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Fedrick's big night leads Salem

Friday, September, 09 By Jeff Hamrick

MANCHESTER — Jerickson Fedrick has had his share of success on a football field, but entering the second game of his senior season, the Salem speeedster had never scored on a kickoff return.

Last night, the Blue Devil senior crossed off that entry on his bucket list.

Fedrick took a pair of Manchester Central kickoffs back for touchdowns and added four more on rushing attempts as Salem ran away from the Little Green for a 50-28 victory at Gill Stadium for its second win of the season.

The first time Fedrick touched a ball he took a kickoff 98 yards to give the Blue Devils an 8-7 lead. The second time, he went 71 yards from scrimmage for a 16-8 advantage. Before the first half was over, Fedrick had added a 14-yard rushing touchdown and a 99 yard kickoff return while his 1-yard scoring run with 28 seconds left provided a 36-21 lead at intermission. Fedrick, who had 141 yards on 19 carries, had another 1-yard touchdown run that capped the night’s scoring.

“He’s a very special player,” Central coach Ryan Ray said of the 5-foot-10, 195-pound Fedrick. “He’s awesome. You can (write) in anything you want and say I said it. He’s a man child out here. In the state of New Hampshire if there’s someone better I don’t want to play against him.

“He ran hard, blocked hard, made a lot of guys miss and ran through arm tackles, separating himself from the pack. There aren’t enough superlatives to talk about him tonight.”

Although he scored all but one of  Salem’s seven touchdowns — Mike Downing had a 1-yard, fourth-quarter run after Manchester Central’s final score cut its deficit to 36-28 — Fedrick had able support in the Blue Devil backfield. Abner Rodriguez had his second straight quality outing, finishing with 112 yards on 18 carries and two conversion runs.

Manchester Central (0-1 Division 1, 1-1 overall) kept things close with an offense that converted six of eight third-down plays and its only fourth-down attempt in the first half. The Little Green led 7-0 and trailed 22-21 after an 80-yard Jared Chandler kickoff return with 5:04 left in the second. But the Blue Devils scored four of the game’s final five touchdowns to secure matters.

Fedrick gained more than a 1000 yards each of the previous two seasons, but played second fiddle to Max Jacques, who became the area’s leading career rusher before heading off to Marist this fall. Now, it’s Fedrick’s backfield to lead.

“It’s so different without him,” Fedrick said. “Max meant everything to me. I looked up to him ... He was my teacher, my mentor, my big brother. I love that kid ... but I’m definitely going to call him in a few seconds and let him know what the deal is.”