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# Merrimack hangs tough in first scrimmage
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/merrimack-hangs-tough-in-first-scrimmage/
- Published: 2010-08-18T20:18:47.000Z
- Updated: 2010-08-18T20:18:47.000Z
- Description: LONDONDERRY – Merrimack High School football coach Joe Battista has put Londonderry on his team’s preseason schedule for the last three years for a reason. The Lancers are one of the few teams in the state who run the single-wing offense, and because of that, they’re known as one of the more physica
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division II, Fall Sports, football, Merrimack, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bc/58/bc5866d0-9fd9-4113-b959-670d6f16471d/content/images/www-nh-highschoolsports-com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/merrfball0818-csmithgladstone.jpg "MerrFball0818 CSmithGladstone")

LONDONDERRY – Merrimack High School football coach Joe Battista has put Londonderry on his team’s preseason schedule for the last three years for a reason.

The Lancers are one of the few teams in the state who run the single-wing offense, and because of that, they’re known as one of the more physical teams in Division I.

“Londonderry is known as a physical football team, that’s why I love scrimmaging them,” Battista said after Wednesday's scrimmage at Londonderry. “They have that funky offense, so all I’m looking for is if our kids are going to by physical. In two years, we’ve come a long way. Two years ago, it was ugly.

“I was really proud of our first group and our whole team overall with their physicality.”

The Tomahawks likely saw the toughest offense to prepare for in their first scrimmage of the season, and fortunately for Merrimack, it won’t face anything similar in Division II this year.

“It’s tough to prepare,” Battista said. “I can only imagine if you even have a whole week, it’s tough to prepare for. Who is getting the ball? They’re unbalanced and foot-to-foot. I just look at the scrimmages as another practice, so I wanted to see how tough we can be.”

Battista liked what he saw early, as the ’Hawks first-string group had success on offense against the Lancers. But after a few series, Merrimack began substituting players because of its early lack of depth.

“We don’t have a lot of depth at the skill positions,” Battista said. “We went to our No. 2s real quick. That was another thing. Our No. 2s were banging with their No. 1s, and we did OK. We did OK with our younger kids going against their older ones.”

Merrimack had few players take a bump or two, but came out of the scrimmage healthy, which had Battista breathing a sigh of relief.

Going into the start of practice, the coaching staff believed the team’s depth issues would be along the offensive line. But those players have developed quickly and now those skill spots have to catch up.

Fortunately, there’s still plenty of time for that to happen, along with a few other things.

“We’ve got to get our assignments down,” Battista said. “We’re still missing some blocks, going to the wrong guy, backs hitting the wrong holes. Just some things we need to sharpen.

“They’re very hard workers. There have been no bad attitudes whatsoever. Very workman like, they come out with their lunch pails every day. They’re ready to play football, flying around the field and having a lot of fun.”