MANCHESTER — Is Goffstown's Connor Benjamin the best quarterback in the state? He certainly looked like it. Benjamin did a little bit of everything against Manchester Memorial — except lead the Grizzlies to victory.

Instead, the Memorial defense came up with big plays when it counted as the Crusaders posted a 33-32 triumph in the regular-season opener for each team.

Benjamin, a senior, ran for 278 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries, and completed 15 of 27 pass attempts for 229 yards and a TD.

“I pulled him out of the (handshake) line and told him, 'If you're not the best quarterback in the state of New Hampshire you're one of the top two,'” Memorial coach Peter Colcord said. “He was phenomenal.”

Memorial took the lead for good when Jared Ombati scored on a 19-yard run with 4:01 to play. The touchdown came less than four minutes after Benjamin tossed a 21-yard TD pass to Ashton Florence that helped the Grizzlies take a 32-27 lead.

Goffstown drove to the Memorial 36 on its next possession, but fumbled the ball away with 2:19 to play. The Grizzlies forced a punt and got the ball back on its own 28 with 1:10 remaining, but the Memorial defense didn't surrender a first down.

“Obviously you want to win every game you play — we're out here to win,” Benjamin said. “It was a tough loss. We played hard.

“We had been steadily driving all day on offense and it was looking good, but we have to work on holding the ball. Mistakes happen to everyone.”

Memorial led 15-13 at halftime, thanks to Pierre Noel's 99-yard kickoff return as time expired in the second quarter. Noel also scored Memorial's first TD when he hauled in a 19-yard pass from junior QB Stephen Deane on Memorial's first possession.

Memorial's other TDs came on a 3-yard run by Deane, and a 3-yard run by Peter Abood.

Running back Peter Shea scored Gofftown's other TD on a 4-yard run with 11.6 second left in the first half.

“The fact that the offense scored 33 points after last week when we didn't score anything against Trinity (in the Queen City Jamboree) is what pleased me the most,” Colcord said. “I was concerned about the offense because most of the kids in the skill positions are young.”

Goffstown coach Justin Hufft praised Benjamin's performance, but said his team has room for significant improvement on both sides of the ball.

“He's doing his part,” Hufft said. “Great effort tonight, it just didn't go our way. We didn't make enough plays.

“I'm going to say we shouldn't give up 33 points in a game. Got to get it fixed. We have to do our part as coaches, too.”