Salem football utilizes all its options to beat Windham

WINDHAM – It’s no secret that the Salem High School football team wants to get the ball in the hands of standout running back Kevin Todisco as much as possible and it’s the main focus of every opposing defense to slow him down.

Windham accomplished its mission of keeping Todisco relatively in check on Saturday afternoon, but Salem sophomore quarterback Chris Goss showed how he’s blossoming into a field general that gives the Blue Devils a threatening passing game.

Goss completed 7 of 11 passes for 124 yards with a pair of touchdown passes to Calen Smith. He added a 1-yard touchdown keeper early in the fourth quarter to give Salem the lead for good in a 28-14 Division I victory over the Jaguars.

“I feel awesome because we’re usually a run-heavy team, Kevin has been doing outstanding, but when I go back to pass I feel great and I do have the ability to air it out,” Goss said. “I can do it, I can lead this offense and I feel really confident in it.”

Goss was part of a three-quarterback rotation during Salem’s season-opening 30-7 loss to Londonderry, but it’s been his job ever since. Salem (5-2 overall, 4-2 in Division I) has won five straight games and came into the game ranked sixth in the NHHSSports Coaches Poll.

“The kids have confidence in him and we protected him pretty well (Saturday),” Salem coach Steve Abraham said. “We’re going to do what we have to do and we’ve got a lot of skilled kids and he’s a good quarterback. We knew that they were going to try to stop Kevin, so we took it another way.”

Todisco eclipsed the 1,000-yard barrier on the first play of the game and finished with 87 rushing yards on 22 carries. He now has 1,080 yards on 121 carries (8.9 yards per carry) with 13 rushing touchdowns.

While Todisco didn’t match his lofty rushing standards, he combined with Goss to make the biggest play of the game in the fourth quarter when Goss escaped pressure and found Todisco for a 30-yard completion down to Windham’s 32-yard line

Felix Gonzalez finished the drive five plays later with a 4-yard touchdown run to give Salem a 28-14 cushion with 5:58 remaining.

“On the field as a quarterback you can’t always be passing, you have to have the ability to read the pocket and have the ability to know when the rush is coming,” Goss said. “I felt it on my left, stepped in the pocket and went right, and I just saw Kevin open and I hit him.”

Windham (3-4, 3-3) already came into the game without starting quarterback Kevin Murphy and lost his replacement, Jack Koutrobis, to an ankle injury after an 11-yard run that set up a 2-yard touchdown run by Hayden Tedesco that gave Windham a 14-7 lead with 6:45 left in the second quarter.

Koutrobis opened the game’s scoring early in the second quarter with a 6-yard touchdown run.

“Football finds a way to test you,” Windham coach Jack Byrne said “Right when you feel comfortable, things happen and unfortunately we had the injury to Jack, who was playing so well. He kind of helped us dictate the pace early against a team that is super tough.”

Smith and Goss have a blossoming rapport that resulted in touchdown connections of 42 yards in the second quarter and 8 yards in the third quarter to tie the game at 14-14. Smith finished with five receptions for 90 yards.

“(Goss) just builds his confidence week after week and he’s really showing why he belongs as the starting quarterback,” Smith said. “Kevin, I think, is the best running back in the state by far, so obviously teams are going to key on him. We have to find other ways to score, and obviously we did that (Saturday).”