Offense breaks out for Nashua South football in win over Keene (video)

NASHUA - Now that's more like it.

After going six quarters without scoring, the Nashua High School South football team wasted little time finding the end zone Friday night against Keene.

And once they were there, the Panthers didn't stop in the first half.

Chris Keefe returned the game's opening kickoff 72 yards for a touchdown, and South added two more scores in the first six minutes of a 53-34 win over the Blackbirds in a Division I West Conference game at Stellos Stadium.

Josh Compoh led the Panthers' offense with 155 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries and Tyler Armeen had 88 yards and two scores on just five attempts. South (2-1) picked up 335 of its 391 yards on the ground, including 249 yards rushing in the first half.

Heading into the game, the Panthers had scored just 10 points this season, all in the first half of the season-opening win over Portsmouth.

"We retooled a few things this week and put a lot of time into our running game," South coach Scott Knight said. "We knew we have to be able to run the football, so going in, that was going to be our focus.

"(Compoh) has been running the ball pretty good. He’s showing some glimpses of what he’s capable of."

The Panthers led 27-7 at the end of the first quarter and 40-14 at halftime, but Keene (0-3) kept things interesting in the second half thanks to Tucker Brown and Clint Maleski.

Brown had three rushing touchdowns for the Blackbirds and was 11 of 25 passing for 291 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Maleski caught nine of those passes for 256 yards and a score, with only two of those completions going for fewer than 20 yards.

"We had a tough time," Knight said. "That kid (Maleski) was tall and they made some good plays. Our pressure was good, but they were rolling the (quarterback). He made some good throws and he put it right on him. Some of those were contested, but (Maleski) did a great job."

South also got a rushing touchdown each from Joe Buturla (57 yards) and Zakary Hureau (46 yards) while Michael Rutstein was 3 of 7 passing for 56 yards.

After going up 7-0 just 11 seconds in, South's defense forced a three-and-out by Keene and the Panthers needed only two plays to find the end zone again, as Armeen scored on a 30-yard run to make it 13-0.

Another punt by Keene set South up on its own 47-yard line, and seven plays later, Compoh scored from 13 yards out to make it 19-0 with 6:18 left in the first quarter.

"That was a huge turning point," Keefe said of the start for South. "It got everyone’s mood better. We’re all coming into the game knowing we’ve got to score early. I think doing that lifted the spirits of people."

The Blackbirds answered with a 28-yard touchdown run by Brown, and Keene's defense made a stop, but a fumble by Cole Masterson gave South the ball at the Keene 20. Buturla recovered the fumble on defense, and then on the next play, raced 20 yards for a touchdown on the final play of the quarter to make it 27-7.

South turned another turnover into points, as Jacob Smith picked off a pass by Brown late in the second quarter and then had a 25-yard reception to set up a 7-yard scoring run by Hureau that made it 40-14.

Keene received the kickoff to start the second half and it looked like it's offense was going to stall at midfield, but on fourth-and-11, a punt by Brown bounced off the leg of South's Kyle Salemi and Maleski was there to recover it at the Panthers' 24. Then, on fourth-and-15 from the South 18, Brown hit Maleski for a touchdown that made it 40-21.

The Panthers got another touchdown run from Armeen to make it 47-21 at the end of the third, but Keene scored twice in the fourth, closing to within 47-34 on a 1-yard touchdown run by Brown with 4:41 to play.

After the Blackbirds were unable to recover an onside kick, the defense held and Keene got the ball back at its own 38. But four straight incompletions gave the ball back to South and Compoh put the game away with a 16-yard touchdown run.

"It’s good to get back to Nashua South football," Knight said. "We can do a few things and attack different areas of the field. That was good. I’m happy. When you’re in one of those funks, you need something like this."