Salem football makes plays in 2nd half to beat Windham (video)

SALEM - After a first half full of touchdowns Saturday, the Salem High School football team was looking to make one stop before the break.

The Blue Devils got it and it help set them up to make another at the end of the game.

Salem took the lead on a long touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, and then did enough defensively to keep Windham from scoring late, to take a 33-28 win over the Jaguars in a Division I Central Conference game.

Kevin Todisco scored three touchdowns, including one on a 62-yard completion from Nolan Lumley that put the Blue Devils (4-0) up for good, and Felix Gonzalez ran in two more scores, despite being banged up.

And when Salem needed it most, the defense stepped up and made some plays, something that looked like a stretch after both teams scored on their first three possessions of the game

"We said we just needed to get one stop and we needed to go into (halftime) tied," Salem coach Steve Abraham said. "I told our defense coach, (Johny)McDonald, and I told our team, just give our offense the ball back.

"We’re coming off the ball and we’re blocking well. What they were giving us, we were taking. Our guys did what they were supposed to do. They stayed true to their rules."

The Blue Devils ended the first half getting an interception from David Gasbarro to keep it a 21-21 game at the half. Salem got the only other turnover of the game in the third quarter, when Aaron Masson ripped the ball away from Windham's Christopher Brearley, giving the Blue Devils possession at the Jaguars' 39-yard line.

Six play later, Todisco scored from a yard out to give Salem its first lead of the day, 27-21, with 5:47 left in the third quarter.

Todisco finished with 135 total yards on offense while Gonzalez had 83 yards on 17 carries, but the Blue Devils needed other players to step late in the game, including sophomore Jordan Zannini and freshman Colin Salkovitz.

"The freshman and sophomore coming in, because Felix was getting banged up and they knew Kevin was getting the ball, they ran their tails off," Abraham said. "They have a lot of fight in them. They’re tough and they had adversity. We had a couple of things go wrong. We just did stupid things but they recovered and they never quit and they never got on each other. That is what I believed they had in them and they proved it."

Tiger An led the Windham offense with 169 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 32 carries. Quarterback Bill DePietro added 107 yards and a touchdown on the ground while going 7 of 15 passing for 107 yards with a touchdown and a pick.

The Jaguars (1-2 in D1, 2-2 overall) had a chance at the end to take the lead, getting down to the Salem 15-yard line with five seconds left, but DePietro's pass to Matt Desmarais fell incomplete, with Calen Smith and Talen Walton in coverage.

"With all the bad things that happened, we got the ball in the air to win the game," Windham coach Jack Byrne said. "It says a lot about our kids. It’s not what we want. If we play like this, we’re not going to do anything significant in the playoffs anyway. I’d rather it hurt right now and us regroup and get to the level that we can really play at."

Along with the two turnovers, Windham was penalized eight time for 90 yards, including four personal fouls. One of them came in the first half for roughing the kicker and extended a drive that Salem eventually scored on, and two others were on the Blue Devils' final possession, when they were trying to use up as much clock as they could.

"We don’t have any punks or anything like that, but to see three 15-yard penalties (in the second half), due to that kind of stuff … just a weird day," Byrne said. "Our guys are great kids and they work really hard. Those were legit calls. I would say the mistakes in timely situations, we normally don’t do that. Terrible timing for all the mistakes."

Neither team made many mistakes offensively in the first half, as they traded three long drives that each ended in a touchdown. After Salem took the lead in the third quarter, Windham answered midway through the fourth, retaking a 28-27 on a 30-yard run by DePietro.

The Jaguars decided to try for an onside kick, but the Blue Devils recovered it at their own 49, down one with 6:50 remaining.

Salem looked to be in good position to start a drive, but the Blue Devils lost 11 yards on first and second down. On third-and-21, Lumley threw a ball up deep for Todisco, who came down with it and outran everyone to the end zone for a 62-yard score.

"Nolan called it in the huddle and we had run it earlier," Abraham said. "Our guy went up and made a play. That’s what we told Nolan. Throw it up and let our guy make a play. Kevin wanted that ball and he ripped it away."

It was a tough swing for Windham after a tough decision.

"We looked at the clock and we considered how many drives there’d be left in the game, who would have the ball last," Byrne said. "When you look back at it, it was the right call for us trying to change something, but it was a funky day. We were trying to change the momentum a little bit."