SALEM — Salem senior captains Joey DiPalma and Andrew Ivas received a sneak preview of talented Bishop Guertin running back Mike Kelly when all three football players attended the same camp — The New England Elite Football Clinic — in July at Bentley University.
"We've also seen a lot of film on him so far and he's an athletic running back," DiPalma said. "He's very quick so it's going to be fun going against him. I'm looking forward to it. We haven't really seen them pass that much. They don't pass a lot. So that's going to be a really main point for us in this game — just stopping the run."
DiPalma and Ivas are looking forward to facing the 5-foot-9, 175-pound Kelly as the defending Division 1 and Division 2 New Hampshire state champions clash in a much anticipated showdown tomorrow when Salem hosts Bishop Guertin at 2 p.m.
Salem has something to prove. The Blue Devils may have been champs, but the postseason statewide polls ranked them No. 2 overall to BG.
Bishop Guertin, which graduated 30 seniors from last year and returns seven starters, went 12-0 last fall with a 31-0 win over Winnacunnet in the Division 2 title game.
The Cardinals outscored the opposition by a whopping 511-57 margin.
They've won 16 straight games and two straight titles.
Lowdown on DiPalma
DiPalma terrorized opposing offenses in his first year starting for varsity in '09. He made 60 tackles, 18 for a loss.
"DiPalma's a natural-born football player," Ivas said. "He did great things for us last year at linebacker and he's continuing to do that this year. He's stepping up, too, on offense. He's also going to play both ways. He's going to be at the right guard position (on offense) and he's doing that well." DiPalma, a returning Eagle-Tribune All-Star, is a big-game player. He made a stop on fourth-and-inches to set up the game-winning touchdown in the Division 1 title game.
"He has a knack for making plays," Salem coach Jack Gati said. "He tends to make big plays because he recognizes things quickly."
Lowdown on Ivas
Ivas started on the offensive line last year but is playing as a full-time defensive lineman for the first time this year.
The 6-foot-1, 220-pounder didn't start playing football until his freshman year because he was too big to play Pop Warner.
"Andrew's strength is his quickness," Gati said. "He's quick to the football. He weight-trained hard all offseason and put on some weight but he moves well."
Facing Kelly
Ivas said that facing Kelly will be a good opening test.
"He's talented," Ivas said. "He's a quick one (11.05 in the 100 meters). He's agile. He uses his quick feet. He can change positions really well. We're just hoping to contain their offense. It's an option offense so the ends and the linebackers need to make their reads. They have plenty of formations that they come out in."
The game will feature two talented backfields. Salem backs Jerickson Fedrick and Max Jacques combined to rush for an eye-popping 3,034 yards last year.
"I can't wait," said DiPalma, who will have to wait another day as the game was originally slated for tonight. "After the way last year ended, ever since it ended, I've just been waiting for the first game. So it's going to be a fun year. We know this is a new year, we lost a lot of important guys and we know we have to work just as hard and focus just as hard as we did last year if we want to get to that same goal."
Game moved
New time: tomorrow at 2 p.m.
Reason: Hurricane Earl
Note: Depending on field conditions, the game might also be moved to 7 p.m. tomorrow. An official decision will be made tomorrow morning.
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