With Bedford students leaving Manchester West and many of Central’s would-be Hooksett players now heading to West to fill the void, Peter Colcord knows the next couple years offer a prime chance for his Memorial football team to battle for Queen City gridiron supremacy.

It won’t happen this season, said the first-year head coach, but the building blocks are in place for his squad to contend in the next three or four years.

“I knew we would have a tough time this year. I knew we lacked experience and lacked (offensive and defensive) line depth, so … within the next couple years I expect us to be a playoff team,” said Colcord, who spent three years coaching at Trinity and another five at Memorial before three years at Londonderry and a return to MHS last season.

“The freshman class I have right now is very strong, and the JVs are mostly sophomores, so what I’m doing is different than what’s been done in the past ... I’m keeping those kids together and letting them grow as a group,” he continued. “I’m trying to … build their confidence up and then move them along.”

Though the Crusaders have shown flashes of brilliance on offense this season, they’ve faced two strong opposing attacks in their first two D-I contests, and the inexperience on defense has been evident. Memorial lost to Pinkerton on Sept. 12, 41-6, and was thoroughly handled by Salem on Friday, Sept. 19, 65-20.

“We have pretty good skill kids, but defensively we’re pretty weak,” said Colcord. “Our defensive line is not good. They just blew us off the ball, and our tackling was poor.”

Behind the three-headed passing/ rushing/receiving monster of senior captains Chris Hynes and Rob Rogers and junior Domingo Cruz, respectively, the Crusaders put together a 70-yard opening drive capped by a 7-yard Hynes keeper into the end zone.

The team continuously moved the ball throughout the contest, even without two of its other offensive standouts and captains – injured senior running back Ben Copp and injured wide receiver Shawn Mancini – yet Salem proved more impressive, burning the MHS defense to the tune of more than 500 yards from scrimmage.

“Really, we were only 22 points ahead, and the way they were throwing the ball, I was concerned going into the third quarter,” said Salem coach Jack Gati of his squad’s 36-14 halftime lead. “We’ve been improving on offense every week. I told the kids we were much better offensively tonight than we were last Friday night, and that was better than the first night,” said Colcord. “But we can’t tackle a lick, and I don’t understand why. We have some pretty big boys on the line, and we’ve been in the weight room, but they’re getting pushed around weekly out there. I know my defensive coordinator is ready to pull his hair out, but they’re just not executing what we’re trying to teach and trying to do.

“Not that it’s an excuse, but we have a lot of first-year players, even juniors and seniors coming out for the first time, and they’re learning as we’re playing,” he added. “They got a lesson tonight.”

Still, the mentor said the Crusaders have favorable match-ups against West and Concord in the near future, and they host a winnable inter-division battle against middling D-II Merrimack on Friday, Sept. 26.

“We should be competitive against those teams,” said Colcord. “I’m not sure whether we can beat them or not, but we’ll be competitive.”

Game notes
Against Salem, Hynes garnered 83 yards and a touchdown on the ground and threw for another 52 yards, including a 5-yard touchdown pass to Cruz.

Rogers ran hard all game and picked up several first downs. Senior Cody Quinn, in addition to a handful of nice catches, recovered a fumble in the end zone to score a touchdown on a botched Salem punt.