Merrimack football holds off Portsmouth-Oyster River in D1 playoffs (video)

MERRIMACK - It's playoff time and games don't have to be pretty, just so long as it's a win.

It wasn't pretty for the Merrimack High School football team in Friday night's Division I preliminary-round game, but all that mattered was the win for the Tomahawks.

No. 8 Merrimack got enough on offense, finding the end zone twice in the second half, and plenty on defense, holding No. 9 Portsmouth-Oyster River in check most of the night, to get a 14-6 win over the ClipperCats. The Tomahawks move on to the quarterfinals, where they will face No. 1 Londonderry next weekend.

Trent Jackson led the way, completing 19 of 29 passes for 166 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions, while Reimello Hyde had 83 yards rushing and a touchdown on 22 carries. Owen Sadowski caught six passes for 59 yards a score and Garron Brown had two interceptions on defense and made a handful of other big plays.

"It wasn’t his best night throwing, but he has been mentally tough and physically tough all season," Merrimack coach Kip Jackson said of his quarterback. "I thought he did a good job of bouncing back and making good throws."

Merrimack (7-2 in D1, 7-3 overall) outgained POR, 296-141, as the ClippersCats (5-4, 5-5) had just 19 yards of offense in the first half and their only first down came on a Tomahawks penalty on the opening drive.

POR started the game down a few players and then lost quarterback Aidan Thomas late in the first quarter to what appeared to be a concussion, as he was replaced by Evan Graham. The ClipperCats also lost lineman Charlie Turner in the second half, as he was ejected for throwing a punch, and running backs Cole McLaughling and Gunner Jackson missed portions of the game with ailments.

Despite that, POR was driving late in the fourth quarter with a chance to tie the game.

"We lost the quarterback, that was a big part of it," POR coach Brian Pafford said. "Graham, our backup quarterback who has seen one game all year, he actually did all right. He made the reads and pulled it when he had to, he’s just not as fast."

Graham finished 10 of 17 for 86 yards and an interception, with all of the yardage coming in the second half. Gunner Jackson had the lone score, as he ran for 62 yards and found the end zone on a 1-yard run after Merrimack had taken a 7-0 lead.

The Tomahawks went in front on their opening possession of the second half, as Trent Jackson found Sadowski for a 17-yard score.

The ClipperCats answered with a 13-play, 58-yard drive that was kept alive by two third-down conversions and a conversion on fourth-and-15. On that play, Graham found Nick Smith for a 17-yard completion to the Merrimack 3-yard line.

Gunner Jackson ran it in two plays later, but the extra point attempt by Smith clanged off the right upright, keeping Merrimack in front 7-6 with 2:49 left in the third.

"I saw it go up, from my angle, I started to turn, thinking it was good," Pafford said. "And then I hear ‘clank.’ I didn’t think it was close, but obviously, it was."

The miss appeared to give Merrimack some momentum back, as the Tomahawks responded with a 7-play, 65-yard drive that was aided by 35 yards in penalties on the ClipperCats. Hyde scored from 5 yards out and the PAT by Reese Lopez made it 14-6 with 11:31 left in the game.

"Extra points are really important and last week we were having problems with them," Kip Jackson said. "This week, we shored up some protection on them and made some.

"We had momentum after our first score and I was hoping we’d be able to get a stop, but they did a really good job of picking themselves up. They drove right down and got that score. Believe it or not, the ball hitting the upright sort of changed things a little bit."

Two plays later, Brown picked off a pass by Graham for his second interception, giving Merrimack the ball back at the POR 30. The Tomahawks looked like they were going to extend the lead, as Trent Jackson hit Sadowksi for a first down inside the ClipperCats' 5, but the senior fumbled on the play and POR recovered at the 3.

Despite being backed up, the ClipperCats picked up a couple of first downs, moving the ball out to midfield before Merrimack took a timeout with 7:15 left to settle its defense.

An 8-yard pass from Graham to McLaughlin and a 10-yard completion to Smith gave POR a first down at the Merrimack 40. Gunner Jackson ran for 9 yards on the next play, but the Tomahawks' defense held and Graham threw incomplete on fourth down to end the drive with 4:04 remaining.

POR forced Merrimack to go three-and-out, but Brown got off a solid punt and Aidan Centrella made a big tackle on the return to force the ClipperCats to start at their own 29 with 2:49 remaining.

After picking up 5 yards on first and second down, Graham threw incomplete, setting up fourth-and-5 at the POR 34. The senior quarterback bobbled the snap and Merrimack's Nicholas Franqui was able to recover the loose ball to clinch the win for the Tomahawks.