Bishop Guertin football overcomes adversity to shut out Nashua South

NASHUA - The situation had disaster written all over it.

The Bishop Guertin High School football team fumbled away the opening kickoff, the first of six possessions Nashua South would start in Cardinals' territory.

And on the seventh offensive snap, Bishop Guertin quarterback Josh Larson went down with an injury. Already with two other quarterbacks out with injuries, the Cardinals were forced to turn to receiver Joey Lupo, who had never taken a snap in a game before last week.

Lupo and the Bishop Guertin defense stepped up, as the senior rushed for three touchdowns and the Cardinals kept the Panthers out of the end zone for a 20-0 win in a Division I West Conference game at Stellos Stadium.

Using his speed to score on touchdown runs of 18, 84 and 52 yards, Lupo finished with 189 yards on 19 carries. It was more than enough offense for Bishop Guertin (1-1), which held South to 30 yards in the first half and 141 for the game.

"I just wanted to do my job," Lupo said. "It was unfortunate that Josh got hurt but I had to step up. I had to be prepared for everything. That was a very fun game. I’m grateful for the line. They were amazing out there and did everything they were supposed to."

Dylan Santosuosso also saw some time in the second half at quarterback, completing a 35-yard pass to Kyle Baker after the defense made a stand, stopping South at the Cardinals' 4-yard line late in the third quarter.

The Panthers (1-1) started more than half their drives inside the Bishop Guertin 40, including four possessions in the first half, but on those six possessions, South gained just 45 yards. Twice in the second half, the Panthers had touchdowns called back on penalties.

Sophomore Joshua Compoh led South with 64 yards on 11 carries and quarterback Michael Rutstein was 7 of 18 passing for 55 yards and an interception.

"Two weeks in a row, we’re camped out in our opponent’s side of the field and we just couldn’t get it going," South coach Scott Knight said. "We’ve got a lot of work to do. Completely shocked. Based on the last three days of practice, I thought we were going to explode (Saturday) and we didn’t."

The game started with a steady rain coming down, and after a decent return, Lupo lost the handle on the opening kickoff and South recovered at the Bishop Guertin 37. But after moving to the 19, the Panthers stalled and turned the ball over on downs.

The Cardinals went three-and-out and a short punt gave South the ball at the Bishop Guertin 28. But three players later, Baker picked off Rutstein, and on the next play, Larson ran for 25 yards to the Panthers' 39.

Three plays later, Larson hobbled off the field, with Bishop Guertin facing a second-and-8 at the Panthers 18. Lupo slid over to take the snap and on the first play, he went the distance to give the Cardinals a 6-0 lead with 4:36 left in the first quarter.

"Joey gives us a lot as a receiver, he gives us a lot as a returner, he can certainly run the ball well," Bishop Guertin coach John Trisciani said.  "We played another quarterback (Saturday) who has played a lot of different positions for us. I don’t think there’s anything that’s off the table."

Lupo added an 84-yard scoring run with 3:26 left in the second quarter and he found Baker for the two-point conversion that made it 14-0 going into halftime.

South looked like it had regrouped during the break, as Tyler Armeen returned the second-half kickoff to the Bishop Guertin 34. The Panthers appeared to get on the board on a 17-yard pass from Rutstein to Chris Keefe, but the touchdown was called back on a hold and South ended up turning it over on downs.

The Cardinals had a score of their own called back, as Lupo went for 72 yards on the first play of the drive, but a hold on Bishop Guertin wiped out the touchdown. Bishop Guertin ended up punting and South took over at the Cardinals' 31, but again, the defense held and got the ball back at the 4-yard line.

"They executed what coach told them to do," Lupo said of the front of the defense. "They really stuffed them on the inside. Same with contain. Kyle Baker and Tom Ouellette, they really got after it on the outside."

After the game, Trisciani told the Cardinals to feel some pride in shutting out the Panthers.

"Last year, I was calling the offense and defense myself, which probably wasn’t the greatest of ideas," he said. "I brought in another coach this year, Andrew Provencher. We’re running a lot of the stuff we ran last year but he’s taken the lead on it and put his own fingerprints on it. He did a great job (Saturday). There have been a lot of years here where we’ve struggled to keep teams out of the end zone, so take a lot of pride in that shutout."