This past weekend (October 13-15) was Merrimack College's 2017 homecoming weekend, and it was eventful as any Merrimack event could be. With the grand opening of the brand new Warrior Stadium on Friday, tailgating before watching the Warriors against the Setters (Pace University) in football on Saturday, and the men's ice hockey team home opener on Saturday night, homecoming couldn't have been anymore eventful.
As said before, Friday October 13th was the opening of the brand new Warrior Stadium! Students, alumni, friends, and family were allowed to walk around the field. While walking around the field, there were games and concessions to buy! Games included were a football toss and a strength game where you hit a hammer on a target. You could also get your picture taken with friends and it would be printed on a "Limited Edition" Sports Illustrated cover!
Saturday, October 14 at 10am is when parking lots were opened to those with tailgating passes and everyone came together to drink, grill, and have a good time! Seeing alumni again was fun, especially catching up on what has been going on. When noon had hit, I noticed people started walking toward the stadium for the game at 1pm. It was my first time ever going into a press box to watch a football game, so I left around 12:30pm to grab a coffee and head up to the box. I know it's just college football, but for me, this was nerve-racking.The scoreboard clock hits 00:00, it is now time for the football team's homecoming game against the Pace University Setters (Number five in the New England 10 Conference)!
Seniors, Devin O'Reilly, Brian Carroll, and Joseph Peduto walked to the middle of the field with Pace's captains for the coin toss. Warriors won the coin toss and we were off! Within the first few minutes of the game, Jovan Grant made a powerful hit to protect his teammate who was on the carry. As I was watching the first quarter, I noticed how quickly Merrimack was to advance towards the end zone. Through-out the entire game, Warriors protected their house so well. A few names you would have heard during the game multiple times would be graduate student CJ Scarpa, senior Derrik Villard, and redshirt junior Cody Demers.
If there was any name I heard in most of the offensive plays it was number three, graduate student CJ Scarpa! Clean passes to other teammates left and right (literally), whether it was just to get the ball out of the pocket or to get to the end zone. Most of Scarpa's passes were completed, but unfortunately Pace had made some incomplete.
Another name you may have heard frequently on Saturday was Scarpa's partner in crime, number 22, Cody Demers. The redshirt junior from Dracut, Massachusetts tore his ACL his spring semester of sophomore year, thus keeping him from making any plays his junior year. Although now he has an extra year of eligibility to play with the team. Demers and Scarpa seemed to be quite the duo out on the field, for they were always in sync with passes to and from one another. Demers was also a reason I believe as to why the ball was making up the field so quickly. He was quick to think on his feet and would run up the middle or fake out the Setters and take off! As for the senior hailing from Connecticut, Derrick Villard, he was constantly running the ball and dodging tackles no matter which way they came! Unfortunately, one event was when Villard went to go right and got brought down, but I think he could have faked it and went left on them! It happens though, and maybe I'm even wrong, maybe there was no room to fake.
In conclusion, the Warriors had an outstanding game! Unfortunately, a Setter was flagged for unsportsmen-like conduct, which was a shame and was ejected from the game. There were some flags on the Warriors, not everyone is perfect guys. I am just glad our boys kept it a nice friendly game. While I was watching and noticed the score was 37 to 10 with 09:48 left in the fourth quarter, I was beginning to wonder if the Warriors were going to get lazy since they were up by 27 points. Derrick Villard must have heard me because he proved me wrong and went in for another touchdown with 7:20 left in the game! Number 97, Stephen Camarro, goes for the extra point (which by the way, 99.99% always gets it) and... IT'S GOOD!!!! Merrimack College Warriors win their homecoming game against the Pace University Setters! Also making history with their very first win at the brand new Warrior Stadium!!!!
It was a wonderful weekend to be a Warrior! Congratulations to our Warrior football team for making history on such a beautiful new field!
