Story and photo courtesy of Merrimack Athletics
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. - The Merrimack football team defeated the Saint Anselm Hawks on Saturday afternoon by the score of 62-26 in the class of 2013’s final collegiate game in front of 966 fans at Martone-Mejail Field. The Warriors racked up 639 yards of total offense in the victory, second most in school history.
Senior All-American Isaiah Voegeli (Hyannis, Mass.) finished off his historic Merrimack career with another 10 reception game in front of the home crowd as he racked up 10 grabs for 110 yards and one touchdown. With his performance on Saturday, Voegeli finished the season with a NE-10 record 108 catches for 1,500 yards and 14 touchdowns. Voegeli leaves the Warriors as the greatest wide receiver in school history as he set many school records including receptions with 211, yards with 3,554 and second in career touchdowns with 34.
Senior quarterback Joe Clancy (Newburyport, Mass.) finished off his record breaking season going 30-50 for 465 yards and five touchdowns, breaking the 400 yard plateau for the fifth time in 10 games. Clancy closed out his season breaking multiple NE-10 records including yards with 3,945, completions with 323, attempts with 510 and second in touchdowns with 31.
Playing in his final game after starting for all four years, Jesse Fowler (Lynn, Mass.) put together his best game of his career as he finished with 12 tackles, two interceptions, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, four pass breakups and a 30 yard interception return for a touchdown in the victory. Freshman Jere Brown (Freeport, NY) put together a solid game as he caught two balls for 110 yards and two touchdowns including a school record 91 yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter. Senior Steve Serwon (Amesbury, Mass.) finished off his Merrimack career with six grabs for 62 yards and a 28 yard touchdown reception.
The Hawks opened up the scoring less than two minutes into the game as Keith Charles found the end zone from five yards out but Merrimack responded quickly with two straight offensive touchdowns, a 19 yard strike to Brown and a 10 yard touchdown to Voegeli, making the score 13-6 in favor of the home squad.
The Merrimack defense joined the party recording back-to-back interception returns for a touchdown, marking the first time that has happened in school history. Fowler recorded the first one for the Warriors from 30 yards out while senior captain Ryan McCarthy (Newton, Mass.) took an interception back 45 yards for a score, making the score 27-6.
The two teams traded touchdown grabs to end the half as Steven Browne (Staten Island, NY) scored from 53 yards out giving Merrimack the 41-13 lead at half time.
Merrimack scored three straight touchdowns in the third quarter to extend their lead to 55-13. Quinn McDonough (Medford, Mass.), Serwon and Jimon Hill (North Chicago, Ill.) each scored less than six minutes apart.
After a Hawks touchdown, Clancy connected with Brown on a 91 yard touchdown strike, the longest passing play in school history. With his eight extra point on the afternoon, sophomore Nick Zwaan (Longmeadow, Mass.) tied the school record with 39 extra points on the season.
Justin Bernard closed out the game with a 25 yard touchdown, giving Merrimack the 62-26 victory, giving the Warriors senior class a 9-2 record at Martone-Mejail Field over the past two seasons.
Defensively the Warriors were led by defensive lineman Ben Polci (Newton, Mass.) who finished with a career-high 13 tackles including two sacks and 2.5 tackles for a loss. Senior Artis Holt (Baltimore, MD) finished off his impressive game with five tackles, three pass break ups and a kickoff return for 61 yards.
Clancy finished the season as the statistical leader in all passing categories in the NE-10 while Voegeli also finished as the leader in all receiving categories.
The Merrimack offense set numerous school records for a game including total plays in a game with 106 against American International, most points in a game with 81 against Saint Anselm, pass attempts in a game with 81, completions in a game with 50, passing yards in a game with 553 yards and first downs in a game with 35 against Saint Anselm.
Merrimack also set school record for points scored in a season with 410 points, including 143 points scored against Saint Anselm in two games. The high octane Merrimack offense also broke the school record for passing yards in a season with 3,992 yards, total offense in a season with 5,258 yards and first downs in a season with 283.
Merrimack closed out their 2012 campaign with a overall record of 6-4 including a 5-4 mark in conference games.