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Martinez leads Salem to huge win over Lawrence

Wednesday, November, 27 By David Willis

SALEM, N.H. — Forget the rain, forget the cold and forget that he was covered, head to toe, in a thick layer of mud. Jason Martinez was the happiest man in the state of New Hampshire last night.

“I love this!” Martinez said with a smile, looking up into the rain. “This is great, it’s like playing backyard football when I was a kid. This was my last game, and to go out like this is pretty amazing. We wanted to prove ourselves out there and we did it.”

Martinez and his Blue Devil mates made quite a statement in their 2013 finale.

After falling behind by seven points on the first play of the game, Salem surged back to score the next 50 points and rolled to a 50-21 victory over Lawrence High in their Thanksgiving Eve matchup last night.

“Coach (Rob Pike) told us the turkey was going to taste a lot better if we won this,” said tight end/linebacker Austin Homsey. “After so many losses it feels so much better to go out with a victory. Jason did his job tonight and was just great.”

Martinez, a senior, closed out his career in tremendous fashion.

The running back finished the night with an eye-popping 222 yards on just 19 carries, 209 of those yards and both of his touchdowns in the first half as the Blue Devils built a 28-point lead. He also caught a 48-yard pass to set up another score. He carried just twice in the second half.

“I sure felt like I was (in the zone),” said Martinez. “I just felt amazing. We wanted to show Massachusetts that New Hampshire can play some football too, and it worked out pretty well.”

Lawrence started with a bang, as Ranier Almonte took a handoff on the first play from scrimmage and broke free for a 56-yard touchdown.

“After that touchdown we were all looking at each other smiling because we knew we could play in the game,” said Homesy. “We knew Lawrence was dangerous. But this was a lot more important than just a regular season game. We were confident.”

It took Salem just seven plays to respond, with Martinez breaking a 40-yard run to set up a 16-yard score by junior Josh Rodriguez.

The Lancers looked like they was ready to retake the lead, driving to the Blue Devil 5-yard line, but Salem forced an incomplete pass on fourth down to turn them away. Martinez then scored a 6-yard touchdown to put his team in the lead.

Lawrence again marched down the field, moving to the Salem 8-yard line before the Blue Devils once again stood tough and forced incomplete passes on third and fourth down.

That kicked off a huge Salem run that saw three touchdowns scored in a matter of 1:46. First, Rodriguez scored from 13 yards out, then a Bryce Haynes interception turned into a Martinez 81-yard touchdown two plays later. On the first play of the following drive, Matthew Ayotte picked off a pass and four plays after Matt Cerretani hit Homsey for a 5-yard touchdown with four seconds left until halftime.

“Those two goal line stands were huge momentum shifters,” said Homesy. “Something like that always changes the game. Then when you have a back as good as Jason and Josh, who is back next year, also having a big game a lot can happen.”

By the time the second half started, Salem had begun subbing in backups, bit still managed two more touchdowns including a TD by sophomore Doug Maroun.

It was a sweet way to cap off a turnaround season that saw the Blue Devils go from winless in 2012 to 4-5 this year including three of their last four games.

“From last year to this year it was just a whole new feeling,” said Martinez. “We were focused and really close. It feels great to finish my career like this.”