Pinkerton football powers its way to convincing win over Nashua North

NASHUA - Brian O'Reilly knew his Pinkerton Academy football team would be facing an opponent Friday night that was desperate for a signature win.

The Astros coach warned his players to be ready for just about anything from Nashua North, but Pinkerton was ready to go, and then some.

Ty and Terrell Hicks combined for almost two hundred yards rushing and five touchdowns, as the Astros ran for 460 yards and eight scores, in a 61-19 win over the Titans in a Division I game at Stellos Stadium.

Aiden Goujon also ran for a touchdown in the first half as Pinkerton built up a 42-19 lead and shut North out in the second half.

"We told our kids this is a playoff game for them," O'Reilly said. "If they truly wanted to be in the playoffs, they had to win. I expected halfback passes, I expected onside kicks. I told them expect everything because that’s what a team does when it has to win.

"We were able to move the ball on them and that certainly helped a lot. We’ve got some speed in the backfield and some size up front, and that made a big difference. We were trying to treat this as a semi-playoff game. We think this puts us in a pretty situation for the playoffs."

The win helped Pinkerton (5-1) keep pace with Londonderry (5-1), which defeated Merrimack, as both remained a game behind Salem (5-0) in the loss column. The Blue Devils take on Bishop Guertin on Saturday.

The Astros finished with 581 yards, with 466 of that coming on the ground, and while North was able to hang around in the first half, Pinkerton took the Titans out of the game with two touchdown drives on their first two possessions of the second half. North finished with 296 yards on offense, all but 43 of which came in the first half.

Brian Montminy had 63 yards rushing and a touchdown and also connected with Austin Ouellette on a 74-yard catch-and-run on a halfback option pass. Ouellette had five catches for 150 yards and two touchdowns.

Things went bad for North (3-3), who was without an injured RJ Jenkins, almost from the start.

"We ran the first two offensive plays incorrect," North coach Dante Laurendi said. "It kind of just snowballed from there. We weren’t real focused. We didn’t align right defensively several times. We just didn’t have our mental game. Can’t do it against anybody, let alone when you’re playing an explosive team that can hurt you in so many ways.

"They do what they do and they’re very good at it. We got outphysicaled up front. We probably had our worst tackling performance of the season. We didn’t play the football that we’re capable of playing."

After forcing North to go three-and-out on its opening drive, Pinkerton needed just four plays to go 44 yards, getting a 2-yard touchdown run from Ty Hicks (five carries, 92 yards) to take a 7-0 lead with 8:41 left in the first.

The Titans answered with a nine-play, 73-yard drive, which they kept a live by picked up two third-and-1 situations, and capped it with a 29-yard touchdown pass from Mike Loveless (7 of 11, 96 yards) to Ouellette to tie the game.

Pinkerton again needed just four plays, this time to go 56 yards, with Terrell Hicks (five carries, 100 yards) scoring on a 36-yard run. Quarterback Aiden Goujon made it 20-7 Astros early in the second quarter with a 15-yard run, starting a stretch of three touchdowns on three plays for each team.

North answered on its first offensive possession with Montminy's scoring pass to Ouellette, but Pinkerton responded on its next play, as Ty Hicks went 76 yards to make it 28-13 Astros with 9:25 left in the half.

On the ensuing kickoff, Alex Tveter drilled a low kick into one North's upmen and Marcus Terrio recovered to give Pinkerton the ball back. Seven plays later, Terrell Hicks rumbled through the North defense for a 20-yard scoring run and a 35-13 lead.

The Titans put together a nine-play, 76-yard drive, finding the end zone on a 10-yard touchdown run by Montminy, but came back with another score, this time on a 6-yard run by Ty Hicks.

"We gave up big plays, but they earned those big plays," O'Reilly said. "Anybody that can throw the ball can score on you at any time, and those are the ones you have to worry about.

"It is very hard to defend ... when you have a power runner who also can break tackles and accelerate, that’s hard (to stop)."

Gannon Fast (five carries, 43 yards), Nicholas Lombard and Trent LeDuc scored touchdowns for Pinkerton in the second half and Gennaro Marra had six carries for 94 yards.