As his Salem boys volleyball team finished off Keene, 3-1, for its third straight Division I title on Oct. 27, coach E.J. Perry saw why Salem – as an athletics department, not a single team – can claim to be the best in New Hampshire.

Watching the Blue Devils remain undefeated as an NHIAA-recognized team that day were football players, who weeks later played in their own Division I championship for the second straight year.

Also present were field hockey team members, who later won their fourth Class L crown in five years, and the entire girls volleyball team, crowned Division I champs a week later for the first time in 10 years.

Perry, however, saw more than a collection of champions. He saw the camaraderie that’s come to embody many Blue Devil teams as well as “the school coming together and everyone showing each other mutual respect.

“And,” Perry added, “I think that’s what you need because we’re taking steps to being, if not the best program, one of the few great programs in the state.”

With titles from the boys and girls volleyball team, field hockey team and cheerleading squad, Salem claimed the most team state championships of any New Hampshire school this fall.

Hanover also claimed four, but that included three team titles – in boys soccer, boys golf and girls cross country – and one individual crown in boys golf.

Salem athletics director Chris Bergeron also said he believes it’s the most the school has ever claimed in a single season, fall or otherwise. stop there. Every Salem team made the playoffs this past season, the boys and girls soccer teams included, while the boys golf team placed fourth among Class L teams, just seven strokes back of state champion Concord.

Bergeron credits the overall success to many things, including a large population of roughly 2,200 students, dedicated athletes and coaches, and maybe even a little bit of karma.

But above all, he pointed to the family-like atmosphere the athletes themselves created, supporting each other from tournament to tournament and championship to championship.

It’s also created a rather nice problem of deciding which is the best sports team at Salem.

“It’s a difficult question to answer,” Bergeron said. “The girls volleyball team had a tremendous season and it certainly was magical, but in that same season, you have a boys volleyball team that has a winning streak of 55 games. And you have a field hockey team that’s one back-to-back titles, and our softball program in the spring has won seven of the last nine softball titles.

“So,” he added, “it’s difficult to say, ‘This is the best team, this is the best right here.’”

Some teams naturally joked about it. Perry said he and girls coach Dan Young made cracks along the lines of, “Oh, I have to stay undefeated now because the girls are going to have their streak. They won 19 in a row so they’re trying to catch us.”

“But I think toward the end when they won it and we were just beginning our playoffs, E.J. began talking more about two state championships and that was exciting,” Young said. “So for the girls, I think he wants to see their success as much as anybody.” Much like Perry noticed at his team’s state championship, field hockey coach Carol Merchant also remembered athletes from all the teams coming out to support her squad as it defeated Pinkerton Academy and Exeter.

“The football players were in the stands with their bodies painted and our girls’ numbers on their chest, and I can hear them screaming for us,” she said. “It just seemed like we had the 12th man on the field.”

It’s no surprise, considering that as the Blue Devils have risen to become one of the state’s best, rarely have they gone it alone.