Salem football holds off Portsmouth-Oyster River in D1 prelims (video)

SALEM – Steve Abraham had a simple message for the Salem High School football team after Friday night’s Division I preliminary-round game.

At this time of year, it doesn’t matter how many points you win by, just so long as you have more than the other team.

In the Blue Devils’ case, that meant having one more scoring drive than Portsmouth-Oyster River.

Van Mason scored from a yard out with 1:35 remaining to give No. 7 Salem the lead and the Blue Devils defense got a rare stop of the No. 10 ClipperCats offense in the final 90 seconds to preserve a 35-28 win.

The win puts Salem into the D1 quarterfinals next weekend, where it will face No. 2 Manchester Memorial, which had a bye in the first round, on the road.

“Doesn’t matter if it’s one point or 40 points, a win is a win,” Abraham said. “We made enough stops. We’re in the quarterfinal round and we’ll take our shot. Memorial is a tough team and we have to play better. They’re good for a reason. I don’t know if they’ve faced a backfield like ours.”

After dealing with a number of injuries earlier in the season, Salem (6-3) was at full strength in the backfield and the Blue Devils took advantage of the diversity of their skill players.

Jordan Zannini led the team with 111 yards on 11 carries, but it was Colin Salkovitz who found the end zone twice, while churning out 33 yards on 12 carries. Jacob Beaudry added 55 yards and a score, Mason had 43 yards to go with his touchdown and AJ Shikrallah had 71 yards.

As a team, Salem gained 313 of its 384 yards on the ground. Mason was also 4 of 6 passing for 71 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

“Running backs are back and they’re all unique,” Abrham said. “Our offensive line played great. We’ve got a great backfield. We can beat you a couple of different ways on the offensive side of it. We grinded.”

Salem had four scoring drives of 10 or more plays, and in the first half, had the ball for almost 15 minutes. But every time the Blue Devils would find the end zone, Portsmouth-Oyster River (4-5) was able to answer.

Andy Brown had 127 yards and two touchdowns rushing for the ClipperCats and also completed 10 of 21 passes for 112 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. Six of those incompletions came on the final drive, when Portsmouth-Oyster River was trying to get down field in a hurry.

Kevin White ran for 75 yards on 15 carries for the ClipperCats while Zachary Hall (five catches, 45 yards) and Micah Gedney (two, 36) each caught a touchdown pass from Brown.

Salem’s defense forced a three-and-out on the first possession of the game and the punt by Portsmouth-Oyster River pinned the Blue Devils at their own 6-yard line. But 12 plays later, Salem capped a 94-yard drive with a 26-yard touchdown pass from Mason to Jack Marconi for a 7-0 lead with 3:50 to go in the first quarter.

Brown answered three plays later with a 58-yard touchdown run, and each team scored on 14-play drives to make it a 14-14 game. Salem had a chance for more at the end of the half, but Mason was picked off by Cote Bellaud.

The Blue Devils retook the lead with a 10-play, 65-yard drive to open the second half, but the ClipperCats answered with an eight-play, 76-yard possession for a 21-21 tie with 49 seconds left in the third quarter.

Portsmouth-Oyster River made its first stop of the night, forcing a three-and-out on Salem’s next possession. But after Brown picked up 27 yards on first down, on the next play, his pass was tipped and ended up in Zannini’s hands.

The Salem senior returned it to the ClipperCats’ 26-yard line, and three plays later, Beaudry burst out of a scrum for a 13-yard touchdown and a 28-21 lead.

“That was huge,” Zannini said of that sequence. “It’s what we needed, Shout to the guys for keeping their head up to fight through adversity and do what we had to do.”

Portsmouth-Oyster River answered again, though, tying the game on a 1-yard run by Brown to cap a nine-play, 52-yard drive. But Salem had one more long possession in it, going 80 yards on 12 plays, using up almost five minutes, to retake the lead on Mason’s touchdown run.

Brown led the ClipperCats to the Blue Devils’ 33-yard line, but his final two throws into the end zone were incomplete, and Portsmouth-Oyster River ran out of time.

“We’re a resilient bunch,” Abraham said. “That’s a great team. They have some great skills kids. We had some adversity we’ve had to deal with and this is one of the best groups of kids mentally and emotionally that I’ve coached. It’s a great group and it’s been fun. I’m proud of all of them.”