Panthers, Titans could be in for another shootout

Fans going to watch Friday night’s Battle of the Bridge may want to plan their bathroom breaks at the following times – 10 minutes before kickoff, at halftime or when the game is over.

Leave at any other time, and a lot could happen while you’re gone.

It should come as no surprise if the football teams from Nashua High School North and South put close to 100 combined points on the scoreboard. They did last year, in a game North won 56-49, and in the last few weeks, both teams have shown how prolific their offenses can be.

The Panthers have scored 86 points in their last two games, and in their three wins this season, they’ve put up at least 41 points. The Titans put up 54 points last week and still lost to Salem by 13. So far this season, North’s point total has gone up each week.

“We scored 49 points and lost,” South coach Scott Knight said of the regular-season meeting last year. “I don’t think that’s ever happened. They can score quickly. They have probably more weapons than anybody. I like to think we have weapons, too.”

Both teams have quarterbacks who could argue that he is the best in the state. South’s Keith Farkas and North’s Brandon Karkhanis can both throw the ball to a bevy of receivers, and if need be, both can tuck it in a use their legs to gain yardage.

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While North may have the two best running back in the game – seniors Andre Williams and Jahmar Gathright – South has a handful of players it can give the ball to, including Derek Paradis, Armond McRae, Brandon Gauthier and Nick Puleo.

And to think less than a decade ago, these players would all be on the same team.

“As coaches, we sit around and say imagine if we had all these kids on one team,” North coach Jason Robie said. “But then you say, you know, there was a time when we did. I was here from 1996 to 2003, and we played in four championship games. That’s something we look at also.”

Imagining a backfield of Farkas, Williams and McRae or Karkhanis, Paradis and Gathright might make some longtime Nashua football fans drool, but it would also mean that some of this year’s standout players may not have been on the field at all.

“Farkas and Karkhanis are two really good quarterbacks,” Knight said. “If we were one, we’d still be platooning like we did in 2003. Maybe one might not even play offense. One might even be a defensive back. You don’t know.”

What might be surprising is how quickly it has been for both schools, North in particular, to climb back up from the bottom of the Division I standings.

“We’re both established,” Robie said. “We have our offense and defense in place and coaches that have been here now for a little while. There’s some continuity, which is extremely important.

“I think the diehards, the folks that have been around long enough, will always have a special place in their heart for the purple team. There was no North. This was a big rock pile. We’re still only seven years old, which is amazing. To have this kind of success in the program’s history is a huge thing.”

The teams will kickoff at 7 p.m. Friday night at Stellos Stadium.