RallyNorth.net

Fedrick, Salem rally past Memorial

Friday, September, 16 By Dave Dyer
Sports editor

SALEM, N.H. — It was not, claimed Salem senior Jerickson Fedrick, one of his best performances.

“I could have done a lot better,” said Fedrick. “There are a lot of little things we have to work on.”

Try telling that to Manchester Memorial coach Peter Colcord, however, whose Crusaders played Salem tough down to the wire only to be burned by Fedrick and the unbeaten Blue Devils, who scored twice in the final 1:10 of the game for a dramatic 44-34 victory.

Fedrick, while having to work hard for his 153 rushing yards, scored four touchdowns, including a 90-yard kickoff return (his third in two games) and a 64-yard interception return on the final play of the game.

“Fedrick was in my nightmares all week,” said Colcord. “I told him after the game that now I don’t have to dream about him anymore and he just laughed. He’s a great player.”

Fedrick had to be great when it counted because Memorial, with battering ram 245-pound back Steven Dwight leading the way, gave Salem all it could handle.

Dwight scored two touchdowns, including the first of the game, and rushed for 178 yards on 34 carries. Along with quarterback Cody Dalton, who scrambled for a 21-yard TD run with 1:10 to play, Memorial tested Salem’s defense all night, although — among others — lineman Chris Fancy and linebackers Dominic Gigante and Kevin Dembkowski made several big stops for Salem in the second half.

After Memorial took the late lead, Salem got the ball on its own 46. An 18-yard Jonathan Soldano pass to Ryan Decker, who scored on a beautiful 68-yard strike in the second quarter, combined with a roughing the passer penalty and quickly took the ball to the 28.

Three Fedrick sweeps brought the ball down to the one, where Rasheed Adigun took it in for what proved the winning points with 17 seconds left. Fedrick then got his interception and sprinted into the end zone on the last play of the game.

“We played well, but I knew it would come down to who had the ball last and it was Salem,” said Colcard. “Even with a minute left, with Fedrick, I knew it wasn’t over.”