Nashua North football found success by taking away what Merrimack wanted to do

The Nashua High School North football team went into Friday's game against Merrimack with two goals on defense.

The Titans wanted to win the early downs to force the Tomahawks into third-and-long situations, while also limiting Merrimack's playmakers on offense.

While North was a little inconsistent in the first half on the first goal, the Titans made the Tomahawks look to other players to come up with big plays in what turned into a 31-19 win for North.

Merrimack was able to move the ball some on first and second down, and the Tomahawks were 3 of 7 on third- and fourth-down conversions. But on four Merrimack's five first-half possessions, North's defense was able to come up with big plays when it needed to get off the field, knocking down two passes while also coming up with a sack and an interception.

And the Titans slowed down the Tomahawks' offensive weapons, limiting Devin Wood to one catch for minus-3 yards and holding James Dyer to 42 yards and a touchdown on seven touches. As a result, Merrimack quarterback James Dowling was just 5 of 12 for 47 yards and a pick in the first half.

"We knew they were dangerous because they can run the ball and they can throw the ball," North coach Dante Laurendi said. "We had to try to win the early downs. We were a little inconsistent. That’s a good, tough football team. They can hurt you in a lot of ways. We told them keep fighting because you saw how fast they can score."

Merrimack's lone touchdown of the first half came after a long kickoff return by Wood gave the Tomahawks the ball at the North 19-yard line. Dyer had 11 yards on the ground on the dive, including a 2-yard touchdown run that made it 10-7 with 1:47 left in the first quarter.

But Merrimack struggled to move the ball the rest of the half, gaining just 76 yards against North's defense.

"They did a good job of taking away Devin and a lot of the routes that we like to run," Merrimack coach Kip Jackson said. "Devin is a pretty special player, but we need to be able to be more balanced and throw the ball to the other side. Then we just never were able to get into a rhythm offensively. A couple of drives we did, but we weren’t able to move the ball consistently, but that’s a credit to what their coaches do and their players do."

Dowling did find Wood for a 75-yard touchdown pass in the second half and Dyer added a second touchdown run to cut into North's lead, but by then, the Titans had built a comfortable advantage.

"All week we focused on Dyer and Wood," North junior Curtis Harris said. "Any motion play to Dyer, we thought seam, and anything to the opposite side was (Wood). That’s a big factor. If they don’t get the plays that they want, we get momentum and we end up scoring."

Harris did plenty of that in the first half, as he ran for three touchdowns and threw for another. The Titans quarterback ran for 175 yards and was 5 for 5 for another 84 yards before leaving midway through the third quarter with a knee injury; as of Monday morning, there was no update on Harris' status.

The win gives North (8-0) the No. 1 seed in the Division I East/West Cluster, meaning the Titans will be at Stellos Stadium for the postseason through the semifinals. Laurendi knows there are plenty of challenges still ahead for North.

"You just try to take it week to week," he said. "If you look at the whole schedule in one shot, it’s kind of overwhelming. Everybody you’ve got to play is real tough. Hopefully you stay healthy. We haven’t done a real good job of that. Other teams in the same boat. Everything starts over again (in the playoffs) and then it gets real tough."