Merrimack Erases a 10-0 Hole and Beats New Hampshire 24-17
New Hampshire threw for 345 yards and ran for 7. Guess which team won. Merrimack beat New Hampshire 24-17 after trailing 10-0, and the 190 yards it gained on the ground (40 carries) mattered a lot more than the 345 the other side piled up through the air.
New Hampshire had the early run. Lucas Glassburn kicked a 22-yard field goal in the first quarter, and Tommy McLeish hit Logan Perez from 40 yards with 1:03 left in the opening period for a 10-0 lead. Merrimack answered with AJ Hairston Jr's 3-yard run late in the second, then Mike Ryan's 35-yard field goal as the half expired tied it at 10.
The second half belonged to Merrimack. Hairston threw a 30-yard touchdown to DeMarcus McElroy with 9:11 left in the third for a 17-10 lead, McLeish tied it back at 17 with a 12-yard pass to Colby Ramshaw, and then nobody scored for a while. Hairston ran in from 7 yards with 7:53 left in the fourth and that was the last score of the day. Merrimack finished with no interceptions to New Hampshire's one.
The passing yards were not the problem for New Hampshire. The ground game was: 16 carries, 7 yards. Merrimack also sacked New Hampshire three times. Merrimack moves to 3-4, New Hampshire falls to 2-6.
For fantasy, Hairston was the story with 29.9 points, and Ryan Ricketti caught 11 passes for 155 yards in a losing effort. If you owned a New Hampshire receiver, you got your yards and not much else.