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Co-workers have sons playing in Salem vs. Winthrop football tonight

Friday, October, 05 By Bill Kipouras
Staff writer

The Salem-Winthrop football game tonight at Bertram Field has generated more than just mild interest at the Salem Five Cents Savings Bank branch on at 424 Essex St., in Salem. It so happens that the mothers of two impact running backs in tonight's contest between the host Witches and the visiting Vikings work together at the bank.

The matchup of Salem's Melikke Van Alstyne, No. 24, and Winthrop's Chris Beranger, No. 28, has stirred some football fever at the bank around the corner from the playing site. Melikke's mom, Terressa, a one-time sprinter for Salem High, is the assistant service and operations manager at the bank, where she has worked for 10 years.

As it turns out, her boss is Jeanne Scarpa, Chris' mom and Salem Five's area manager of four branches.

According to Mrs. Scarpa, the interest and conversation about this unusual situation has moved a pretty good delegation of the branch's staff to attend tonight's game. "They're going to stand in the end zone so that they won't show any favoritism," said Scarpa. "They just want to be fair. They'll switch end zones at halftime."

Mrs. Van Alstyne has clippings of her son's exploits from The Salem News hanging in her section of the bank. Mrs. Scarpa said she "relishes" hearing about how Melikke did each Monday morning from Terressa.

"I root for him, too," said Mrs. Scarpa. "If we have to lose (tonight), I hope it's because Melikke has a good game. But I hope that doesn't happen."

Van Alstyne and Beranger | who have never met | are both juniors at their respective high schools and both play the same two positions: halfback on offense, strong safety on defense.

As a sophomore last season, Van Alstyne was Salem's go-to guy offensively, racking up 1,177 yards rushing and a dozen touchdowns. Beranger, on the other hand, was stuck behind super running back Matt Murray (now at Tufts) on the depth chart for Winthrop's Super Bowl team last season.

"I played some on special teams, but I had (back and ankle) injuries so my (playing) time was limited," Beranger said. Nowadays his potential seems unlimited. Winthrop has had a plethora of superstars in the backfield during its long and glorious history, and the team's rookie head coach, Sean Driscoll, said Beranger has the potential to leave WHS as one of its better athletes.

"Right now I'd say Chris is our best athlete on defense," Driscoll said, whose team is 2-2 after back-to-back wins the last two weeks.

Like the resilient Van Alstyne (641 yards, 5 TDs this fall), Beranger has put up big numbers through four games this fall. He has scored a team-high eight touchdowns, has 584 yards rushign on 64 carries and has caught 10 passes for another 228 yards.

His presence will loom large tonight against a Witches' squad that has lost two straight heading into its home opener tonight. That's especially true since his teammate, running back Joe McDermott, has an ankle problem and may not play. If McDermott does play, he'll probably be relegated to defense.

If Beranger performs like he did against Lynn English last Saturday | when he ran for 140 yards and two scores, caught another touchdown pass and made eight tackles and picked off a pass defensively | he'll become Salem's toughest challenge.

"He must be No. 28," Melikke Van Alstyne said from watching Winthrop on film. "He's a good running back, pretty fast, yeah. He gets it down."

The co-workers at the bank insist that there is "absolutely no rivalry" between them.

"We've been talking about it all season, now the game is here," Mrs. Van Alstyne said. "We're excited for the boys. I just hope they both have fun.

"Jeanne and I talk at random about it, but neither of us has made a prediction. We both have great athletes and want them to do well."

Mrs. Van Alstyne admits that initially, she didn't want Melikke to play football. Her husband, she said, talked her into it.

"I was afraid he'd get hurt," she said. "But the first time Melikke played football for the Salem Pop Warner E team, he ran 63 yards for a touchdown against Swampscott. "Sometimes you worry about it until this day. I'm nervous every time he plays."

The two mothers say there's nothing on the line for them tonight in terms of a friendly wager.

"We've hesitated making assumptions on who is going to win. I'd love Winthrop to win; Terressa would love Salem to win," said Scarpa. "But there have been no wagers or anything like that. We're bankers, so we have to be pretty conservative."