North, Pinkerton meet in Derry

The Nashua High School North football team needed to work on its timing and tempo, and the best place to do it was in practice.

So somehow, leading up to the Titans’ Division I against Londonderry last week, coach Jason Robie got his team running nearly 70 plays in practice, just like it would in a game.

“We needed to speed up the tempo of our practices,” Robie said. “We weren’t making the same alignment mistakes and we weren’t making the same assignment mistakes. As a result, we were a little crisper on offense. It paid off for us because when we got to game time, it wasn’t any different (in the game).”

The Titans got out to a big lead and were able to hold on against the Lancers for a 27-7 win. This week, the task gets a little tougher, as North travels to Derry to face Pinkerton Academy for a 1 p.m. kickoff on Saturday.

The Astros are coming off a 23-14 win over Nashua South in which they found ways to win by taking advantage of mistakes.

“They have a formula they follow and that’s why they’re as good as they are,” Robie said. “They always seems to be in mid-season form. That’s a result of the camp they run in the summer. They also have all the bugs and kinks worked out in their staff and they know how things should progress.”

Robie and his staff know about the Astros’ weapons on offense – running back Emmitt Smith, Kevin Davies and Manny Latimore and quarterback Chris St. Onge. How to stop them is another story.

“We have to be able to stop the run first,” Robie said. “The first three plays against South last week, (Pinkerton) threw the ball. The way we’ve been playing in the secondary, (teams) have been able to get behind some of our guys.

“If they get out in front of us, and they have the ability to keep pounding the ball, and keep the clock running, that’s going to work to our disadvantage. We’ve got to do a fundamentally sound job.”

North got a big performance from its running game last week, as Jahmar Gathright, Andre Williams and Marc Lavine all racked up at least 50 yards on the ground. And despite keeping Londonderry close in terms of total yards, the Titans’ defense was able to come up big when it was needed.

“I thought defensively, when Londonderry got close to the goal line, we were able to bend but not break,” Robie said. “We made some big stops, which kept us energized. I still think we can do more, but it was definitely a step in the right direction.”

The Titans try to take that step Saturday at 1 p.m.