By Jacob Hamilton
NEFJ Correspondent
NORTH ANDOVER – Entering the NEC Championship game on Saturday, St. Francis University led the conference in scoring, averaging north of 39 points per game.
Despite its best efforts, Merrimack College’s defense could not keep up, nor could the offense keep pace with the Red Flash all day in a 52-23 season ending loss. With a healthy balance of running the football and well-designed run-pass-options, Merrimack’s defense struggled to stop the Northeastern Conference’s best offense all day, something head coach Dan Curran noted after the game.
Merrimack will play St. Thomas in an exhibition game in December to officially wrap up the year, but the Warriors finish the regular season schedule at 8-3. St. Francis is off to the FCS playoffs.
“They’re dynamic at the wild spot (WR). Probably (have) the two best in the conference,” Curran said. “The key for us was, ‘can we stay on schedule and keep them off the field?'” Curran added, “We weren’t good enough on first and second down, which put us in third-and-long a bunch during the game. It was just kind of a momentum shift.”
Despite Curran’s desire to “stay on schedule,” puzzlingly, the Warriors came out of the gate running a hurry-up offense, not utilizing much clock or controlling the tempo. As a result, the Red Flash got the ball early and often to put the game out of reach in the first half, going into halftime up 38-7. From there on out, the Red Flash never looked back.
For the Warriors offense, quarterback Gavin McCusker finished with 109 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 7-17 passing. Running back Victor Dawson added 14 carries for 64 yards, but the running game never materialized into a consistent fulcrum for the offense. Merrimack’s ground-and-pound-style offense, unfortunately, was not built to play from behind nor in long down and distance situations. As a result, it was tough sledding all around for the Warriors Saturday afternoon, only mustering 124 yards on the ground in total.
As for St. Francis quarterback Cole Doyle, Doyle threw for a season-high 412 yards and five touchdowns on 21-27 passing en route to a routing win, clinching the NEC Championship, and securing a trip to the FCS 1 Playoffs. Doyle feasted on clever rub-routes and RPOs, which freed up receivers downfield and gave the Merrimack secondary headaches all game long. Pass catchers Dawson Snyder, Makai Jackson, and Elijah Sarratt combined 18 catches, 356 yards, and four touchdowns. St. Francis’ 52-point performance flustered a Merrimack defense that, before the NEC Championship, allowed only 18.3 points per game. It is a game that the Warriors defense would like to forget.
That said, things are looking up in North Andover.
Merrimack finished with the best record under Curran, 8-3, and tied the program record with eight wins. And with a bevy of returning players with eligibility in 2023, the Warriors look to build on the foundation they laid this season.
“Once the sting goes away in a couple weeks, I think these guys will realize how much they accomplished and feel fortunate they got to be a part of it,” Curran said. Strength and Conditioning coach Jeff Stern added, “We did something special. Yeah, this one hurts because of the amount of hard work that went into this thing. But, ‘hey, let’s be back here next year and commit ourselves to this thing.'”
Junior H-Back, Pat Conroy, who hauled in one of McCusker’s two touchdown passes, noted, “not the result we expected, but we had one of our best seasons ever. It’s our third year in D-1… There are some good things to look back on. We learned a good lesson today, and I’m sure we’ll be in the same spot next year.” Conroy finished the game with two receptions for 58 yards and a touchdown.
When asked about the players graduating and leaving the program this year, Curran said, “what this group accomplished; they’re a part of history now. What they’ve done will not go unnoticed, and I think a lot of our younger guys understand what it takes.” Later, Curran remarked that the way the team carries itself goes beyond what they do in the practice field and the weight room, but what they do on campus. Coach Stern echoed that sentiment, praising the leadership of Merrimack’s graduating players. Next season, Stern hopes to see the team maintain and improve upon what they established in 2022.
The sting of Saturday’s loss may linger until the New Year, but the Warriors proved late in the game that not only are they “#MackTough,” but they can get tougher in 2023.
Look for Merrimack to do just that next season.