Londonderry football uses big plays to pull away from Salem

HAVERHILL, Mass. - It was a battle between two of the top high school football teams in the state, and after 48 minutes, it was clear that Londonderry will not be a team to be messed with in 2019.

An even first half gave way to the Lancers’ offensive fireworks taking over en route to a convincing 42-26 win over Salem at Trinity Stadium in Haverhill.

“We’re still sloppy in some areas,” Londonderry coach Jimmy Lauzon said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to fix that. It didn’t seem like a playoff-type game. We were sloppier than we would like to be. We fixed some things on defense, we made some adjustments, answered on special teams. Overall, more positives than negatives.”

The teams traded points early as the game was tied at 14 after a quarter and it stayed that way until halftime.

In the second half, the Lancers took over. Up 21-20, the Lancers scored three touchdowns in less than seven minutes to open up a 42-20 in the fourth quarter, and they did it with big plays.

The first of the three scores was a 45-yard run from Tyler Kayo. Next possession it was a 67-yard pass from Jake McEachern to Cole Keegan. Londonderry ended their scoring when McEachern found Alex Tsetsilas from 58 yards out.

In total, Londonderry had the ball for seven plays during that stretch.

McEachern also had a 60-yard touchdown pass to Tsetsilas in the first half, and senior tailback Jeff Weidenfeld had a 37-yard rushing touchdown and a 78-yard kickoff return for a score.

“I think you’ve got to respect our run game with Weidenfeld, and Kayo to boot,” Lauzon said. “Then we’ve got some firepower on the outside and Jake has been nearly perfect with some of the balls he’s thrown. If he can keep that going, and these guys keep working at it like they have been, we like our offense going forward.”

Salem stuck to their game plan on the offensive side of the ball but took a hit when junior quarterback Cody Clements left the game in the second quarter with an injury. In his place stepped sophomore Noah Mustapha.

Mustapha went 5 of 13 passing with a score and an interception to pilot the Salem attack.

The Salem run game was led by Josh Maroun, who had 125 yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries. Riley Mulvey rushed 15 times for 75 yards and caught a 50-yard touchdown pass from Clements in the first quarter.

Salem ran 79 plays to just 43 by the Lancers and outgained Londonderry 371-352.

The Lancers defense slowed the Blue Devils when they had to. Will Reyes had 8.5 tackles and Tsetsilas and Justin Miller each had five of their own.

“It was a lot of big plays,” Salem coach Rob Pike said. “We gave up a couple of long pass plays. Weidenfeld broke a couple of big runs. We’ve got to cover better. We’ve got to rush the passer better. We’ve got to read our keys better. And we will. That’s a good team. It’s hard to keep them down, and their kids made plays.”