I arrived a few minutes late to yesterday’s freshmen football game at Memorial High School in Manchester. As I approached the field, I heard the crowd cheer, and the upper classmen were jumping up and down while watching the Crusaders 9th-graders sack the Alvirne Broncos in the endzone very early in the game. I may have missed that score, but there were many more to come.

I watched a couple scrimmages in the past weeks, and wondered how the season would go. With a new offense in place, I wasn’t sure if they could score. It seemed up until this game, that just getting the ball from center, to quarterback, was a feat in itself. That part is improving, but has a long way to go.

This was my son, Brandon’s first high school football game. I figured he would be a big guy on the team at six-foot-one, 200-pounds, but I was wrong. There must have been something in the water around Manchester, because the Crusaders are loaded with big boys, and I don’t mean round!

Brandon’s kickoffs helped back up the Broncos, putting the ball inside the 10-yard-line each time, and setting up their defense for a feeding frenzy. Alvirne did manage to make a couple first downs in the game, and make one run down field. But, Memorial capitalized on a blocked punt in the endzone, and several other nice passes and runs, to score more than 50 points against the scoreless Broncos, before the game was called in the middle of the fourth quarter.

With the energy and teamwork this freshman squad has, I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of their games this year. As the coaches said during the parents meeting this summer, they are building a new program, and this was a positive start for an upcoming squad. The varsity takes on Alvirne tonight in Hudson.

-Bob Hammerstrom

Tags: Alvirne, Brandon, Broncos, Crusaders, freshman, freshmen, Hammerstrom, High School, Memorial