Liam MacKenzie
It was a memorable afternoon at Duane Stadium on the campus of Merrimack College as the Warriors Football Team picked up a big-time win on Homecoming Weekend against the Robert Morris Colonials by a score of 24-7. With the victory, the Warriors still hold an undefeated record at home of 3-0. It was a feel-good win for a Merrimack Football team, who were playing against a Colonials team that did not allow a single point against the Warriors last year when they played at their house, and the final score ended up being 6-0. After losing on the road last week to Stony Brook 35-10, Merrimack would try to bounce back big time on a homecoming weekend where a lot of people would be showing up for the festivities and support this team.
The game started with the defense allowing a 74-yard jet sweep to Robert Morris Running Back Owen McGraw, which then followed up with a touchdown in the red zone to Tight End Chaz Middleton on a pass from Quarterback Cooper Panteck, which put the Colonials up 7-0. Fortunately, Merrimack was able to get on the scoreboard in the First Quarter with a Field Goal made by Carlton Thai from 34 yards out to make it a 7-3 game. It was not until after the 2 minute warning in the first half that any team would get on the scoreboard again and that happened to be the Warriors as it turned out to be a 20 yard touchdown pass on a check down from Quarterback Aveon Smith to Running Back Brendon Wyatt which led to the Warriors getting a 10-7 lead and Aveon Smith (A graduate transfer from Alabama A&M) his first touchdown pass as a Merrimack Warrior. In the second half, there was no looking back after allowing the touchdown pass that Robert Morris scored on their first drive, as the third quarter was a defensive fight where no points were scored, but the good part of it was that there was an interception from Merrimack Defensive Back Kamden Wyatt on Quarterback Cooper Panteck. This resulted in Kamden Wyatt’s first interception as a Merrimack Warrior, as he came over as a transfer from Lackawanna College and it gave a boost to the stat sheet for the Warrior defense. With that play, it led to the Warriors team taking control of the remainder of the game as a 39 yard pass from Quarterback Ayden Pereira to Tight End Cade Callahan would set up a 5 yard touchdown run by Pereira that would eventually lead to Merrimack making it a 17-7 score and then would later see the next drive be all about the transfer from Saint Francis, DeMarcus McElroy pull off a 63 yard run that would later result in McElroy get his first touchdown on the ground as a Warrior which would eventually seal the game as the Warriors would win against the Colonials 24-7 in a game that felt so good for all three phases of the football game.
With everyone who was curious about how many fans showed up to the game, with homecoming being one of the biggest events at Merrimack College, it set an attendance record of 15,426 people that showed up to the game, and the support from the fans was truly something on the first Saturday of October. The Warriors Football Team and Second Year Head Coach Mike Gennetti will look to build off this homecoming victory against Robert Morris as they will have another home game at Duane Stadium as they take on Maine next. They are another opponent that Merrimack played last year, and hopefully, will make the result different with a win this season. For Merrimack, they will hopefully make an attempt to go on a win streak before the bye week on the 25th of October, as they also have another game after Maine, where they will be on the road against Harvard. For that game, it is one that Merrimack will hope to get its first road win of the season, which is a type of result that Merrimack has not had yet and will hopefully happen at some point in the season.
The Merrimack Warriors move to 3-3 after the victory on homecoming weekend and hope to get over .500, along with getting a win streak going that will result in the team getting hot before the bye week. The team has some wins tallied to their record, but the best is yet to come heading into the halfway point of the season.
