Nothing for granted in Bishop Guertin football win over Nashua South

It may have looked like the Bishop Guertin High School football team was taking care of business in its season opener last Saturday against Nashua South.

But to Cardinals coach John Trisciani, wins aren't taken for granted, even when its a 37-7 victory over a rival.

"I try to tell the kids at the end of the game, I don’t take these for granted because we’ve been on the wrong side of these over the years," Trisciani said. "People talk about the power poll and contenders and everything else, and we’re just telling them one week at a time. We won the first round, now we’re on to round two."

There were a lot of things to like about what Bishop Guertin did in that game.

The Cardinals took the opening kickoff and went 62 yards in 11 plays, had no penalties or negative plays on the drive, and quarterback Matt Santosuosso completed both of his pass attempts to Connor Guibord. The first was a 7-yard pickup on third down and the other a 12-yard touchdown pass that gave Bishop Guertin a lead it never let up.

It was the first of three drives to open the game where the Cardinals found the end zone, as Santosuosso had rushing touchdowns to cap both possessions. On the third drive, the senior helped set up his score by connecting with Ronan Balistreri for a 10-yard gain on fourth-and-6 at the South 14-yard line.

Santosuosso would also connect with Gavin Bombara on a 26-yard touchdown in the third quarter, and he finished the day 5 of 10 passing for 60 yards and two scores, while also rushing for 146 yards and two touchdowns. Charlie Bellavance added 84 yards on the ground and Ethan Labbe had 27 yards and a touchdown rushing.

"We were really concerned coming into the game that they may plan man (defense) and pack the box," Trisciani said. "We knew we were going to try to come in and run and pick our spots in the air. I didn’t think we executed as well as I would have liked. We had a good fourth-down conversion and Bombara caught a pass for a touchdown. There were spots, but I wished we’d been able to do more (passing)."

Defensively, the Cardinals were able to limit the Panthers' rushing attack for most of the game, but South was able to move the ball with rollouts and a shorter passing game.

Karsten Lemire, who was making his first start at quarterback, completed 19 of 29 passes for 162 yards and also had 51 yards rushing for South. The senior completed his first 11 passes of the game, with five of those coming on a 12-play, 79-yard scoring drive in the second quarter.

"He did a really good job on that scoring drive," Trisciani said of Lemire. "A lot of them were rollouts this way and he was putting them in a spot where it couldn’t go anywhere else. I thought he was tough on rollouts. We hit him a couple of times and he pops back up. He’s not just a quarterback, he’s a football player."

It was a big step for Lemire, who never played football until he was a sophomore.

"He’d never played in his life," South coach Scott Knight said. "Last year, he was a safety. He’s throwing the ball a lot better. He’s poised. There were a couple of plays where he could have taken off. Once he figures that out, he’s going to be pretty dangerous."

The South quarterback was able to withstand a few big hits, specifically in the second quarter, when Guibord was able to get in free. That's something Trisciani expects to see from his linebackers all season, which also includes Dante Nieto and Carter Accomando.

"From a linebacker standpoint, we’ve got some pretty decent-sized kids," the coach said. "They’re pretty big and that’s not something we’ve had lately, and they can move well, too."

Next game: Bishop Guertin goes on the road to face Timberlane at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Nashua South hosts Windham at 2 p.m. on Saturday.