Harris helps lead Nashua North football to win over Nashua South

NASHUA - Curtis Harris looked like he was on easy while everyone else was trying to keep up.

The junior back for the Nashua High School North football team stepped into the bright lights of the Battle of the Bridge and wrote the tale in his handwriting.

With Harris in the fold the Titans were able to overcome deficiencies elsewhere to defeat rival Nashua South 21-6 in front of more than two thousand people at Stellos Stadium on Friday night.

Harris ran 16 times for 216 yards and three scores, including touchdown runs of 89 and 69 yards, and he had an interception to set up one of those scores to go with six tackles on defense.

“He gets it,” North coach Dante Laurendi said of Harris. “He gets what we’re trying to do. He has good vision. He has good patience. He tries to get teammates involved. He’s a special player.”

The Titans (5-0) needed Harris in a big way because South (3-2) dominated time of possession. The Panthers held the ball for 32:12 of the game and forced the Titans defense into uncomfortable positions but could not consistently capitalize.

South’s opening drive went 65 yards over 15 plays and chewed more than nine minutes off the clock before Jason Compoh was stopped two yards short of the goal line on a fourth-down run. Two plays later, Harris sprinted 89 yards to put the Titans ahead.

North would never surrender the lead.

“We made some plays toward the end,” Laurendi said. “We took advantage of some of their miscues and ended up on the right side.”

North held the Panthers without points a second time in the red zone when Jacob Smith missed a 31-yard field goal on the last play of the first half.

The defensive effort was led by junior Spencer Whiting, who racked up eight tackles on defensive and hit numerous key blocks on offense to open up Harris and the rushing attack.

“He’s great,” Harris said of Whiting. “He fills a lot of holes and hits hard. He amps us up.”

The Panthers got strong games out of the Compoh brothers. Junior tailback Jason Compoh rushed the ball 25 times for 121 yards and had South’s lone touchdown. Sophomore Joshua Compoh had 45 yards himself.

“Tough, physical kids,” Laurendi said of the Compohs. “Hard to take down. I don’t think they had any negative carries (Friday). Every time they go forward its a 2- or 3-yard gain and then they push the pile. Their offensive line did a good job, too. We were just lucky to hold on.”

Compoh’s touchdown came in the third quarter to cut the gap to 14-6, but a 69-yard score by Harris with 2:12 left put the game to bed.

“We did what we were supposed to do,” South coach Scott Knight said. “That last (touchdown) we were in the wrong places a couple times and we paid dearly for it.”

Up next for North is Bishop Guertin and a chance to claim the title as the best team in Nashua in 2019.

“BG’s playing really well,” Laurendi said. “BG beat these guys in a tough game. They’re playing good defense. They’re finding ways to score on offense so it’s going to be another tough challenge.”