard score. The PAT kick by Ryan Bryant cut the deficit to two, at 9-7.
Londonderry came right back and scored, before adding two more touchdowns in the third quarter to open it up.
“I told the kids coming into this game that we’re treating this like a scrimmage,” said Abraham. “We’ve got to get better and we’re going to get better. We’re going to see that team again. I have no doubt in my mind. They’re not better than us. They just played better than us tonight.”
Besides the 98-yard score by Todisco (126 total), Colin Salkovitz had 10 carries for 47 yards all in the first half.
Throwing the ball, Salem rotated senior Jacob Chartienitz and sophomore Christopher Goss, while senior back Felix Gonzalez took some direct snaps. The trio combined to complete 2 of 6 passes for 37 yards.
“We’ve got three quarterbacks. We’re trying to figure that out right now. I’ve got to get better with our quarterback system. We don’t have one, and that’s our one thing we’ve got to figure out,” said Abraham.
“That’s on me. I’ve got to make a decision,” he continued. “I just don’t know what the decision’s going to be. I need to see more (at practice). They all do something better than the other one. That’s the problem. I can probably narrow it down to two, but even that’s hard. We’ve got different packages for everybody (so taking some of that away) makes the game uneven.”
Londonderry 30, Salem 7
FIRST QUARTER
L – Adrian Cruz 3 run (Blake Thompson kick), 6:03
L – Safety
THIRD QUARTER
S – Kevin Todisco 98 run (Ryan Bryant kick), 8:05
L – Sam Ogden 2 run (Thompson kick), 3:46
FOURTH QUARTER
L – Alexander Villa 2 run (Thompson kick), 7:43
L – Jordan Ball 10 run (Thompson kick), 3:10
INDIVIDUAL STATS
Rushing: Londonderry leader: Adrian Cruz 18-138; Salem: Kevin Todisco 10-126; Calvin Slakovitz 10-47; Myles Walters 1-12; Christopher Goss 2-7; Felix Gonzalez 3-5; Talen Walton 2-2; Jordan Zannini 1-0.
Passing: Londonderry leader: Alexander Villa 2-3-0, 37; Salem: Jacob Chartienitz 2-4-0, 37; Christopher Goss 0-2-0.
Receiving: Londonderry leader: Parker Killian 1-40; Salem: Calen Smith 1-38.