Quick Hits: Heenan helps lead Londonderry football's comeback against Windham

Trailing by four points at halftime, Londonderry High School quarterback Drew Heenan shifted into overdrive for the second half.

Heenan, who rushed for 94 yards on 19 carries and threw for 53 more yards, found the end zone twice on the ground in the third quarter and once through the air in the fourth quarter to lead Londonderry (2-0 NHIAA, 2-1 overall) to a 30-14 home victory over Windham (1-2) on Sept. 16.

Lancers coach Jimmy Lauzon was impressed with everything he saw in the win.

“Drew had another great game,” Lauzon said, “but I can’t say enough about how well Windham played. They caught us napping a few times and had a great game plan that they executed into a first-half lead. This was one of the best games we’ve had with Windham in a few years.”

Heenan’s second-half explosion had Londonderry’s sideline celebrating, but the first half looked a little different for the defending Division I champions.

Windham was eating up clock on the back and legs of Tiger An, who gained a good chunk of his game-high 135 rushing yards over the first two quarters, including three of those on a touchdown run with 4:44 remaining in the second quarter to give Windham a 14-10 lead heading into halftime.

Londonderry started the scoring on Jack Drabik’s 22-yard field goal with 5:54 left in the first quarter. A smidge over three minutes later, Windham grabbed its first lead of the game with 2:04 to play in the opening frame, when quarterback Josh Sweeney (9 for 20, 91 yards, 1 TD) connected with David Croteau (4 catches, 30 yards) on a five-yard touchdown strike for a 7-3 advantage.

Defensively for Windham, Aidan Goss (13 tackles), Jake Joyce (5 tackles), Bryan Desmarais (3 tackles) and Henry Ntoro (3 tackles) all had strong games to aid in the Jaguars’ upset hopes.

Londonderry regained the lead early in the second quarter, when Jake Schena (13 carries, 94 yards) punched the ball in from the 2 for a 10-7 Lancers lead. Five minutes later, An was breaking the plane for the upset-minded Jaguars.

“Our defensive staff did a great job with second-half adjustments,” Lauzon said. “We didn’t do too good of a job getting off blocks or making tackles in that first half. We improved on both of those issues in the second half.”

One of the biggest changes defensively was the full-time insertion of junior Conor Williams at free safety, who along with the senior linebacking quartet of Andrew Soucy (1 sack), Trevor Weinmann, Nathan Pedrick (6.5 tackles) and Drabik (6 tackles) regrouped to stifle Windham’s triple-option attack in the final two quarters.

The second-half Lancers are who Lauzon wants to show up in Week 4’s Mack Plaque matchup with rival Pinkerton Academy (3-0) at 6 p.m. Friday in Londonderry.

“It’s going to be a challenge with Coach (Brian) O’Reilly’s Astros,” Lauzon said. “It always is.”

Merrimack 27, Nashua South 21

Quarterback Trent Jackson threw for 253 yards and three touchdowns to lead Merrimack over Nashua South on Sept. 16.

Jackson connected with Darron Brown for 95 yards and two touchdowns of 67 and 3 yards, and Owen Sadowski for 53 yards and a 40-yard touchdown in the win. Merrimack held a 27-7 lead early in the fourth quarter, following Reimello Hyde’s 45-yard interception return for a touchdown, but South refused to go quietly.

The Panthers (0-3) - led by Karsten Lemire - got right back into the game before ultimately falling by six points.

Lemire was a force on the ground (11 carries, 72 yards) and through the air (15 of 34, 194 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INTs), connecting with favorite targets Joshua Tripp (4 catches, 76 yards, 1 TD) and Kyle Emmons (4 catches, 51 yards, 1 TD), while Alvin Pascual added 20 ground yards and a touchdown.

“We had a lot of self-inflicted wounds in this one,” Merrimack coach Kip Jackson said. “Mistakes that we better correct and come in focused this week against Bishop Guertin.”

The Tomahawks (2-1) will host multi-threat quarterback Matt Santosuosso and the undefeated BG Cardinals (3-0) Friday at 6:30 p.m.

“Santosuosso is a pretty special player,” Jackson said. “We will need to play a disciplined game. Our guys need to understand their assignments and not try to force something big to happen. Good discipline will be the key to our success this week and every week the rest of the way.”

Hanover 40, Milford 14

Hanover controlled the game on both sides of the ball, utilizing a strong push by its offensive line and stifling defense, to topple Milford Sept. 16 in Milford.

Led by the offensive line’s blocking, Hanover rushed for 322 yards. Jeffrey Vidou was the biggest beneficiary of the line opening holes. Vidou rushed for 283 yards and three touchdowns (8, 45, 95).

Defensively, Hanover was led by Roger Lucas, who intercepted two passes, one that went for six points the other way. Montana Hanchett, Pat Elder and Cam Bonner, and linebackers Matt Brock and Keegan Murphy have shined for the Bears, who have outscored their opponents 108-32 through three games.

Hanover coach Sam Cavallaro credits defensive coordinator and former Hanover head coach Mike Ivanoski with a strong game plan and the players for buying in and executing.

“Mike and I have been coaching together for a long time,” Cavallaro said. “I trust him to run the defense and he has them playing at the highest level right now.”

Next up for Hanover is a Friday night home matchup with Hillsboro-Deering/Hopkinton (1-2) at 7.