Nashua North, Goffstown ready to go in D1 football final

There are a lot of similarities between the Nashua North and Goffstown high school football teams.

Big, experienced offensive and defensive lines. A plethora of skill players who can run with the ball and catch it. Secondaries that have a nose for the football.

The biggest difference might be at the quarterback position. Both teams have a senior who was called upon during his sophomore year to take over the reigns, and both can pick up yards on the ground, but that's about where any likenesses end.

"As a fan, I think it would be an outstanding match up," Goffstown coach Nick Hammond said. "(North's) Curtis (Harris-Lopez) is the best athlete in the state of New Hampshire, in a long time. He’s tremendous. We haven’t seen a kid like that in a long time. Jarrett (Henault) is a different type of kid."

The two teams - and quarterbacks - will meet at 1 p.m. Saturday at Bedford High School for the Division I championship game.

Henault, the Grizzlies' senior quarterback, has proven himself to be a tough runner between the tackles who can break the occasional long run and make the throws he needs to make.

"They bring a lot of challenges," North coach Dante Laurendi said. "The quarterback makes them go. When he runs the ball, he's a truck.

"They have a good combination of size up front and good skill players. They have a lot of people who contribute, which makes it difficult. I think they're similar to us."

While Goffstown (8-0) has the size and power in its running game, North (6-0) features a little more speed in its offense, starting with Harris-Lopez.

"I don’t know if there is anything you can really do to replicate the speed they have," Hammond said. "From a scout-team perspective, typically those are your underclassmen, and they can’t run like Curtis can or (Jayden) Espinal can or any of those guys. It’s tough to replicate.

"From a schematic standpoint, we see it pretty much every day. We run the same type of things, so we have some familiarity with it."

The two teams have put up similar numbers on both sides of the ball all season, with North averaging 34 points per game on offense and giving up an average of 11. Goffstown has been a little bit better on each side, averaging 34.9 points scored and 10.3 allowed.

With two sides so evenly matched, the game could come down to who does the little things better.

"It's going to come down to fundamentals," Laurendi said. "It's a football cliché, the low man wins, but the simple fundamentals wins when teams are equally matched."

For Goffstown, that will mean more on defense against North's team speed.

"Defensively, it’s tackling and getting off the field," Hammond said. "Offensively, can we sustain drives, not go backwards, and put the ball in the end zone on long drives. If we can do those things, I feel good about our chances. If not, it could be a long day."

Each program is playing in a championship game for the third time, with North having lost in the D1 final in 2009 and 2010, to Salem and Pinkerton respectively. Goffstown dropped the D3 championship game to Portsmouth in 2012, but completed an undefeated season in D1 in 2015.

That year, the Grizzlies beat North twice, including in the quarterfinals, on the way to that championship. The only other meeting between the teams was in the regular season in 2018, a game won by the Titans.

"It's very exciting to have this opportunity and I'm grateful we got the chance to play this season with this group of kids," Laurendi said. "The prospect wasn't looking good in the summer. The fact that we've been able to get in as many games as we did is awesome."