Goffstown football holds off Nashua South to get fourth straight win (video)

GOFFSTOWN - The Goffstown High School football team will not go away easily.

So what if the Grizzlies started the season with three straight losses, an almost guarantee in Division I that the playoffs aren't in the future.

And when starting quarterback Charlie Keith went down late in the first quarter Saturday with a leg injury, there was Jarrett Henault to step in a lead the Goffstown offense.

Henault led two touchdown drives in the second quarter and the Grizzlies returned a kickoff for a touchdown for the only points they'd need in the second half in a 23-12 win over Nashua South in a Division I game. The win was Goffstown's fourth in a row after starting the season 0-3, and kept the Grizzlies in the hunt for a playoff spot.

"From where we were, it’s nice to see the team rebound from that 0-3 start," Goffstown coach Justin Hufft said. "We’re trying to get better each week. I think we’ve been doing that, but I’m not sure we did that this week. Part of that is because South is a great team and they’re so tough. They gave us a battle."

South (2-5) had a 6-0 lead when Keith was hurt at the bottom of a pile and left the game late in the first quarter. Goffstown was in the middle of a 16-play drive that ended with a 30-yard field goal by David Gibson just 11 seconds into the second quarter that made it 6-3.

The Grizzlies defense held the Panthers in check for most of the half, as South had just 58 yards and one first down, and Henault threw touchdown passes to Ben Dodge and Josh Juneau to give Goffstown a 17-6 lead at halftime.

Henault finished the game 6 of 11 passing for 111 yards with two touchdowns and an interception and was also the team's leading rusher with 56 yards on 15 carries.

"When he came in, we knew we could still do what we wanted to do," Hufft said. "He made a beautiful touchdown pass on the first one. The first read wasn’t open, he found his second read. He managed the game well and did what we needed him to do.

"We have different stuff that we emphasis more, but it’s not so much using new plays as it is calling ones more. We can do everything with Jarrett. We’re confident in him and he works real hard in practice. We always tell him be ready, and he was (Saturday)."

The Panthers were without their starting quarterback as well, as Christopher Keefe stepped in for Dante Young, who was hurt in last week's loss to Bedford. Jaylan Pacheco also sat out the game with a shoulder injury that started bothering him a week ago.

"We’re playing with a freshman tailback and a sophomore quarterback," South coach Scott Knight said. "We had started using Keefe more at slot. He’s a fast kid and he runs a couple of things pretty good. He hasn’t been getting a lot of reps at quarterback the last three weeks.

"All of a sudden, we’re going to use him. Our playbook was very limited. Then we found out Jaylan can’t go. We’re limited with what we can run already, and now we have a freshman at tailback. That cut things down further."

Keefe was 6 of 14 for 121 yards with a touchdown and an interception, with five of those passes going to Brendon Frost, who finished with 115 receiving yards and a touchdown to go with 62 yards and another score on the ground.

Frost's 3-yard touchdown run capped a six-play, 90-yard drive by the Panthers to start the second half, and the South senior had 55 yards rushing and receiving on the possession.

But on the kickoff, the Grizzlies got a little bit of luck. Dodge received the kick and handed it off to Sean Leahy, who raced toward the right sideline. South's Connor Rowsell attempted to make the tackle at the 35-yard line, but Leahy landed on top of Rowsell and no whistle blew. The Goffstown senior got up and kept running for an 83-yard kickoff return that made it 23-12.

"It was some good fortunate that went our way," Hufft said. "(Leahy) kept his head and played to the whistle."

South was able to drive to the Goffstown 25-yard line on its next possession, but Evan Cuddy sacked Keefe on third down for a 10-yard loss. Facing fourth-and-18, the Panthers tried a fake punt, but Justin Arnesen was stopped for a 7-yard loss and the Grizzlies took over.

The Panthers threatened again midway through the fourth quarter, as they had a first down at the Goffstown 39-yard line.

Frost picked up 9 yards on first down, but Joshua Compoh was stopped for a loss on second down and Keefe fumbled on third down for another loss. The quarterback's fourth-down pass fell incomplete and the Grizzlies were able to run down the clock.