Nashua South football rumbles to win over Bishop Guertin (video)

NASHUA - The Nashua High School South football team is going to need to have success throwing the ball if it's going to have a shot at winning games this year.

But Friday night against Bishop Guertin, the running game was more than enough for the Panthers.

South rushed for over two hundred yards and four touchdowns, including three from Jaylan Pacheco, and the Panthers' defense shut down the Cardinals' running game on the way to a 33-8 win in a Division I West Conference game at Stellos Stadium.

Pacheco finished with 73 yards on 13 carries to lead South (1-1), while Brendon Frost added 41 yards and a touchdown and Dante Young also picked up 37 yards on the ground. Young was also 9 of 13 passing for 166 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

"I was happy with the way Dante threw the ball," South coach Scott Knight said. "He put the ball on people and tucked it and ran when he should. We played a solid game on both sides of the ball. Overall, they did somethings on defense to get us out of what we normally would do, so we had to find different ways to run the ball than we wanted to."

Frost also had three catches for 53 yards and Tanner Plourde caught two passes for 29 yards, including a 24-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter that gave South a two-touchdown lead.

Bishop Guertin (0-2) answered that score with an 80-yard kickoff return for a touchdown from Joey Lupo, but the Cardinals struggled to move the ball all night, especially on the ground. The Panthers held Bishop Guertin to just 23 yards on 20 carries.

"It was not a very good offensive performance as far as moving the football," Bishop Guertin coach John Trisciani said. "It’s been difficult to get the run game going, and when we’re not running the ball, we feel like we have to throw. It felt a like a lot of three-and-outs and not being able to hold on to the football."

Hayden Moses was 11 of 24 for 91 yards and an interception through the air and led the Cardinals with 13 yards rushing. Ben Plumley had 12 yards on the ground and caught one pass for 21 yards before leaving the game in the second quarter with what looked like a lower leg injury.

The Cardinals were able to pick up a couple of first downs on the first possession of the game, but the offense stalled at midfield and a short punt gave South the ball at its own 30.

But after a hold on first down, the Panthers looked like they might give the ball right back. On third-and-13, Young floated a pass to Tyler Armeen, just over the fingertips of Lupo, and Armeen raced to the Cardinals' 4-yard line for a 69-yard play.

Pacheco ran it in on the next play and South led 7-0 with 7:01 left in the first quarter.

"Just coming out here and getting those solid plays, to remind us we can be great, that’s a confidence booster," Pacheco said of the long completion. "We’ve been working harder in practice because we know we have a solid run game. Our receivers and slot backs have been working hard, doing extra stuff after practice to get better."

Bishop Guertin tried a fake punt on its next possession, but was stopped short, giving the ball to South on the Cardinals' 41-yard line. Five plays later, Young hit Plourde in stride over the middle for a 24-yard touchdown and a 14-0 lead.

"We needed to establish that," Knight said. "We can’t become a team where you can load 11 guys in the box and bring your safety down when we motion. We have to get people to play us honest. We did a good job of taking advantage of a couple of things. Dante put the ball on them."

Lupo's return, and a two-point conversion from Moses to Kyle Baker, made it 14-8, but Pacheco added a 1-yard touchdown run in the final minute of the first half to give South a 20-8 lead at the break.

Pacheco added another 4-yard touchdown run with 4:17 remaining in the third and Frost also had a 4-yard scoring jaunt on the first play of the first quarter to make it 33-8.