Nashua North football wraps up D1 schedule with win against Keene

NASHUA - The Nashua High School North football team's regular-season Division I finale couldn’t have gotten off to a better start.

Senior Jedwin Lluveres returned the opening kickoff 69 yards for a touchdown and capped the scoring with an 85-yard return, and Brady O’Connor threw four touchdowns to four different receives in between as the Titans rolled to a 41-7 victory over Keene at Stellos Stadium on Friday night.

O’Connor, the junior quarterback, finished 9 for 14 for 383 passing yards to go with four scores.

The win closes out North’s NHIAA schedule with a 4-4 record and a two-game winning streak, while the Blackbirds fall to 1-6. It also assures the Titans of a playoff spot, which begin on Nov. 7.

“Both sides of the ball, these kids are playing really well right now,” North coach Chad Zibolis said. “It’s a great time of year to be playing well.”

Lluveres and junior kicker Marco Raposo (5 for 6 kicking extra points) gave the Titans a 7-0 just 12 seconds into the game, and on just their third play from scrimmage, O’Connor connected with junior Josh Sullivan (four catches, 158 yards) on a 78-yard passing play to make it 14-0 with 6:50 left in the opening quarter.

The Blackbirds kept North out of the end zone on a goal line stand from the 3. Starting from their own 2, the Blackbirds then opened the second quarter with a 13-play, 93-yard drive that ate 8:05 off the clock.

Keene got down to the Titans’ 5, but North senior defensive end Denzel Delgado de Jesus tackled senior quarterback Colin Tinnin (5 for 11, 55 passing yards, 76 rush yards on 10 carries) on a keeper at the line to turn the ball over on downs.

“Denzel keeps tearing it up for us. He’s doing unbelievable on the edge,” Zibolis said. “He has a motor that doesn’t stop."

Senior safety Jayden Beaulieu picked off Tinnin and returned the ball 55 yards for a touchdown that was called off due to a holding call on North as time expired to send the Titans int0 halftime with a 14-0 lead. Good, but not great.

“First half, we kind of shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times,” Zibolis said. “Going into half, we’re feeling ok, but not what we really feel like we should be feeling. We had trouble running the ball (69 yards on 20 carries as a team). They played a tough run stop where we couldn’t get a run game going which kills us. We hate not being able to run the ball. But our passing game was great.”

Both of North’s drives in the third quarter, a combined four plays, resulted in touchdowns, a 72-yard connection from O’Connor to senior Lyric Perez and an 82-yard bomb to Beaulieu to make it 28-0 at the end of the third.

North had the ball to open the fourth, with O’Connor hitting Sullivan on a 41-yard gain to get into the red zone and a short 8-yard pass to Lluveres to make it 35-0.

Keene played most of the second half without Tinnin under center after he got taken out of the game following a hard hit in the middle of the third quarter. Tinnin, who is technically the Blackbirds’ third string quarterback (Keene’s regular starter and backup are both sidelined with injuries), was replaced by sophomore running back Grady Erickson.

Senior captain Jack Gillard, a workhorse on both sides of the ball with 88 yards on 22 carries and two tackles for loss on defense, broke free from North’s line for a 20-yard touchdown run to put Keene on the board with 3:06 left in the game.

But Lluveres didn’t let the Blackbird celebration last for long, returning the ensuing kickoff 85 yards for his third touchdown of the night and his third kick return TD in the last two weeks.

“We knew they were going to kick to that side from film, so we put Jedwin to that side,” Zibolis said. “He’s doing really well in special teams, but he’s all over the field offensively and defensively. He just keeps doing really well. He’s our leader on the field right now.”

Delgado de Jesus had two tackles for loss, while senior linemen Rohan Mistry and Kobie Rasianen-Andino, junior lineman David Theriault-Lago and sophomore linebacker Zaviel Carrasquillo had one each to lead the defense.

The Titans will host Dracut, Mass., at Stellos Stadium in an exhibition game on Thursday night while the rest of D1 plays out its final week, which will determine North’s first-round opponent.

The goal for the next two weeks is simple.

“Keep practicing well,” Zibolis said. “Pass protection was great, but our run blocking has to get a little better.”

Zibolis and his staff also have some thinking to do with their defensive personnel. Eli Gagnon, a sophomore middle linebacker, was taken out of the game due to an injury and is out for the year. Gagnon moved into a starting role when senior Jack Krulikowski went down with an injury earlier this season.

“(We need) to get our stuff squared away with the injuries we’ve got,” Zibolis said. “With an exhibition week we can figure some stuff out and see where we’re at. We’re coming off two wins, we’re feeling pretty good.”