Bishop Guertin wakes up in 2nd half to beat Nashua North in D1 football playoffs

NASHUA – For whatever reason, the Bishop Guertin High School team didn’t come out with much juice in the first half of Saturday afternoon’s first-round game of the Division I playoffs against Nashua North.

The Cardinals found their mojo coming out of the locker room at halftime.

After slumping through the opening 24 minutes, fifth-seeded Bishop Guertin broke open a 7-7 tie by holding No. 12 Nashua North to 18 scrimmage yards while outscoring the Titans 25-0 in the second half during a 32-7 victory at Stellos Stadium.

“We were asleep that first half, I’ve never seen us play the way we did in the first half. We weren’t engaged, but they responded at halftime,” Bishop Guertin coach Anthony Nalen said. “There were no adjustments made. We just needed to show up and play football.”

Bishop Guertin (7-2) returns to Stellos Stadium for Friday’s quarterfinals to take on No. 4 Nashua South in another Gate City showdown. South advanced with 44-15 win over No. 13 Londonderry.

“We just came in thinking that we were going to blow them out and that was just the wrong mindset,” Bishop Guertin junior quarterback Nate Bowen said. “So we had to re-lock in and the team just stayed together.”

Bowen completed only 2 of 10 passes in the first half, but one of those completions was an 8-yard slant pass to Sam Fayad for a touchdown to give Bishop Guertin a 7-0 lead with 6:55 left in the first quarter.

North (4-5) outgained the Cardinals 180-99 in the first half on the strength of starting quarterback Brady O’Connor, who finished the day completing 16 of 28 passes for 185 yards with an interception. He completed three straight passes to Dylan Noble (seven catches, 95 yards) to set up Harrison Joshi’s 2-yard keeper for a score to tie the game at 7-7 with 2:18 left in the second quarter.

“Some of our run game stuff was working and that kind of opened up our pass game,” North coach Chad Zibolis said. “Trying to put together four quarters was the toughest part. (Bishop Guertin) can score and you knew eventually they would open up and that was the toughest part.

Freshman running back Will Adams scored all three of Bishop Guertin’s touchdowns in the second half, beginning when Bowen found him in the flat for a 36-yard touchdown pass on the opening drive of the third quarter to give BG a 14-7 lead.

Bowen ended up completing 7 of 17 passes for 141 yards and closed out the game’s scoring with a 33-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.

“The line got more push; they did great in the second half,” Bowen said. “The wide receivers got open for me and the ground game kept going.”

Logan Curran led Bishop Guertin’s 123-yard rushing attack with 48 yards, while Adams and Hudson Schmitt added 31 apiece. Adams scored on a pair of 2-yard touchdown runs late in the third quarter and early in the fourth.

Bishop Guertin now looks to avenge last month’s 28-24 loss to South, which saw Panthers erase a 24-8 halftime deficit. The winner plays either No. 8 Winnacunnet or top-seeded Bedford in the semifinals.

“Emotionally, we just weren’t engaged in that first half and we’ve got to do a better job with that or it’ll be running time in the first half against South,” Nalen said. “They're firing on all cylinders, so we have to get a good week of practice and get ready.”