Bishop Guertin football rushes to a win over Merrimack (video)

NASHUA - John Tricsiani has been around the Bishop Guertin High School football program for a few years now.

There haven't been many times where the Cardinals turned in a performance in the running game like they did Saturday night.

Bishop Guertin rushed for almost four hundred yards and six touchdowns, and had an answer for every attempt Merrimack made at a comeback, in a 48-35 win over the Tomahawks in a Division I West Conference game at Stellos Stadium.

The Cardinals rushed for 204 of their 381 yards in the game's first two quarters and didn't even drop back to pass in the first half. Charlie Bellavance led the way with 209 yards and four touchdowns on 29 carries while Matt Santosuosso added 166 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries.

"I’ve been here the longest of the coaches we have," Trisciani said. "We haven’t had a running attack or a line that has been that successful. We’re really happy with the way those kids played and they’re tough.

"That was probably the best half of BG football that I have seen in a while."

Bishop Guertin (3-1) led 28-7 at the half and stretched the lead to 34-7 early in the third quarter, with Michael MacDonough at quarterback and Santosuosso at receiver. The later even caught a 40-yard touchdown pass from the former on the opening drive of the second half.

Merrimack (1-3) started to answer the Cardinals' scores after halftime, but whenever the Tomahawks needed to make a stop, the defense couldn't get off the field.

"They have a really good offensive line," Merrimack coach Kip Jackson said. "(Bellavance) and (Santosuosso) are two of the better players in our conference. They did a good job of getting them the ball. We needed to make four or five stops in order to give ourselves an opportunity to win because we thought our offense would be able to play well. We only stopped them twice."

While the defense may have struggled, Merrimack was able to move the ball, outgaining Bishop Guertin 428-420.

Kyle Crampton was 21 of 33 passing for 202 yards with three touchdowns and an interception, with two of those scoring tosses going to Shea Goodwin, who had nine catches for 99 yards. Aiden Centrella also caught a 22-yard touchdown pass and Reimello Hyde added 112 yards and two touchdowns rushing on 24 carries.

But the interception by Crampton and a lost fumble by Hyde were both turned into points for the Cardinals in the first half.

After Bishop Guertin went ahead by four touchdowns to open the second half, Merrimack answered with a 14-play, 64-yard drive that ended with a 1-yard touchdown run by Hyde. On the Cardinals' next possession, Goodwin picked off Santosuosso's only pass attempt of the game and returned it to the 4-yard line.

Hyde punched the ball into the end zone again, getting the Tomahawks within 13 points, 34-21, with 14 seconds left in the third quarter. But on the second play of the fourth quarter, Bellavance rumbled for a 51-yard touchdown to put the Cardinals back up by three scores.

Merrimack responded with Crampton's touchdown pass to Centrella, but on Bishop Guertin's first play, Santosuosso scored on a 55-yard run.

"We were starting to gain some momentum and those long runs kind of took that away," Jackson said. "We have some pieces, we can score points, but allowing other teams to score 48 points is not a recipe for success. We have to tackle at some point, we have to stop them"

While he would have liked to see his defense be able to put the game away, Trisciani was glad the Cardinals continued to answer Merrimack's scores. With three straight games against conference opponents, it was a win they needed to get.

"We had opportunities to end it and they hung around," he said. " That’s their kids, they’ve been in a lot of close games, and that coaching staff has been around a long time, too.

"Every game is really important, but we knew (this stretch) was going to have a big impact in determining what was going to happen in our conference. We don’t want to overlook anybody. This was big and next week is big, too."