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# Nashua North football overcame toughest test in semifinals against Salem
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/nashua-north-football-overcame-toughest-test-in-semifinals-against-salem/
- Published: 2020-11-16T22:15:58.000Z
- Updated: 2020-11-16T22:15:58.000Z
- Description: It took the Salem High School football team under seven minutes to do what no team had done to Nashua North all season. The Blue Devils took the opening kickoff of last Saturday's Division I semifinal and went 71 yards in 13 plays, scoring the game's first touchdown to take a lead on the Titans. On
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division I, football, Nashua North, NH High School Sports Insider, playoffs, Salem, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

It took the Salem High School football team under seven minutes to do what no team had done to Nashua North all season.

The Blue Devils took the opening kickoff of last Saturday's Division I semifinal and went 71 yards in 13 plays, scoring the game's first touchdown to take a lead on the Titans.

On the drive, Salem picked up five first downs, including conversions on third down three times, and gained all of its yards on the ground. The 71 yards the Blue Devils picked up on that drive was more rushing yards than North had allowed in four of its five previous games.

After the Titans went three-and-out on their first possession, Salem converted another third down and moved the ball into North territory on its second drive before turning it over on downs. And it was more of the same on the Blue Devils' third possession, an 11-play, 55-yard drive that was aided by two facemask penalties on North and ended in a touchdown run on fourth down.

Midway through the second quarter, the Titans, who had never trailed in a game all season and gave up an average of 7.8 points per game, was down 14-6\. To that point, Salem had run 31 plays to just five for North.

"They’re real good," North coach Dante Laurendi said of Salem. "That is a tough offense (Wing-T) to defend. When you have real good athletes and a real good line running it, it’s even tougher. They showed that. We had to settle down a little bit, and it took us a little while."

North's defense was able to force Salem to punt on each of its next two drives, while answering with two touchdowns of its own to take a 21-14 lead into halftime of what ended up being a 33-28 win. The Titans' defense was able to shut down the Blue Devils enough in the second half to hang on for the win.

"Stay locked in and move on to the next play," North senior Curtis Harris-Lopez said of how his team regrouped on defense. "A lot of our guys, when we give up big yards, we get down on ourselves. It’s my job to make sure everyone keeps their head up and moves on to the next play.

"We had the lead (at halftime), but we had to come out hard. Some of said we have the best defense in the league, but we don’t get enough credit because our offense does most of the work you could say on the scoreboard. The defense is pretty good."

Through the first five games of the season, North had allowed an average of 47.8 rushing yards and 159.2 total yards on offense. Salem finished with 235 yards on the ground and 300 yards total and was 9 of 18 converting third and fourth downs.

The combination of the Blue Devils' physical play and team speed was something North hadn't seen much of to this point in the season and it needed to adjust.

"They’re out there so quick and you can’t miss tackles," Laurendi said. "We knew that. We missed a few of those backs, they’re so good. They converted a couple of third and longs running the ball because they just get out there so fast. They make you work on defense."

After Salem scored to tie the game at 21 with 6:42 left in the third quarter, the Blue Devils' offense gained 112 yards, with 55 of those coming on a touchdown pass from Cody Clements to Dante Fernandes. Salem had three first downs that didn't come on a North penalty and threw two interceptions over the final 18 minutes.

"It’s what we expected," Laurendi said. "We expected a dog fight and we were able to make a couple of more stops and that was huge for us. We’re very fortunate that we made those stops."

North faces Goffstown in the D1 title game at 1 p.m. Saturday at Bedford High School.