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BEDFORD - It was a tall task for Salem without not one, but two of its top running back options Saturday evening again top-ranked Bedford.

SALEM — Salem went blow for blow with Bedford but the top-seeded and unbeaten Bulldogs held on for a 12-7 win.

The good news is the two will go at it one more time in the playoffs next Saturday at 4 p.m. at 9-0 Bedford.

SALEM, N.H. — It wasn’t its best performance, but the end result was perhaps the most significant of the season for the Salem football team Friday night.

MERRIMACK — Merrimack handed Salem its first loss 39-20.

The host Tomahawks, who are also 4-1, took a 14-7 lead in the first and extended it to 21-7 at the break.

Josh Sibanda scored all three touchdowns, one a 12-yard run, another a 72-yard and alo a 35-yard pass from Matt Soldano.

DERRY - In preparing his football team for Friday night's showdown at Pinkerton Academy, Rob Pike chose to ignore the past. "Zero" times did he mention Salem's eight-game losing skid against the Astros, dating back to the 2009 playoffs. "Never" did he bring up the Blue Devils' 1-17 overall mark on Pinkerton turf. The coach didn't have to. The present has his football team ticked off enough already. Salem played angry, for the third straight week, and made Pinkerton pay for some perceived early-season oversights, thrashing the Astros, 41-28, to move to 3-0 on the season. "All year we've been slept on, and we just beat them," said Salem senior James LeBlond, who was all over the field on both sides of the ball, picking off a pair of passes from his safety spot and bowling over the Astros with 16 carries for 97 punishing yards. "A lot of early predictions didn't go our way. We were ranked ninth overall (in the state). And I think we've proven ourselves, everybody. (This win) was a way to show what Salem is about this year." Salem chewed up 329 yards on the ground for the night on 61 rushes with junior Josh Sibanda leading the charge with 182 yards and a TD. Juicing up the Blue Devils faithful, Sibanda dropped more than a handful of jaws with his 82-yard kick return for a score as well. "It's been a long time, we've never beaten Pinkerton. And here we are," said LeBlond. "We out-executed them. We were tougher than them. We knew what we wanted to do, just run it down there throat. We did it. You know, everyone saw it." What might not have been suspected was the defense Salem laid on Pinkerton, holding the Astros to 100 yards on 22 rushes. Ben Emerson had a pair of QB sacks and Jonathan St. Hilaire delivered a third on Pinkerton sophomore Aiden Goujon. LeBlond had nine tackles plus his two picks, while Matt Carney pounced on a pair of fumbles. "For the most part, we did real well," said Pike. "He's the middle safety for most of those plays. He's unbelievable. He reads where the ball is and then he breaks on it. He's fast. Those were two huge picks." LeBlond ran for two TDs, as did junior Adam Maroun. For Pinkerton, at 1-2, veteran coach Brian O'Reilly will continue to re-shuffle the deck in search for the right mix of youth and veterans in this re-loading season. Astros senior Nico Buccieri, all 5-foot-5 of him, was a one-man gang out there with 11 tackles on defense, plus 4 carries for 91 yards and six catches for 49 yards on offense. He scored on a 65-yard run, while Ty Hicks caught a 76-yard TD bomb and Kayden Baillargeon delivered a 78-yard kick return for touchdown.

SALEM, N.H. — After Friday night’s convincing 25-7 victory over Concord, which improved Salem to 2-0, there are at least two things that can be said about the Blue Devils.