Bishop Guertin football romps to win over Nashua North

NASHUA – The Bishop Guertin Toy Store is Cardinals' football coach Anthony Nalen's favorite place to shop, because it's well stocked.

That store would be the BG offense.

“I think the fact we have so many weapons, it allows us to spread the ball out,” Nalen said after the Cardinals gained 518 total yards in a 51-27 win Saturday over city rival Nashua North at Stellos Stadium.

“You look at it stats wise, not every kid is going every night when we play, right? It's a different kid most nights. There's some consistency, but being able to lean on different kids at times helps.”

Bishop Guertin (4-0 Division I, 5-0 overall, No. 3 in the New Hampshire Orthopaedic/NHHSSports Coaches Poll), which trailed 7-0 and 15-14, led 22-15 at the half but then scored on its first three possessions of the second half to take full control.

“They're a very good offensive football team that can throw the ball around with no problem,” North coach Chad Zibolis said of the Cardinals. “That's tough to defend. That's tough to defend in high school. We came out very, very flat offensively on all those drives (to start the second half). It's tough when you do that. You've got to go score to score.”

Bishop Guertin quarterback Nate Bowen had a day, completing 17 of 24 for 317 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions plus rushing for 56 yards and a score. The Cardinals started the second half with Bowen completing a 67-yard TD to Rocco Roy on the half's second play.

Then, with the Cards bunched in a double wing formation, Bowen fooled North (2-3) with a 22-yard pass to a wide open Roy for a 36-15 lead. And Logan Curran raced for 34 yards and a score. Midway through the quarter, BG had broken it open to lead 44-15.

“Two weeks in a row now that we were able to play a second half which was great, not that we were having a slow start,” Nalen said. “But to play that 48 minutes is awesome.

“They (the Titans) were stingy. We actually got a touchdown throwing the ball on our double wing, which we never do. But they were loading the box.”

There were points galore of course. North took the opening kick, got a 30-yard Dylan Noble return to midfield, and six plays later, Josh Sullivan made a great catch in the right corner of the end zone on a Brady O'Connor (20 of 37 for 207 yards, two TDs) throw. The PAT made it 7-0 nearly three minutes in.

BG responded with two touchdowns, a Bowen 1-yard plunge and 30-yard pass to his younger brother, Jake, for a 14-7 lead.

North took advantage of one of three picks off Bowen on the day, this by Diones Delacruz, to set up another TD to Sullivan of 21 yards with 3:50 left before the half. Jedwin Lluveres ran in a two-point conversion and the Titans had their second lead of the day, 15-14.

But that would be their final edge. Bowen hit Hudson Schmitt for a 21-yard TD with 2:26 to play in the half and hit a two-point pass to Sam Fayad. That's the 22-15 lead they'd have at the break.

After the early third quarter BG deluge, the teams just kept producing scores. North got two straight, a Lluveres 5-yard run and a 10-yard Harrison Joshi bull run with 9:16 to play. But conversion attempts (two and one) failed on both and left it 44-27 with 9:16 left.

Still a game, maybe? Nah. BG's Will Adams put a stop to that with a 65-yard run from scrimmage to help make it 51-27 with 8:55 to play. The Cards left points on the field, too, as Bowen was picked twice in the end zone and a late drive stalled.

“First half we really came out flying,” Zibolis said. “The kids were playing hard, they were physical. We wanted the ball first, just to keep the ball away from them. We knew they were going to score a ton of points.”

Which the Cardinals did.

“North's stingy, they're elite when they're playing,” Nalen said. “But we were consistent on offense, that's the thing.”

It's easy to do that with all those toys.

Tom King is a staff writer for the Nashua Telegraph.