Merrimack Valley football overcame slow start, history in win against John Stark

The Merrimack Valley Regional High School football team did something Saturday it hasn't done in a long time.

The Pride fell behind early, but bounced back, and behind a three-touchdown performance by quarterback Buddy Eddy, they knocked off John Stark 20-6.

It marked the first win for Merrimack Valley (2-2) against the Generals since the 2010 season. While the teams didn't play for a seven-year stretch between the two wins, they have played in three of the four previous seasons, with John Stark winning all three.

That included a 28-13 win by the Generals in 2021, when Merrimack Valley was unable to stop John Stark's hurry-up, single-wing offense.

"John Stark is a hard-hitting team and a good team," Merrimack Valley coach Joe Raycraft said. "We knew they were going to do that because that’s what they did last year and we didn’t stop them last year. We made adjustments in practice and they came out and did a super job for us. We didn’t panic, we knew it was going to happen."

Panic could have set in after John Stark (0-4) took the opening kickoff and went 80 yards on 10 plays, finding the end zone on a 3-yard touchdown run by Joey Dykstra. The Generals picked up four first downs on the drive, including two on Merrimack Valley penalties.

The second of those came on a facemask call on fourth-and-1 from the Pride 9-yard line. John Stark picked up the yardage for the first down, but the penalty moved the Generals even closer, setting up Dykstra's touchdown on the next play.

But after that opening drive, Merrimack Valley's defense tightened, giving up just 85 yards the rest of the game and allowing John Stark to cross midfield just two more times, none after halftime.

"I think we made some adjustments out there," Raycraft said. "I thought the coaches did a nice job with the adjustments and put us in the situation that we could be in to challenge them a little bit. They were coming out quick and we went out there and methodically moved the ball."

The Pride were able to do that with a ground game that picked up 187 yards on 49 carries. While the yards per attempt was under four, Merrimack Valley was starting each drive in great field position, which put the Generals' offense in a tougher situation.

Merrimack Valley took advantage of those short fields in the second quarter, starting its first drive of the frame at the John Stark 36-yard line. It took seven plays for the Pride to find the end zone on a 4-yard touchdown run by Eddy.

On the next possession, John Stark face a fourth-and-3 from Merrimack Valley's 42, but the Pride defense was able to stop Andrew Tower for just a 2-yard gain, turning the ball over on downs.

This time, Merrimack Valley needed 10 plays to go 60 yards, with Eddy connecting with Matt Sanborn for a 6-yard touchdown pass and a 13-6 lead with 33.6 seconds left in the first half.

After the teams traded fumbles to open the second half, Eddy added a 1-yard touchdown run to give the Pride a two-score lead with 5:09 remaining in the third.

"Buddy does a nice job out there for us, he really does," Raycraft said. "He’s a smart kid. We were fortunate that we got some kids back who got banged up at Plymouth (the previous week). They were able to play."

The win double Merrimack Valley's total from a year ago, and with two competitive losses in the first three games, Raycraft felt his team needed to pull through in this one.

"We’ve got Bow next week, which is going to be a big-time challenge for us," the coach said. "These are really important for a program that hasn’t been successful. Putting together a couple of wins is really important for us because it builds our confidence a little bit. We know what we have to do and we know what it’s like to play a full game. We’ve got to do that whole thing together."