Keene gets its kicks at Merrimack’s expense

MERRIMACK – It took the Keene Blackbirds football team until over halfway through the final game of their season to learn that their best offensive weapon was their punt teams.

Capitalizing on two productive second-half punt plays, the Blackbirds were able to overcome a 3-0 deficit at halftime to beat the host Tomahawks 19-3.

With both teams having moderate success running the ball and showing little inclination to throw much the first half was a back-and-forth affair featuring a 30-yard Greg Stetson field goal as the only scoring. There was no indication of what was about to break loose in an incredibly exciting, if not weird, third quarter.

Keene got the ball first, was thwarted by two big defensive plays by Spencer Damon and one by Mike Giampietro, and was forced to punt from its own 27-yard line. However, the snap was bobbled by kicker Mike Tateosian, who somehow made a spectacularly athletic play to field the ball and scramble away from oncoming ‘Hawks long enough to get off a short, but successful, punt. However, as Merrimack players were attempting to tackle him due to his scramble to get off the punt referees called roughing the kicker on Merrimack.

Later protests about the play led to an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, and the two 15-yard penalties added up to the largest gain of the night for either team. What could have been Merrimack’s ball inside Keene territory wound up instead being the Blackbirds’ ball at the Merrimack 44-yard line. Two big Chris Lacroix rushes and a 4-yard Aaron Pickering touchdown run later, Keene had completed a significant swing.

Merrimack had a significant chance to rebound a few minutes later as linebacker Jim Bigwood made a sterling interception of Keene quarterback Tanner Luopa, twisting back to bat up a ball thrown behind him, tipping it to himself, and coming down with the it at the Keene 18-yard line. But two plays later the Tomahawks fumbled the ball right back to the Blackbirds.

Later in that drive came Keene’s niftiest play of the night. Stalled at midfield, facing a fourth-and-3 at their own 49, Luopa went under center temporarily and waited in hopes of drawing Merrimack offsides. He then patted his center on the backside, pulled out from under center and walked to the sidelines like he was going to call a time out. It was a carbon copy of something he had done earlier in the game, but this time he never signaled for time. The center snapped the ball to Tateosian, who rushed for 6yards and the first down.

“I’ve seen it before, but we hadn’t seen them do it on any tape,” Merrimack coach Joe Battista said.

With new life on the drive, the Blackbirds marched down the field, finally scoring on a 10-yard halfback option pass from Lacroix to Tateosian.

Keene was again helped by the punting game later in the quarter, as Merrimack had a communication problem on what was going to be a fake punt. The ball was snapped long and Tomahawk Steve Alario had to run back and retrieve it. Despite what was actually a nice improvised run, Alario was dropped ten yards behind the line of scrimmage on a turnover on downs.

“We called a fake, but we called it from the sidelines, after we saw how they aligned- the center didn’t hear it,” Battista said. “So he tried long snapping it to the punter. It was set up; we were going to release two ends, and they only had one backer. There would have been someone open.”

Given primo field position at Merrimack’s 35-yard line it took the Blackbirds just six plays to ram home a third touchdown with Tyler Carbone going up the gut 12 yards for the score.

It was a bleak finish for a Tomahawks team that had started the game quite brightly, running the no-huddle offense and ripping off large chunks of yardage with Brandon Quinno, who had gains of 16, 13, and 19 yards in the first quarter. The senior back led all carriers with 108 yards rushing on 22 carries.

The loss finishes Merrimack’s Division II schedule with a 2-6 record, though the Tomahawks still have a Thanksgiving game against Souhegan on their schedule. Keene finishes at 3-5 in the division.