Salem football able to dictate play in postseason win over Manchester Memorial

MANCHESTER - Steve Abraham felt it would be a big deal if his Salem High School football team had the lead at halftime of last Friday night's Division I quarterfinal against Manchester Memorial.

So when the No. 7 Blue Devils took a 17-7 lead into the break against the second-seeded Crusaders, Abraham made note of what it sounded like on the field.

"At halftime, it was silent, and you could see them having doubt," the Salem coach said. "We wanted to put doubt in their mind because they haven’t trailed at halftime in any game this year."

The Blue Devils did that in the first half by forcing two fumbles, and after allowing a touchdown on Memorial's first possession, shutting down the Crusaders' strengths on offense, on the way to a 24-17 Salem win.

"Coach (Johny) McDonald was able to stop that offense with the game plan he put together and our kids executed it flawlessly," Abraham said. "Their quarterback (Alex Sutherland) can run for a ton of yards and we did a good job on the option. They didn’t run their off-tackle play a lot, and that’s because of some of the things we did.

"We were getting penetration. We caused a lot of fumbles, which was part of our game plan. Stay sound and get in the running lanes. Then that puts the indecision in the option, and that’s what led to all the turnovers."

One of the keys to it for Salem (8-3) was the play of freshman Elijah Maduro, who was tasked with keeping an eye on Jacob Schuff, Memorial's leading rusher.

"He makes our defense," Abraham said of Maduro. "He played his rear end off. He was able to stop Schuff on the outside runs. Schuff was a non-factor."

The senior, who came into the game averaging 17 yards per carry on the season, had just 49 yards on 11 carries.

"They did a fantastic job of stopping our outside run game," Memorial coach Rob Sturgis said. "We’d get three first downs in a row with an inside run, and then we’d fumble. You could feel the momentum shifting and then all of a sudden, you fumble and Salem goes down and eats another four minutes off the clock."

While the halftime score might have put some doubt into Memorial, the drive by Salem to start the fourth quarter solidified it.

The Crusaders (8-2) punted on the first play of the final frame, setting the Blue Devils up with a first down at their own 21 with 11:49 to play. Salem proceeded to go on a 17-play, 76-yard drive that used up 9:27 of the fourth quarter and ended at Memorial's 3-yard line with 2:22 remaining.

On the drive, the Blue Devils converted three third downs: a third-and-7 where quarterback Van Mason hit Jordan Zannini for a 24-yard gain; a third-and-5 where Colin Salkovitz ran for 7 yards; and a third-and-6 where the Crusaders broke up a pass by Mason, but were called for a personal foul after the play.

Mason also picked up a fourth-and-1 at Memorial's 43 with a 3-yard keeper.

"We do it a little bit differently because we don’t have the massive unit to move people, but our backs are really good," Abraham said. "Salkovitz got a huge first-down run on a buck sweep over there. He made a nice cut and then he was powerful. We end up putting Zannini at receiver to move their safety and let them think something is up."

Memorial held Zannini to zero yards rushing on five carries, but the senior clinched the game for Salem when he returned an interception of Sutherland 23 yards for a score with 1:36 remaining in the game.

"They were physical the whole way through," Sturgis said. "It seemed like every time we got a little momentum, we shot ourselves in the foot somehow. You can’t do that in the playoffs. When you do that, you give a team life and they took advantage of it."