MANCHESTER, N.H. – For what is believed to be the first time since their 1973 state championship victory, the Manchester Memorial Crusaders have won a playoff game, defeating the Warriors of Winnacunnet, 22-13.
Memorial struck on the first drive of the game, a 16-play sequence ending with a five-yard touchdown run by senior Mo Olanweraju that ate up a majority of the first quarter. The Crusaders forced a three-and-out on the Warriors’ starting drive and would add another touchdown once they got the ball back. Their second touchdown came off a 16-yard pass from senior Colin Beaulieu to sophomore Joel Gomez, adding successful two-point conversions after both scores to take an early 16-0 lead.
To their credit, Winnacunnet did not give up after the early deficit and responded with a pair of their own touchdowns: a three-yard run from senior Mason McDonald and then a recovered kickoff immediately afterward that eventually transformed into a 21-yard touchdown toss from senior Riley McDaniel to sophomore Jaxon McDonald. Unlike the Crusaders however, Winnacunnet could not add the two-point conversion after their first score and settled for an extra point after the second one, heading into the half with a 16-13 deficit.
After the break, both sides struggled to break free from what had become an incredibly tight contest. Winnacunnet fumbled away possession deep in their own territory on the first drive of the second half, but an interception from Winnacunnet senior Dylan Palm diffused Memorial’s scoring threat. Both teams would then trade punts and Winnacunnet would fumble again in their own territory. This time, the Crusaders capitalized, as a 15-yard run by Olanweraju brought Memorial into the red zone and Beliveau’s keeper gave the game what would be its final six points.
That score came with 10:33 left in the contest, but Memorial struggled to eat up the rest of the clock, as the teams once again traded turnovers and Winnacunnet was able to take back possession with three minutes left in the contest and drive into field goal range shortly after the two-minute mark. If successful, the visitors might have still had a shot given their successful takeback from a kickoff earlier in the night, but the kick was blocked by senior Bory Bory and Memorial was able to kneel out the rest of the clock.
Memorial Head Coach Rob Sturgis came into Friday night’s showdown expecting a much closer outcome than their 37-7 victory over Winnacunnet just before Halloween given that the playoffs are a different animal than the regular season. But the Crusaders can be forgiven for their lack of experience with playoff intensity given that no current members of the team had been born yet during Memorial’s last playoff game in 2003.
Below: Video of Colin Beaulieu tossing a touchdown pass to Joel Gomez. Submitted by Darryl Johnston
“We knew they were going to battle, they were going to come out here and play like it was a playoff game,” said Sturgis. “It’s tough, there’s a different atmosphere, the physicality picks up, all those calls, everything feels like it has much more importance and I’m proud of the way our kids responded throughout the whole game because there were a lot of ups and downs in this one, a lot of twists and turns.”
Friday’s result was almost unthinkable just a few years ago as the Crusaders spent years without a win prior to Sturgis’ arrival and the subsequent culture change.
In the end, he hopes the lessons of persistence and hard work he has extolled on his team is something his players can take with them after they graduate.
“If you’re willing to put in the time and effort into what you’re trying to do and accomplish, you’re going to see some form of results at some point,” said Sturgis.
Memorial now heads on the road to face Exeter next Saturday at 1 p.m. Exeter was undefeated in the regular season, defeating Memorial 13-6 in October. Sturgis believes the key will be time of possession in that contest, but the Crusaders will have to reduce their penalties, particularly any deadball fouls like a pair of simultaneous 15-yard penalties on a kickoff in the fourth quarter that gifted Winnacunnet a drive starting just outside Memorial’s 20-yard-line. However, now that his boys have some playoff experience under their belts, he hopes such mistakes can be avoided.
“It’s a young football team, and this was their first really big moment and sometimes at moments like this we let our emotion get the better of us,” said Sturgis. “That’s just stuff you’ve got to clean up because when we play next week against Exeter, that can cost you a game just like that.”
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