Editor's Note: Mark Goodale is a senior at Manchester Memorial High School and a receiver/linebacker on the Memorial football team. His Varsity Insider column will appear periodically throughout the season.

Being a Manchester Memorial High School athlete is not easy. Especially when you play football. Negativity surrounds you and the past of the football team haunts you. But the past few years with some new coaches and A LOT more discipline we have been turning it around.

I can't remember the last time a Memorial team went 2-0. And even though it's early in the season, we have been improving week after week. Our game against our rivals, Manchester West, ould not have gone any better. We started off slow but after a few adjustments at half we soared.

Ivan Valcarsel scored on a 70-yard run on our first play to get us an early lead. Key turnovers were a major factor like Tyler Shattuck's interception to stop West from scoring. A major factor in our improvement is our defense. Last year we were fourth in the state. And this year were looking to be No. 1 in the state. And there is no doubt we can do it.

Cody Dalton, a junior, is our quarterback this year and is looking real good with our new offense that Coach Jackson brought with him. This week we step up against Salem. For the last two years Salem has been nearly unstoppable and last year the Blue Devils won  the Division I state championship.

Salem has two three-year starters, running back Max Jacques and quarterback Matt Cannone, who have been dominant since their sophomore year, but I feel comfortable and confident in my team to win this game. We have the talent and players to do so, we just need to put that to work this Friday.