Salem football finishes regular season undefeated with win over Londonderry

LONDONDERRY - The Salem High School football team completed their third undefeated regular season in school history with 35-14 win over Londonderry Friday night. The game was a preview for the first round of the playoffs next Saturday, but Salem gets to be the host in the quarterfinals.

Even though there were not huge stakes at this game, besides Salem achieving potentially the No. 1 overall seed in the playoffs, both teams played their starters and played aggressively.

"These boys only get nine games a year," Salem coach Rob Pike said of keeping his team motivated. "It isn’t hard to keep them motivated."

After forcing Londonderry to a three-and-out, Josh Sibanda was able to get Salem (9-0) on the board with a 45-yard touchdown run.

On the ensuing Londonderry (6-3) drive, the Lancers put together a long, six-minute drive, getting the ball down to the 1-yard line. During that possession, the Lancers’ Jeffrey Wiedenfeld became the first sophomore in Londonderry history to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season.

However, that drive was stalled when the play from the 1-yard line had a bad snap and the Lancers missed a 22-yard field goal.

After that change in possession, the Blue Devils got a 65-yard TD run from Josh Maroun to push the lead to 14-0 after the first.

On Salem’s next possession, Sibanda added a second touchdown, this one from just 6 yards out, which was quickly followed by an 8-yard TD run by fullback Domenic Paci. In total, Sibanda finished the game with 200 yards, while Josh Maroun added 88, and Paci had 53 yards.

Early into the second half Londonderry’s starting QB Michael McAlister injured in thumb when it hit a helmet and the senior didn't return.

“It swelled up and due to the circumstances surrounding the game we were not going to risk it," Londonderry coach Jimmy Lauzon said.

His backup, junior Evan Cormier, stepped in and sparked some life into the offense. First he put Londonderry on the scoreboard with a 40-yard TD run four minutes into the second half. Later in the game Cormier connected with Alex Tsetsilas on a 16-yard TD pass.

"Mike and Evan have been pushing each other all season," Lauzon said. "Part of the reason for Mike’s leap this season is Evan pushing him."

Asking coach Pike of his goals he said, "An undefeated season is great, but our goal is just to get better every game. There are things we need to work on."

These teams will meet for a rematch next Saturday in Salem in the quarterfinals.