By Tiffany Williams –
ORONO, Maine — Merrimack did not need a prolific passing attack to take down Maine. The Warriors turned to their defense, special teams and a punishing ground game, scoring on a blocked punt return and an interception return before putting the game away with a late safety in a 23-14 victory Friday night at Morse Field at Alfond Stadium.
Merrimack improved to 1-2 while Maine fell to 1-2 overall and 1-0 in conference play. The Warriors trailed 3-0 after the first quarter before taking a 7-3 advantage into halftime. Merrimack scored 14 points in the third quarter and then used a fourth-quarter safety to secure the nine-point victory.
The game kicked off at 5:02 p.m. under sunny skies in Orono, with 5,065 in attendance. Merrimack won the opening toss and deferred, giving Maine the football first.
Maine’s opening possession went nowhere. A holding penalty wiped out a nine-yard Nick Laughlin run and pushed the Black Bears backward before Eddie Buehler was stopped for no gain and then threw incomplete on third-and-20. Anthony Pecorella punted 52 yards, putting Merrimack at its own 18.
The Warriors immediately handed Maine an enormous opportunity. Matthias Latham gained three yards before losing two, and on third-and-nine AJ Hairston’s pass was intercepted by Chris Bacon. Bacon returned it 22 yards all the way to the Merrimack 1-yard line.
Merrimack’s defense responded with a goal-line stand that changed the early complexion of the game.
Rashawn Marshall was stopped for no gain on first down. Buehler went nowhere on second down and fumbled, although Maine recovered. Michael McMaugh was stuffed on third down. Maine elected to go for it on fourth-and-one, but Buehler was dropped for a two-yard loss and fumbled again. Bryce Ricks recovered for Merrimack at the 3, allowing the Warriors to escape without surrendering a point.
Merrimack moved out to its own 18 before punting, and Maine began its third possession at its own 44. A Merrimack pass-interference penalty immediately moved the Black Bears across midfield. Buehler then ran seven yards for a first down, and his seven-yard completion to Marshall moved Maine to the Merrimack 23.
The Warriors stopped Marshall on third-and-three, forcing Maine to settle for a field goal. Samuel Tremblay connected from 41 yards with 5:18 remaining in the opening quarter, giving the Black Bears a 3-0 lead.
Merrimack began moving the football on its next possession. Hairston recovered from an early fumble and broke loose for 25 yards to the Warriors’ 49. He followed with an 11-yard completion to Ty Yocum before Latham added six yards on consecutive carries. A false-start penalty helped stall the possession, and Mike Ryan punted Maine back to its own 5.
The Black Bears gained only nine yards before the first quarter ended and punted on the opening play of the second. Merrimack took possession at its own 35 and began another sustained drive.
Hairston connected with Austin Palmer for two yards, Bryce Goulet for eight and Kenyon Massey for 12, moving the Warriors across midfield. DeMarcus McElroy then rushed seven yards to the Maine 41. Consecutive incompletions forced another Merrimack punt, leaving Maine at its own 32 with 11:30 remaining in the half.
That is when Merrimack’s special teams took over.
Maine gained five yards on Buehler’s second-down run, but Logan Graham sacked him for a five-yard loss on third down. Pecorella came out to punt, but Jeremiah Anamelechi-Ford blocked the kick. Danny Simms recovered at the Maine 12 and returned it into the end zone for the touchdown.
Guytano Bartolomeo converted the extra point with 10:02 remaining, and Merrimack had turned a 3-0 deficit into a 7-3 lead without its offense reaching the end zone.
Maine went three-and-out on its next possession, and Merrimack threatened again when Hairston found Goulet for an 18-yard completion to the Maine 44. The opportunity disappeared when Maine’s Ta’Kai Chisolm sacked Hairston for an eight-yard loss and forced a fumble that Bryce Purnell recovered at the Merrimack 46.
The Black Bears again received excellent field position. A Merrimack pass-interference penalty moved Maine to the Warriors’ 31, but Buehler’s pass on second-and-nine was intercepted by Simms near the goal line, ending another Maine scoring opportunity.
Merrimack later gave Maine yet another chance when Cole Meehan’s pass was intercepted by Sam Oppenheimer and returned 13 yards to the Warriors’ 21. The Merrimack defense again refused to break. Marshall gained three yards, Buehler completed a four-yard pass to Malik McNeely and Marshall was stopped for no gain on third down. On fourth-and-three, Laughlin managed only two yards, and Merrimack took over on downs at its own 12.
Merrimack carried a 7-3 advantage into halftime despite committing three first-half turnovers. Maine had repeatedly started possessions in Warriors territory but had only Tremblay’s field goal to show for those opportunities.
The Warriors received the second-half kickoff, but back-to-back false starts contributed to a quick punt. Maine responded by driving from its own 43 into Merrimack territory. Buehler completed passes to Eli Mahan, Marshall and Evan Wallace, and the Black Bears appeared to take the lead when he found Keyon Concepcion for a 27-yard touchdown.
The score never counted. A chop-block penalty against Maine erased the touchdown and pushed the Black Bears backward to the Merrimack 42. Buehler completed a six-yard pass to Laughlin on third-and-22 before Maine punted.
Merrimack punted it right back, and its defense delivered the game’s next touchdown.
Maine started at its own 28 with 7:56 remaining in the third. Laughlin lost two yards on first down and Buehler threw incomplete on second. Facing third-and-12 from the 26, Buehler tried to throw over the middle.
Deandre Ricks intercepted the pass at the Maine 32 and took it all the way back for a touchdown. Bartolomeo’s extra point with 7:05 remaining increased Merrimack’s lead to 14-3.
Maine finally answered with its best offensive drive of the game.
Starting at its own 13, Marshall gained four yards before Buehler found McNeely for four. McMaugh then connected with Laughlin for 16 yards and a first down. Buehler followed with a 23-yard completion to Wallace, and Laughlin later hauled in a 30-yard pass that moved the Black Bears all the way to the Merrimack 7.
Marshall finished the seven-play, 87-yard possession with a seven-yard touchdown run. Maine went for two, and Mahan successfully converted the pass attempt, cutting Merrimack’s lead to 14-11 with 3:50 remaining in the third quarter.
Merrimack’s offense then produced its most important drive of the night.
Palmer opened the possession with an 11-yard run into Maine territory. Latham followed by breaking loose for 17 yards to the Maine 31 and then gained another six. McElroy rushed nine yards to the 16, and a Maine personal-foul penalty moved the football to the 8.
Hairston ran four yards to the Maine 4 before McElroy took the next handoff and powered four yards into the end zone. Bartolomeo added the extra point with 45 seconds remaining in the third, completing a six-play, 59-yard drive and restoring Merrimack’s two-score advantage at 21-11.
Maine went three-and-out to begin the fourth quarter. Merrimack then leaned on its running game, with Latham and Galamama Mulbah moving the chains before a holding penalty stalled the possession. Ryan’s punt gave Maine the football at its own 20 with 11:30 remaining.
The Black Bears mounted one final serious push.
Buehler connected with Concepcion for nine yards and Wallace for five before scrambling for 11. He then found McNeely for 12 yards, moving Maine into Merrimack territory. A Merrimack holding penalty helped the Black Bears reach the Warriors’ 29, but a Maine holding penalty immediately erased a Laughlin run and sent the offense backward.
Rajahn Cooper then sacked Buehler for a four-yard loss. After an incompletion and a Buehler run, Maine faced fourth-and-nine from the Merrimack 28. Tremblay came on and converted a 45-yard field goal with 6:22 remaining, cutting the Warriors’ lead to 21-14.
Merrimack responded exactly as a team protecting a fourth-quarter lead needed to respond.
Latham and McElroy combined to set up third-and-two before Hairston kept the football and ran 10 yards for a first down. The Warriors eventually reached midfield before Ryan delivered a 45-yard punt that pinned Maine at its own 5 with only 2:15 remaining.
The Merrimack defense needed just one play to essentially end it.
Laughlin took the handoff and tried to run left, but Dwayne Green Jr. brought him down five yards behind the line in the end zone. The safety with 2:10 remaining gave Merrimack a 23-14 lead.
Maine attempted an onside free kick following the safety, but Merrimack took possession at the Maine 41. Hairston then ran 15 yards for a first down before a Maine personal-foul penalty helped move the Warriors to the 11. Merrimack took a knee in the final minute and closed out the 23-14 road victory.
Merrimack’s offense finished with 290 total yards, including 211 on the ground. The Warriors averaged five yards per rushing attempt and controlled possession for 33:40. Maine finished with 199 total yards, including just 53 rushing yards on 31 attempts, an average of 1.7 yards per carry.
Latham led Merrimack with 72 rushing yards on 16 carries, while Hairston added 65 yards on 10 attempts. McElroy rushed five times for 30 yards and scored the Warriors’ only offensive touchdown. Hairston completed 9 of 16 passes for 73 yards with one interception, while Meehan went 1-for-2 for six yards with an interception.
Buehler completed 12 of 25 passes for 130 yards but was intercepted twice and sacked twice. He added 24 rushing yards. Marshall carried 12 times for 21 yards and Maine’s lone touchdown, while Laughlin led the Black Bears with three receptions for 52 yards.
The final numbers told the story of Merrimack’s defensive performance. Maine converted just one of 12 third downs and failed on both of its fourth-down attempts. The Black Bears reached the red zone three times but scored only one touchdown, while Merrimack’s defense produced two interceptions, two sacks and the late safety.
Merrimack’s offense scored only seven of its 23 points. Simms’ touchdown off the blocked punt, Ricks’ 32-yard interception return and Green’s safety accounted for the rest as the Warriors turned defense and special teams into the difference in Orono.