Salem defense made strides in 2nd half of football opener against Nashua South

Going against a talented offense and an experienced coaching staff with a relatively young defensive front, Steve Abraham expected that his Salem High School football would give up some yards and some points in Friday night's season opener.

That didn't mean the Blue Devils coach had to like it.

After watching his defense get gashed for 221 yards on the ground and three touchdowns in 24 minutes of football, Abraham let the players on that side of the ball have it.

"(South is) big, they’re well-coached," Abraham said. "Scott Knight is a great coach. They come off the ball. (Josh) Compoh is huge and he’s tough to bring down. The quarterback (Michael Rutstein) doesn’t get enough credit for how good of a runner he is. (The Salem defense) tightened up and listened to their tongue lashing at halftime and did what they were coached to do in the second half."

In the second half of Friday's 62-36 win, Salem's defense held South to 92 yards on the ground on 23 carries, still 4 yards per carry, but much less than the 10 yards the Blue Devils allowed per attempt in the first half.

More importantly, Salem held its opponent out of the end zone until late in the fourth quarter, when South's second unit went on a long touchdown drive. The Panthers picked up 47 of those 92 second-half rushing yards on that drive.

With the Blue Devils' offense scoring on its first three possessions of the second half, Salem turned a game that was 2 yards away from being tied at halftime into a run away.

"We had to adjust the defense because they were gashing us," Salem senior Aidan McDonald said. "They were gashing us right in the middle and then bouncing it out. That’s what we needed. We knew we needed one more score and one more stop. We had to just stick together as a team and do this."

McDonald did his part, as he ran for 243 yards and four touchdowns and added an 85-yard kickoff return for a score.

"He’s fast, but he is a violent runner, he’s a very good blocker, but he’s really smart," Abraham said of McDonald. "He is football smart and he knows how to set up his blocks and he’s a game-changer. Everybody thinks because of his speed, he always wants to take it outside. He ground a lot of things in between the tackles. He has the ability to do what he did on the kickoff and he’s a great defensive player, too."

Despite the efforts of McDonald and Thomas Ahlers (111 yards of offense, two touchdowns), and forcing two turnovers, Salem was still outgained, 283-234, in the first half. In the second half, the Blue Devils held a 309-109 advantage.

"Our defensive line grew up," Abraham said. "A lot of them are juniors. I think it was the technique. The adrenaline runs in and you can’t be giving these guys seams. We tightened up and we made a couple of plays.

"I think that shows that we’re maturing. I think we have the potential to be dangerous if our young guys mature, and I think we saw that."