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Jacques unstoppable in Salem win

Saturday, October, 03 By Chuck Frye
Staff writer

NASHUA, N.H. — Max Jacques wasn't having a very good day.

On a cloudy, rainy Saturday afternoon at Stellos Stadium, the junior was getting stacked up effectively by host Nashua South. Despite a 3-yard touchdown run, he struggled for 36 yards on his first eight carries, his last three attempts going for zero, zero and zero yards. On top of that, the Panthers held a 13-7 lead.

But with 50 seconds left in the first half, Jacques took a handoff off the left side of his line, veered to the sidelines and was off to the races. He sprinted 80 yards for a touchdown, and in just 12.5 seconds turned around the fortunes of both himself and the Blue Devils. Finishing with 331 yards and a school record-tying four TDs, Jacques was a force in Salem's 49-35 victory.

Remaining undefeated at 5-0, 4-0 in Division 1, the Blue Devils' last challenge for the regular season title looms Oct. 17 against unbeaten Nashua North.

"Really? Whoa!," said the 5-6 junior when told of his accomplishment. "I'm really surprised. You've got to give credit for the line to get me out there in the first place." 

Eschewing the middle of the field and working the edges of the South defense, Jacques found huge chunks of open real estate. His next touch on the second play of the second half covered 71 yards around right end and, with help from a big downfield block from left tackle Andrew Ivas, finished in the end zone.

After South's Armond McRae (78 yards) scored his second TD of the day to shave Salem's lead to two, 21-19, Jacques started a game-deciding three-touchdown run with his final jaunt. Starting off right tackle, Jacques cleared the South linebackers, sliced to the left sidelines, blew past the last safety and sprinted the 89-yard distance to paydirt.

Tyler Kelley's fumble recovery on the ensuing kickoff and a Panther three-and-out set up sophomore Jerickson Fedrick for his two TDs, covering 1 and 25 yards, to give the Blue Devils an untouchable 42-19 advantage.

Salem ended up with 488 yards of offense, getting 53 passing yards from Matt Cannone including a 28-yard pass that was tipped by two South defenders before nestling into senior Kyle Henrick’s arms for the Blue Devils’ final score.

Despite forcing a pair of turnovers, including a fourth-quarter interception by Jacques, Salem yielded 397 yards of offense to the Panthers including 18-of-31 passing, 236 yards and three TDs from junior standout Keith Farkas.

"Against a spread team, that gets us out of our base defense,” Gati said. “We had a lot of missed tackles, and we’ll get a little motivation because we gave up 35 points. I told the kids that, if I knew before that the game would be like this, I wouldn’t be happy but as long as we win, it’s OK.”

And with its second triumph over a Division 1 title finalist, Jacques said, “We’re a serious team this year and we’re not messing around.”