Chargers football faced the Merrimack Warriors Saturday Sept. 22 at their newly renovated stadium, which opened Oct. 2017. This is Merrimack’s first athletic facility in nearly a decade. The new stadium holds over 3,500 people and will host Merrimack hockey, football, and women’s lacrosse.

The Chargers came into this game 2-0 while Merrimack was looking for their second win of the season at 1-2. The game came in the wake of the Chargers’ hot streak after beating cross town rival Southern Connecticut State, in a 38-18 win.

Quarterback Ajee Patterson threw for 316 yards for 19 completions and four touchdowns. Patterson’s longest touchdown of the night was hauled in by leading receiver Ju’an Williams. Williams continues to be a spark plug for the Chargers offense as he ripped the Merrimack secondary for 175 yards on 9 receptions and three touchdowns. Senior Chris Liggio led the team in rushing yards with 92 total yards and finished with a score. His longest was 14 yards while junior Ryan McCarthy tacked on 60 more yards.

Merrimack was held scoreless in the first half. Senior Miles Pease had a great day as he led the defense with 11 tackles and one interception for 45 yards. He also returned three kick returns for a total of 70 yards the longest being 31 yards. Senior Jordan Francklin added 10 tackles as well.

In all it was a lackluster night for the Warriors who could not do anything to stop the Chargers offensively. The Chargers were able to stay on the field as they went 7-12 on 3rd down, compared to Merrimack who went 4-13 on 3rd down conversions. Merrimack was unable to get anything going, and the Chargers secondary was able to capitalize, only allowing 136 total yards. The Chargers came out victorious 44-18, and will look to release this electric offense on the rest of the NE-10.  

This makes the 10th time in history these two programs faced each other since the Chargers joined the NE-10 in 2009. After  Saturday’s win, the chargers hold a 7-3 record against the Warriors.

The Chargers will return to Dellacamara Stadium for homecoming on Saturday, Sept. 29 as they will take on Bentley University at 1 p.m.