Nashua South football picks up win over Timberlane

NASHUA - With a third of the season in the books, there has been one team that seems capable of slowing down the Nashua High School South football team.

That team just so happens to wear purple.

When the Panthers were on Friday in a 38-13 win over Timberlane, they dominated, running 55 plays in the first half and possessing the ball for more than 16 minutes while getting out to an 18-point lead at halftime.

When they were off, the Owls got back into the game. South's defense struggled on the opening drive, allowing Timberlane to match the Panthers' first touchdown. At the end of the first half and early in the second, in a span of 11 plays, South was penalized five times for 50 yards.

That opened the door for Timberlane to get in the end zone again, and late in the third quarter, it was an 11-point game, despite South with a sizable lead on the state sheet.

"The penalties are frustrating and we have to clean that up," South coach Scott Knight said. "It’s been an issue. We had great tempo. We ran 55 plays in the first half, which is absurd. That’s warp speed. We were moving pretty good. It’s focus. When we’re having all these penalties, it’s like, guys if we can clean this up, we’re good to go."

South (3-0 in Division I West Conference) was able to get the focus back, scored two more touchdowns and forced three turnovers in the fourth quarter.

Trevor Knight, who was returning from a thumb injury suffered two weeks ago, led the way for the Panthers, rushing 24 times for 176 yards and two touchdowns. The senior quarterback was also 14 of 20 for 110 yards and two more scores, connecting with Malik Langa and Robbie Smyth for touchdowns. Josh Perry also had a rushing touchdown.

"This is a team that people think is a pretty good football team, and I’m one of those guys," Timberlane coach Kevin Fitzgerald said. "We missed some tackles. We had (Trevor Knight) bottled up a little bit, but he’s a good athlete and he makes some people miss. He made us miss a bunch of times and we had trouble getting ourselves off the field."

Timberlane (1-2 in D1 East Conference) ran just 16 plays in the first half and gained 109 yards, with 78 of those coming on the Owls' first drive. That drive ended with a 34-yard touchdown pass from Erik Nelson to Zach Downey and made it 8-6 South with 1:59 left in the opening quarter.

But the Owls picked up just two first downs the rest of the half, one on a pass interference call on the Panthers.

"You dig yourself a hole and it’s tough to get out," Fitzgerald said. "They’re a good football team, so they’re going to put a lot of people in a hole."

With a 24-6 lead and about 30 seconds left in the first half, South had a first-and-goal at the Timberlane 9 that turned into a third-and-38 after a couple of penalties. After stopping the Owls on their first drive of the second half, the Panthers got the ball back and moved backwards again.

After a short punt, Timberlane got the ball on the South 36 and took advantage of the short field, scoring on a 14-yard pass from Nelson to Downey to cut the lead to 24-13.

The Panthers finally got the offense going again early in the fourth quarter. After stopping Timberlane at midfield, South went on a 53-yard drive that ended with a 2-yard TD run by Knight. Two plays later, Perry stepped in front of a pass by Nelson and returned it to the Timberlane 6-yard line. The junior rushed in from 2 yards out two plays after that to cap the scoring.

"At times, when we were going, we played great," Scott Knight said. "(Trevor Knight) got his legs back in the third quarter. All of a sudden he had his burst. I saw speed that I hadn’t seen since preseason. It was a great team effort. We had great plays on defense."