NORTH ANDOVER – At halftime, the Merrimack College football team was sitting comfortable with a nine-point lead over UMaine. It appeared as if the Warriors were in the driver’s seat to win their second straight game after a rough start to the season.
But then they ran out of gas.
Offensively, the Warriors managed one first down in their first four second half possessions, while a second turnover led to the Black Bears’ game winning touchdown.
Defensively, the Warriors were terrific in the first half – creating nine points off a fumble recovery for a touchdown and later adding a safety – but over the last two quarters, UMaine scored 20 unanswered points which was the difference in the 26-15 victory played on a rainy Saturday afternoon before 2,547 fans at Duane Stadium.
“At the end of the day, you give up twenty points in the second half, and not score any points, you’re not going to win,” said head coach Mike Gennetti. “We just weren’t able to fully capitalize across the board as a team. We did at times, but not consistently enough. That’s a credit to Maine as they made more of those plays and we didn’t.”
Merrimack jumped out to the quick 15-6 behind the 53-yard fumble return TD by Grant Jackson – who later left the game with a hamstring injury – two field goals by Liam Davis and Jay Thompson’s QB sack in the end zone for the safety.
The second half was all Maine, with two touchdowns and two field goals. The Black Bears finished with 335 total yards offense, compared to just 195 for Merrimack, 43 coming on the final two minutes.
Former Central Catholic star Ayden Pereira got the start at QB going up against his former team. He completed 1 of 5 passes for two yards in the first quarter – before coming back midway through the fourth quarter to complete 4 of 7 passes for 28 yards – and was relieved by Justin Lewis, who finished his day 8 for 13 for 62 yards, including throwing two picks.