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# Nashua North plays complete game to beat Goffstown in D1 football title game (video)
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/nashua-north-plays-complete-game-to-beat-goffstown-in-d1-football-title-game-video/
- Published: 2020-11-22T14:55:55.000Z
- Updated: 2020-11-22T14:55:55.000Z
- Description: BEDFORD - Any nerves that the Nashua High School North football team had at the start of Saturday's Division I championship game, Curtis Harris-Lopez took care of right away. The senior returned an interception of Goffstown quarterback Jarrett Henault on the first possession of the game, one of thre
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division I, championship, football, Goffstown, Nashua North, playoffs, slider, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

BEDFORD - Any nerves the Nashua High School North football team had at the start of Saturday's Division I championship game, Curtis Harris-Lopez took care of right away.

The senior returned an interception of Goffstown quarterback Jarrett Henault for a touchdown on the first possession of the game, one of three defensive and special teams touchdowns for the Titans, and North scored the first seven times it touched the ball.

Harris-Lopez had three of those touchdowns, and Jayden Espinal and Isaac Smith also scored two apiece, as North cruised to a 49-21 win over Goffstown to win the program's first football championship at Bedford High School.

"(Saturday) was kind of a composite of the year," North coach Dante Laurendi said. "We had contributions from everybody. A lot of guys touched the ball, a lot of guys scored, a lot of guys did a lot of great things on defense. We were able to just stay ahead of the game and the kids just took over."

Goffstown went into halftime having outgained North (231-187), having run more plays (42-17), holding a greater time possession (16:16-7:02) and the Grizzlies were 7 of 12 converting on third and fourth down.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/bc/58/bc5866d0-9fd9-4113-b959-670d6f16471d/content/images/www-nh-highschoolsports-com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/jmd1fballfinal112120-n2g3-1wm.jpg)

Nashua North's Curtis Harris-Lopez moves in to make a tackle on Goffstown's Jarrett Henault.

But the Grizzlies trailed 35-14 thanks to the Titans' big plays.

Harris-Lopez scored on touchdown runs of 63- and 1-yard to go with his 45-yard pick-6, while Smith returned a kickoff 72 yards for a score and Espinal had a 5-yard touchdown run, all in the first half. Smith added a 9-yard touchdown run to open the scoring in the third quarter, and on Goffstown's first possession, Espinal returned a fumble 27 yards for a score.

"It’s the championship, so you’ve got to give it your all," Harris-Lopez said. "Last game of the year, everyone was locked in, and we did what we were supposed to do."

Harris-Lopez finished with 116 yards rushing while Espinal had 59 yards and Smith finished with 30 for North (7-0).

Goffstown (8-1) got 136 yards rushing from Zach Picard while Henault had a rushing touchdown and was 11 of 19 passing for 186 yards with two touchdowns, both to brother Jeremey Henault, who had two catches for 99 yards. But every time it seemed the Grizzlies were turning the corner, the TItans came back with another big play.

"They had made plays in the first half, got a couple of turnovers," Goffstown coach Nick Hammond said. "How do we respond? How do we make a play of our own? They were awesome in all three phases. I think we had some plays that we didn’t make, that we continually make throughout the season."

After Harris-Lopez gave North the 7-0 lead just 1:20 into the game, Goffstown responded with a 12-play, 89-yard drive, that included a 35-yard pass from Henault to Will Sasso on third-and-9 that gave the Grizzlies a first down at the North 15\. Two plays later, Henault ran in from a yard out to tie the game.

But North answered with Espinal's touchdown run, and after forcing Goffstown to punt, Harris-Lopez went untouched for his 63-yard touchdown run, putting the Titans up 21-7 with 1:06 left in the first quarter.

Goffstown responded again with another touchdown drive, with Jarrett Henault finding Jeremy Henault wide open for a 45-yard touchdown pass that made it 21-14 with 10:14 to go in the first half.

On the ensuing kickoff, Smith bobbled the ball, but picked it up in time and saw room to run.

"I saw a gap and the blockers were doing their job and I just hit the hole," Smith said. "I had to look behind me to make sure. I was pretty comfortable thinking I could make it to the end zone."

Smith out ran Goffstown's Michael Levesque to the goal line to put North back up by two touchdowns in just a matter of seconds.

"To be able to play back-and-forth a little bit helped us," Laurendi said. "We were able to score. Getting the ball back in the second half was big because they can be a one-play score team. You saw that a couple of times, they have big play ability. Wasn’t comfortable even up two or three, and our kids came to play and made big plays."

The Grizzlies came back again with a 14-play drive that got them as deep as the Titans' 35, but a sack pushed Goffstown back, and on fourth-and-13 at North's 41, Henault's pass to Picard came up well short of the first down.

Seven plays later, Harris-Lopez scored from a yard out with 32.5 seconds left in the first half, and the Titans added two more touchdowns to open the third quarter to get the game into running time.

"They’re a talented group," Laurendi said of his team. "They’ve been playing together for a long time and they like playing for each other. They’re an emotional group of kids, which is great. Football means a lot to them, which is important."