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# Morrison's return helps Pinkerton football roll past Merrimack in D1 playoffs
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/morrisons-return-helps-pinkerton-football-roll-past-merrimack-in-d1-playoffs/
- Published: 2024-11-09T16:00:19.000Z
- Updated: 2024-11-09T16:00:19.000Z
- Description: DERRY – Matt Morrison was on his way toward capping off an already great high school football career in spectacular fashion for Pinkerton Academy through five games this season. The senior’s campaign then hit the pause button when he broke a pinky during a showdown against two-time defending Divisio
- Author: Dan Doyon
- Tags: Division I, football, Merrimack, Pinkerton, playoffs, slider, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

DERRY – Matt Morrison was on his way toward capping off an already great high school football career in spectacular fashion for Pinkerton Academy through five games this season.

The senior’s campaign then hit the pause button when he broke a pinky during a showdown against two-time defending Division I Bedford.

The Astros ended up dropping that decision to the Bulldogs, but the biggest loss was the first quarter injury that cost them their leading rusher and all-around dynamic player the rest of the regular season.

Morrison returned Friday night, with cast on his left hand, but did not disappoint in a half of work during fourth-seeded Pinkerton’s 38-14 victory over No. 13 Merrimack in the opening round of the Division I playoffs.

“Matt is special and is just one of those running backs that make people miss and has the power to run people over,” Pinkerton coach Brian O’Reilly said. “He adds a different dimension to our offense.”

Pinkerton (7-2) also hopes to add speedster Jamie Isaac (concussion) to the lineup for next week’s quarterfinal matchup against No. 12 Windham (4-5), after the Jaguars’ 8-7 upset victory over five-seeded Salem (6-3).

“We’re hoping to get Jamie back next week, which will open everything up even more,” O’Reilly said.

Morrison’s first big play of the night came from his defensive back position when his interception of Merrimack quarterback Sahil Mujawar set up a 1-yard touchdown run by James Caruso to give Pinkerton a 13-0 lead late in the first quarter.

“I’m feeling good and I’m so happy to be back,” Morrison said. “It’s always the hesitation of coming back after not playing in a while but I felt good out there; I felt like myself. I feel like I’m ready to go.”

Perhaps nobody was happier to see his classmate return than Pinkerton quarterback Aiden McDonald. Morrison's 42-yard catch-and-run touchdown pass down the sideline gave the Astros a 32-0 halftime lead.

“Matt coming back was great, he’s a great playmaker, so all we have to do is get him the ball and let him do his thing,” McDonald said. “I have no doubts that Matt is going to take something small and make it big.”

McDonald was efficiently explosive while completing 8 of 11 passes for 264 yards. He also threw touchdown passes of 50 yards to Camren Dillon to open the scoring and 80 yards to Ryson Michaud.

“We worked on the passing attack all week and we decided at the beginning of the game that even with the wind whipping around, that’s what we worked on so let's do it and it worked out pretty well,” O’Reilly said.

Merrimack (3-6) grabbed the final seed with last week’s 34-21 win over Bishop Guertin.

“Obviously they’re a very aggressive team with a lot of speed at all levels,” Merrimack coach Kip Jackson said. “Once they get the ball to one of their skilled players in the open field it becomes a challenge because of the speed they have.”

Now Pinkerton’s next obstacle is a Windham team whom it beat 24-8 throughout downpours in which Pinkerton threw the ball twice. O’Reilly is ready to dial up a different game plan on his home turf this time around.

“We had a tough time with them last time, it was a rainy day and we couldn’t throw the ball,” O’Reilly said. “They held us pretty well on the ground, but I think you can figure out we’ll be throwing the ball around more this time around.”