> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Nashua North football putting building blocks in place for next season
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/nashua-north-football-putting-building-blocks-in-place-for-next-season/
- Published: 2021-10-27T00:00:58.000Z
- Updated: 2021-10-27T00:00:58.000Z
- Description: This season isn't going to end the way the Nashua High School North football team would like. For the first time in four years, and just the second time since Dante Laurendi took over as head coach in 2015, the Titans are going to miss the Division I playoffs. After winning a D1 championship last s
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division I, football, Nashua North, NH High School Sports Insider, Pinkerton, slider, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

This season isn't going to end the way the Nashua High School North football team would like.

For the first time in four years, and just the second time since Dante Laurendi took over as head coach in 2015, the Titans are going to miss the Division I playoffs.

After winning a D1 championship last season, the coaching staff knew it would be replacing a lot of talent and experience heading into this year. But there was still optimism that a young, inexperienced group of Titans could find their way back to the postseason.

Instead, North (4-4) may have gotten the next best thing.

Through the first eight games this year, the Titans have had six of them decided by one possession, and four of those have been by a single point. North is 2-2 in those four games, including last Thursday's 42-41 upset of playoff-bound Pinkerton (6-2), the Titans' first win over the Astros since 2010.

"It’s been a tough battle all year," North junior quarterback Derek Finlay said. "It motivates us a lot for the next game. It motivates us a lot for next year, because I think 95 percent of our starters are coming back next year. It feels good knowing we can play like that."

With just seven seniors on the roster in 2021, and with players returning at key positions all over the lineup, it's been a year of experiences that should show the Titans what the difference between a good team and a contender looks like.

"I think it’s a great thing because it forces you to play the entire game," Laurendi said after the win over Pinkerton. "It forces you to focus the entire game. It puts you in a lot of pressure situations, so the more pressure situations you can be in, the better you should be able to handle it and adjust. It’s a different group (from 2020) and we didn’t have that except one game. The experience is good, it’s the best teacher, so this was good for our guys."

Against Pinkerton, the Titans got down early, giving up a touchdown on the Astros' opening drive. Although they responded with a scoring drive of their own, back-to-back turnovers put Pinkerton in place to blow the game open in the first quarter.

But after the second turnover, North's defense held inside its own 10-yard line, and a high snap on the field goal attempt kept the Astros off the board. Despite taking over at the 8-yard line, the Titans' offense went 92 yards in 12 plays, including two third-down conversions and one on a fourth-and-2 play where Finlay hit Jordyn Raisanen-Andino with a short pass and the junior took it for a 37-yard gain.

Two plays later, Finlay scored on a 3-yard touchdown run, and the Titans went back and forth with the Astros for the rest of the game.

"They were very weird," Laurendi said. "Those are the mistakes we’ve been making all year. We shoot ourselves in the foot and take ourselves out of games. We’ve been there and we were able to (overcome them Thursday) despite a ton of penalties and turnovers. We just tell our kids to keep playing hard. We’ve been doing that and staying in games because of it."

The penalties popped up on North's final drive. Down 41-34 with 3:07 to play, the Titans took over at their own 29-yard line and picked up a pair of first downs, moving out to the Pinkerton 45.

But on the next play, a 20-yard run by Raisanen-Andino was wiped out by a hold. Finlay and Raisanen-Andino connected for a 19-yard gain, getting the penalty yardage back, but an ineligible player down field called that big gain back.

Finlay ran for a gain of 20 yards, but another penalty, this time for an illegal block, brought North back all the way its 32\. The Titans had one more big play in them, as Finlay hit Nick DiGesse for a 34-yard gain and the two connected again for four yards and a first down.

"All those plays, we got good gains, they just got taken back," Finlay said. "We had to do it again, got the (yards) back and got the first down."

And Finlay got North into the end zone, rushing in from 3 yards out on fourth-and-goal and then scoring on the two-point conversion to give the Titans a one-point lead with 9.3 seconds remaining.

"If the pass route breaks down or the protection breaks down, he’s able to take off and run and make a play," Laurendi said of Finlay. "That’s what he does. If he doesn’t feel comfortable, he goes. If he’s got good composure, he stays, and he did a great job. There’s times we’d like for him to throw the ball, but he definitely makes plays."

With one game left in the regular season, it would be easy to look back on North's season and wonder what if one thing here or there had gone differently in a couple of those losses. The Titans would be in a completely different spot heading into Friday's game at Londonderry.

But instead, they're looking for another way to step up and play spoiler.

"It feels good knowing that we’ve had a lot of those one-possession games," Finlay said. "We’ve had a lot of losses because of turnovers and penalties. Knowing that we ended up getting that one, that feels good."