It wasn’t pretty, and certainly was sloppy in terms of penalties and turnovers, but in the end, the Merrimack Football team took care of business and enjoyed a home opening 31-6 victory over St. Anselm played Saturday afternoon before 4,819 fans at Duane Stadium.
Merrimack (1-1) took a 17-0 halftime lead over their former Northeast-10 Conference rivals, before opening it up in the second half.
Former Central Catholic start quarterback got things rolling with a three-yard TD pass to tight end Cade Callahan on the Warriors’ first possession and Merrimack never looked back after that.
Pereira completed 20 of 27 passes for 239 yards.
Aveon Smith and Brendan Wyatt added TD runs, while Carlton Thai connected on a 29-yard field goal, before Nasir Maryland capped off the scoring with a 70-yard interception return late in the fourth quarter.