Passing game turns into secret weapon for Nashua North football

The Nashua High School North football team is still learning things about itself, even as the playoffs get started.

That's what happens when the season gets shortened by a pandemic, and a team takes extra precautions and loses out on games.

So with the Titans taking the field for the fourth time in 2020 - and for their first postseason game - and with Bishop Guertin selling out to stop the running game, North had to go to its passing attack.

It didn't take long to figure out the Titans are pretty good throwing the football, too.

After a hold and a run for no gain by Curtis Harris-Lopez, North faced a fourth-and-11 from Bishop Guertin's 32-yard line on the Titans' opening drive. North opted to go for it, and Harris-Lopez connected with Jayden Espinal behind two Cardinals' defenders for a touchdown pass that got the Titans rolling.

"That was big because they were shutting us down in the run game and giving us a different look, playing tough defensively," North coach Dante Laurendi said. "It got us out of a funk. We scored on a fourth-and-long, too, so that was huge. The defense took over after that."

The play was similar to one the Titans' ran successfully against the Cardinals in their regular-season meeting, when Harris-Lopez and Espinal connected on a long touchdown pass right before halftime of that game.

"Coach told me to run the seam, because they don’t put their safety over, so I just had a clear shot down the field," Espinal said. "That’s a very big momentum swing, especially on the first drive. We just took a shot deep and good for us."

North only attempted six passes, with Harris-Lopez completing four of them for 63 yards and three touchdowns. The other two scores went to Lucas Cunningham in the Titans' 35-6 win over Bishop Guertin in the Division I preliminary round.

It wasn't the most number of passes or yards the Titans have had through the air in a game this year, but it was the first time they had to throw to find the end zone. Through four games, North has now averaged 350 yards rushing while throwing for a combined 168.

"We haven’t had to throw consistently so far this year," Laurendi said. "That’s a by-product of missing games. You miss those weeks to evolve and develop and get better at things. When you lose a couple of games, maybe you’re fresher physically, but you don’t get to work on timing and the passing game."

Forcing North to throw the ball has been Bishop Guertin's game plan on defense the last few times the teams have met. While the Titans were able to get their rushing yards this time - North had 252 yards on 42 attempts - the Cardinals didn't give up too many big runs.

"We had a similar thought process last year of how can we try to slow Curtis down running the ball, and if they beat us in the air so be it … and then they beat us in the air," Bishop Guertin coach John Trisciani said. "You try to limit them in what they do well, but they’re just a well-rounded team. We’re trying to put our best guys on their best guys and they just beat them."

Perhaps the play that showed just how well the passing game was working for the Titans came on the final play from scrimmage in the first half. With eight seconds left before halftime, facing second-and-11 from the Cardinals' 13, Harris-Lopez and Cunningham executed a perfect fade route in the right corner of the end zone to make it 28-0.

"Our throwing game, everyone thinks it’s not as good as it was (Friday)," Espinal said, "but to be honest, now that we showed we can throw, everyone is going to have to worry about our run and pass game, because they’re equally as good."