Merrimack, Alvirne looking for first D2 win

The Merrimack High School football team is doing the things that would be a expected of a young team.

The bad news for the Tomahawks is that it's leading to losses.

First, Merrimack rallied from a first-half deficit before falling to Goffstown by one point in the opening game of the season. Then last week, the Tomahawks had leads of 14-7 and 21-14 against Dover, but fell to the Green Wave, 27-21. This week, Merrimack heads to Alvirne for a 7 p.m. kickoff on Friday.

"We’re learning, that’s what we’re doing," Merrimack coach Joe Battista said. "We’re making mistakes that you’d expect young players to make. Unfortunately we’re losing close games because of it. As we go along, if they keep getting better, the tide is going to turn. We’ve got to keep them up so they don’t get frustrated."

What the Tomahawks have going for them are a few upperclassmen - lineman Sam Prive and running back Jackson King, to name two - who understand what the team needs to do to be successful.

"There’s a three-year starter getting it right, but he wasn’t getting it either as a sophomore," Battista said. "I make an example of Sam every day. Watch how he does it. It takes time. I tell the younger guys it takes 350 reps to understand what I’m talking about. Unfortunately, this year, we’ve got to have those kids on the field getting those. You can only get so many in practice time. In reality, it takes a sophomore until midseason."

While midseason is still a few weeks away, Merrimack's first road game is up next. After opening the season with a big non-division win over Pembroke, Alvirne fell at Keene 31-7, giving up 17 points after halftime.

Battista knows his team will have to be ready for a physical game against the Broncos and their group of running backs, led by Tony Beaulieu and Brandon Rule.

"They’re going to hit you," Battista said. "They always run hard. They’re not going to be dropping back and throwing the ball downfield. They’re going to take it right to you. It’s the style I like to play."

A year ago, the Broncos tried to take away Merrimack's option on offense. While the Tomahawks would like to run that, they haven't been able to do it successfully this season, and that has Battista unsure of what Alvirne will try to do defensively.

"If you saw our first two games, you wouldn’t even know we’re an option football team," he said. "This might be a good week to try to get it going. It’s kind of a chess game. Are they going to try to stop something that we haven’t done? Are we going to do it this week?"