Nashua South football took many turns on road to D1 playoffs

The Nashua High School South football team's playoff-clinching win Saturday against Dover was a microcosm of the Panthers' regular season.

The start was ideal, as the South defense forced three turnovers on three straight plays, and led 13-0 at the end of the first quarter.

But considering the Panthers returned an interception for a touchdown, and had an average start of the 50-yard line on its next three drives - including a first-and-goal at the 2 - it felt a little like South might have missed out on a bigger opportunity.

"We played tight at times, especially when we got into the red zone," South coach Scott Knight said. "We had to kick field goals, we had procedure (penalties) and dropped balls, things like that. We had chances early."

Kind of like how the Panthers opened the season by scoring over 70 points in a win against Spaulding, but followed it up by falling behind Bishop Guertin 21-0 in the second game of the season and losing 41-28.

Although Dover came back to take the lead before halftime, South went into the locker room up 20-19. But a bad punt and a turnover - one of seven on the day for the Panthers - helped the Green Wave go up 32-20 with 6:10 left in the third quarter.

"We felt good going into halftime because we were up one and we were getting the second half kickoff," Knight said. "Who would have know we'd go three-and-out and have a punt off a kid's helmet? And then they score, we turn it over and they score again. All of a sudden we're on our heels."

Things didn't look good, just like they didn't look good after South's 35-14 loss to Exeter on Oct. 14. To that point, the Panthers looked to be way behind in the race for the playoffs, with no marquee wins on their resume and games at Portsmouth and the finale with Dover still to go.

But somehow, someway, South found a way. After a bizarre exchange of turnovers with Dover - the teams combined to turn the ball over on seven of eight possessions after the Green Wave went up by 12 - the Panthers cashed in on a 1-yard run by Sean Holland to make it 32-27 with 9:43 left.

"We kept getting possession and then giving it up," Knight said. "They were very giving and we were, too. It was a tough game. Both teams played a little tight at times as you can see from the amount of balls that hit the ground."

After the defense forced a three-and-out, the Panthers got down to the Dover 14-yard line, but after a sack of Holland on third down, faced a fourth-and-22 from the 26. Holland found Alex Amigo for a 21-yard gain, but came up a yard short and turned it over on downs.

Dover picked up a first down on the next drive, moving the ball out its own 20, but South's defense held again and forced a punt.

"That was a huge stop here, when we got the ball back," Knight said. "We needed a (stop) and we got it. We used a couple of timeouts. We got the ball in good field position."

South took over at the Dover 48, and after picking up a first down, faced a third-and-7 with the clock ticking. Holland found Max Osgood for a 23-yard gain to the Green Wave 10. After a procedure penalty move the Panthers back to the 15, Amigo ripped off a 12-yard run to get South to the 3.

But South lost a yard on second down and Holland overthrew Osgood in the end zone on third, setting up fourth-and-goal from the Dover 4 with under a minute to play.

"Our offense, we've been real good all year," Knight said. "We know we can score in any number of ways. It was a matter of time. We knew what we wanted to do and we wanted the clock to run. If we were going to score, we didn't want to give them too much time."

Holland quickly drilled a pass to Derek Downing moments after the ball was snapped, hitting his receiver right between the numbers, and Downing was able to hold on for the winning score.

"It was a dart, but I trust Sean and he trusts me," Downing said. "I knew (the play) was directed toward me. I saw the outside linebacker, he was blitzing because he wanted to get the stop. I took my time let the play develop and Sean put it right on the money."

And now South gets to add at least another week to its 2016 season, with a quarterfinal game at Exeter at 1 p.m. on Saturday.