DURHAM — The decision comes this morning.

The University of New Hampshire football team played its final of two pre-season scrimmages on Tuesday afternoon and afterwards head coach Sean McDonnell and offensive coordinator Ryan Carty got together to watch film and do another round of grading and evaluating.

When they finish, they'll decide whether it will be sophomore Andy Vailas or redshirt freshman Sean Goldrich at quarterback who will lead the Wildcats into the season opener next Thursday, Aug. 30, at Holy Cross.

“We've been plotting this thing the whole camp,” McDonnell said. “This was part of the evaluation today. . . . Tomorrow morning, we're going to sit everyone down in the room and tell them what we think.”

Vailas, out of Bedford and Bishop Guertin of Nashua, was the only one of the two prospective starters who got his unit into the end zone on Tuesday when he scored on a 3-yard run.

Neither Vailas nor Goldrich had a touchdown pass, but Chris McCormick, a true freshman out of Winooski, Vt., connected with Mike Kelly, a redshirt freshman, for a pair of scores.

Vailas completed 17 of his 22 pass attempts for 97 yards.

Goldrich completed 10 of his 19 passes for 89 yards and threw two interceptions.

McDonnell liked the way his defense ran to the ball and hit and caused turnovers — the defenders recovered four fumbles and picked off three passes — but was not pleased with the ball security displayed by the offense.

“Sloppy offensively,” McDonnell said. “Very sloppy offensively. We can't turn the ball over. Penalties. Assignment things.”

He attributed some of the problems to the fact that a few regulars were missing on offense and younger players had to step up and try to fill in and didn't know the offense as well.

“That makes it tough for the quarterbacks,” the coach said.

Either Vailas or Goldrich can handle the offense effectively, McDonnell said, and it's a matter of which one can do it better.

“I think they're both great quarterbacks and either guy can do the job for us,” said sophomore running back Nico Steriti. “I'm excited for either of them to get on the field.”

Senior James Brady is moving back into the mix as well. He had a slight edge on the younger quarterbacks coming out of spring camp and into the pre-season but was unable to throw early in camp because of tendinitis.

Brady, who did not play on Tuesday, is back throwing and feeling well and will be able to play against Holy Cross, McDonnell.

“He's going to be in a backup position right now, unless something magical happens on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, which I don't think will happen,” McDonnell said. “But you know he knows the offense. We feel comfortable with him.”

Farina hurt

The offense suffered a blow late in the scrimmage when wide receiver Tim Farina, a senior out of Plymouth, left with an injury.

McDonnell said that Farina, who had been impressive in spring and fall camp, broke his collarbone and will likely be out for six to eight weeks.

Farina caught four passes for 51 yards in the scrimmage.

Kelly involved

Kelly was involved in all sorts of action. He scored on the only two touchdown passes of the day and caught five passes for 103 yards.

“Oh boy, he was hot and cold,” said McDonnell of Kelly. “He had a pretty good camp. He's got himself in the thick of some things right now because he does some things like that. But he also does other things.”

Kelly had a Goldrich pass go through his hands and be intercepted by redshirt freshman Lamar Edmonds. Later, Kelly fumbled the ball away after taking a big hit from redshirt freshman defensive back Keith Parkinson.

Notes

Steriti and fellow sophomore running back Jimmy Owens each had several impressive carries. Steriti rushed five times for 34 yards and Owens seven for 51 ... Jordan Garron, a freshman out of Bedford, carried seven times for 35 yards. . . . Senior wide receiver Joey Orlando did not play. His knee locked up during a meeting on Monday and he was scheduled for an MRI on Tuesday. . . . Junior defensive end Jay Colbert, who had been out with concussion symptoms, was able to play. McDonnell said Colbert and fellow defensive end Cody Muller should be all set for Holy Cross.

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Allen Lessels may be reached at alessels@unionleader.com.