Apr 21, 2009

Football Preparing for Saturday’s Spring Game

NORTH ANDOVER, MA – The Merrimack football team is in its final week of spring practice leading up to Saturday’s spring football game at 3 p.m. at Warrior Field.

Led by head coach John Perry, who will enter his second season as Merrimack’s head coach, the Warriors have spent the last month going through 15 intense practices leading up to Saturday’s annual spring game in which the offense scrimmages the defense.

Picked to finish fifth in the conference in the preseason, the 2008 Merrimack football team finished third overall with a 6-4 record, 4-3 in the Northeast-10. They were 4-1 on the road, with the lone blemish coming against Division I-AA Bryant University. A school-record 12 student-athletes were named to the Northeast-10 All-Conference team, while Andrew Jackson became the first player in program history to earn first-team All-American honors. Jackson, the only first-team All-American from the Northeast-10 in 2008, was the first player in school history to score a touchdown offensively, defensively and on special teams.

After a 42-7 season-opening win over Husson, one could tell the 2008 Warriors were destined to set numerous offensive school records. Using a no-huddle offense, Merrimack ranked 18th in the nation and first in the conference, averaging 281.6 passing yards per game. Jeremiah Watts anchored the receiving core after Chris Laham suffered a season-ending injury, as the junior wide out ranked eighth nationally with 7.1 receptions per game. In a 48-42 loss to Saint Anselm, Merrimack set school single-game records with 647 offensive yards, 358 rushing yards, and 34 first downs.

Not to be outdone, Merrimack’s defense ranked second in the country with 4.10 sacks per game, led by freshman Tony Johnson, who set the school record with 11.5 sacks, which ranked second in the nation. Mike O’Brien, who set the school mark with six interceptions in 2008, tied for ninth nationally in that category and was a two-time Defensive Player of the Week honoree. In all, ten players received Northeast-10, ECAC or Division II Player of the Week honors, tops in the conference. While the Warriors lost many critical players such as Jackson, O’Brien, and J.D. Wild, the prospects for 2009 are very bright with the return of nine all-conference players from 2008, not to mention Laham, the program leader in career touchdowns, who received a medical redshirt to return in 2009 after suffering a season-ending injury in the third game of 2008.


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