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# Nashua North football takes care of Merrimack to advance to D1 semifinals (video)
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/nashua-north-football-takes-care-of-merrimack-to-advance-to-d1-semifinals-video/
- Published: 2020-11-07T16:30:36.000Z
- Updated: 2020-11-07T16:30:36.000Z
- Description: NASHUA - The Nashua High School North football team had some struggles getting the offense going early during its short regular season. That hasn't been the case in the playoffs. The Titans scored on their first three drives Friday night and had 28 points off turnovers as North rolled past Merrimack
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division I, football, Merrimack, Nashua North, playoffs, slider, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

NASHUA - The Nashua High School North football team had some struggles getting the offense going early during its short regular season.

That hasn't been the case in the playoffs.

The Titans scored on their first three drives Friday night and had 28 points off turnovers as North rolled past Merrimack 42-12 in the Division I quarterfinals. North advances to the semifinals for the first time since 2016, where the Titans will face the winner of Saturday's quarterfinal between Londonderry and Salem.

North's defense forced five turnovers while the offense rushed four 301 yards - 253 in the first half - and six touchdowns. Curtis Harris-Lopez led the way for the Titans (5-0) with 139 yards and four touchdowns on 10 carries.

"He’s exciting to watch," North coach Dante Laurendi said of Harris-Lopez. "He made some good reads. A lot of that stuff goes unnoticed, but he made a couple of really good reads and when he kept the ball, he was explosive.

"The kids are doing a nice job sharing the football. They’re doing a great job blocking for each other and the line has done a great job all year."

Jayden Espinal added 57 yards and a touchdown while Derek Finlay had 54 yards and Brian Mwangi added 30 yards and a touchdown. Espinal also had two of the three interceptions of Merrimack quarterback Kyle Crampton, both in the first half, while Devin Bracetty had the other one.

The Titans also got a fortuitous bounce on one of their fumble recoveries, when a pass from Crampton to Jacob Bunis was ruled a lateral. The ball hit off Bunis and bounced right into the hands of North's Toby Brown, Jr., who returned it to the Merrimack 10-yard line.

Two plays later, Harris-Lopez scored to make it 35-0 with 2:48 left in the first half.

"You can’t do that against a bad, much less a team that has explosive athletes like North does," Merrimack coach Kip Jackson said. "We would have had to play a perfect game because they are better than us. We have several good players and they have a lot of good athletes. They have a really good offensive line and they’re well-coached. We had to play better and we didn’t."

Crampton finished the game 12 of 28 for 80 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions, with Stephen Petz catching six passes for 109 yards and a touchdown. Shea Goodwin also completed both of his two passes for 74 yards on a pair of option plays.

The Tomahawks got on the board with 5:25 left in the game, when Crampton hit Petz for a 16-yard score that made it 42-6\. Merrimack's Sean Morrilly made it 42-12 when he recovered a bad snap by the Titans in the end zone with 3:28 remaining.

It was a fumble that set up the first touchdown of the game. Merrimack had some success moving the ball on its first drive, but on third-and-7 from his own 34, Crampton bobbled the snap and North's Max Ackerman recovered at the 25\. Four plays later, Espinal ran in from 5 yards out to make it 7-0.

The Tomahawks were forced to punt on their next possession, and North wasted no time finding the end zone again. Espinal and Finlay had runs of 26 and 31 yards, respectively, setting up a 17-yard touchdown run by Harris-Lopez that made it 13-0 with 6:35 left in the first quarter.

"Defensively, we set the tone," Laurendi said. "Fortunately, we got an early turnover, which gave us great field position. We were able to score, go on top."

With the early lead, the Titans were able to bring more pressure, forcing Crampton to rush some of his pass attempts.

"They started bringing pressure," Jackson said. "They have athletes that can cover in space, so that was a challenge for us. They’re good and we knew they were good."