Nashua South football rallies in 2nd half to hand Bishop Guertin first loss

NASHUA – It was a tale of one city, two halves.

The Panthers of Nashua High School South, down 24-8 at halftime, pitched a second-half shutout and rallied for a stunning and dramatic 28-24 comeback win over city rival Bishop Guertin Friday night at Stellos Stadium.

The outcome wasn't decided until South's Colvin Levesque outjumped Bishop Guertin receiver Rocco Roy in the corner of the end zone for a game-clinching interception of a Nate Bowen pass with just over five seconds to play. Drama once again for two teams who took things to overtime in the regular season a year ago.

“I knew they wanted to go deep, 15 seconds left,” Levesque said. “Rocco ran an in route, then he broke it back out. I was just sitting on it, ball was thrown my way and I made a play.”

It was Bishop Guertin's first loss of the season (4-1 in Division I, 5-1 overall, No. 3 in the New Hampshire Orthopaedic Center/NHHSSports Coaches Poll) while the Panthers (No. 4) are the same.

“I've got a lot of faith in Colvin,” Nashua South coach Josh Porter said. “That kid's been doing it for a long time. Anytime the ball's up in the air we feel pretty good about it.”

The Panthers had taken the lead on a 9-yard touchdown run by quarterback Cody Jackson with 1:33 to play, capping an amazing 10-play, 83-yard march after Bishop Guertin's second straight red zone drive died on an incompletion with 4:46 left.

The Cardinals, with two timeouts, were able to hurry through the air from their 35-yard line to the South 14 with 16.7 seconds to play. But with no timeouts left, the Cards and Bowen (20 of 33, 234 yards, two touchdowns, three interceptions) had to go for the end zone right away.

“We probably played the worst second half in my three years here,” said Cards coach Anthony Nalen, who was ejected at the end after arguing with the game officials. “We had a hard time running the football, (South) was stout in the second half. We didn't help ourselves out at all in the second half.

“(Levesque's) unbelievable. He reminds me of (former North defender) Luke Peters a lot.”

Nalen has always said the most important part of the game are each team's first possessions of the second half.

That came true when Levesque intercepted Bowen on the first play of the half, and South marched 70 yards in 12 plays with Jackson (13 of 20 for 153 yards, one touchdown, one interception) scoring his first TD of the night on a 7-yard run. A two-point conversion failed and it was 24-14 with 7:15 left in the third.

"We were really composed," Levesque said. "We thought that was the worst first half we've ever had in our life and it was 24-8. I don't think there was one player in (the locker room) that thought we were going to lose."

Bowen got picked off again by John McDevitt and that led to Jackson hitting a wide open Josh Tripp deep for a 53-yard TD with 1:22 to play in the quarter to help make it 24-21. Momentum had officially changed.

“I told the kids if we were going to pull this off we had to do it one play at a time and just believe,” Porter said. “We knew in the first half we were shooting ourselves in the foot quite a bit and we hadn't done that.

“I said we need to get our swagger back at halftime, and we come out and get that interception and I think that was just the momentum we needed, a lift.”

“I've never been down that much (at halftime) and felt like that in a locker room,” Jackson said. “Everybody was confident. Nobody was giving up at all.”

It was a totally opposite first half, especially when Bishop Guertin scored two touchdowns a minute apart to grab a 24-8 advantage.

On a fourth-and-3 from just past midfield, Bowen found Roy on a 45-yard slant play for one TD to make it 17-8 with just over two minutes left in the half. BG's Sam Fayad then picked off Jackson at the South 34 and the Cardinals scored on another Bowen pass to Roy of 29 yards with 1:22 left in the half.

Early on the Cards jumped to a 10-0 lead, with Logan Curran running in from 7 yards out to cap a 15-play, 66-yard drive. BG's Drew Redfern then recovered a fumble at midfield and Guertin turned that into a 36-yard Bowen field goal.

South finally got on the board with Sam Levine's 4-yard TD run and a Jackson two-point run to make it 10-8. Levine rushed for 95 yards on 21 carries.

“These guys have just been doing it,” Porter said. “They've seen it all.”

They have now.

Tom King is a staff writer for the Nashua Telegraph.