Quick Hits: Spaulding, Londonderry, Nashua North football pick up rivalry wins

What a difference a year makes. Just ask the Spaulding High School football program.

Winless last season, the 2022 Red Raiders are currently undefeated thanks in large part to a strong offensive line and a three-headed monster at running back. Friday night, Emmett Colby, Seth Cortina and Hunter Trueman scored two touchdowns each and combined for 283 yards rushing yards in a 36-23 victory over rival Dover.

Last year, Spaulding was on the wrong end of a 45-0 score with the Green Wave. The Red Raiders area now 3-0 in Division I (4-0 overall) and sitting atop the East Conference standings.

Spaulding coach Kevin Herbert sees a difference.

“That 45-0 loss last year didn’t sit well with us,” Herbert said. “We just didn’t show up. It was tough. That was a motivating factor heading into this year’s game, but also the season. We just need to keep showing up ready to play like we’ve done through these four games.”

Dover (2-1 D1, 3-1 overall), which suffered its first loss of the season, took an early 3-0 lead on a Tucker Johnson 23-yard field goal. That woke the monster, as Spaulding would score 24 unanswered points through the rest of the first half, taking advantage of four Dover turnovers during that timeframe.

Colby started the Red Raiders run with a 38-yard scoring jaunt not long after that kick. Cortina (eight carries, 107 yards), Trueman (14-108) and Colby (12-68) all found paydirt in the second quarter from 16, 22 and 3 yards out respectively for a 24-3 advantage.

Cortina broke off a 67-yard touchdown run just two minutes into the third quarter for a 30-3 lead and Dover, who scored 20 second-half points, was in too deep of a hole to recover.

“That was a big one,” Hebert said of Cortina’s TD run to start the third quarter. “That’s what you really want to do. You want to create separation in the third quarter. We hit the big plays when we needed the big plays.”

Dover got back on the board when quarterback Ryder Aubin connected for 27 yards with Brett Davis at 5:36 of the third quarter. A Davis 2-pointer made it 30-11.

Trueman would score from 24 yards out for Spaulding’s last TD of the night to make it 36-11 with roughly nine minutes to play.

Aubin did all he could to close the gap in the closing minutes, running for two touchdowns of 15 and 6 yards, but time just wasn’t on Dover’s side.

With the loss, Dover still owns a 70-48-8 advantage in the state’s oldest high school football rivalry, which dates back to 1906.

Londonderry 31, Pinkerton 6

Londonderry’s Anthony Amaro returned the opening kickoff 92 yards and the defending Division I champion Lancers were on there way to a lopsided win over Pinkerton Academy.

Londonderry (3-0 D1, 3-1 overall) was at its best in all phases of the game throughout, a fact not lost on Lancers coach James Lauzon.

“It’s hard to get off to a better start than returning the opening kick for six,” Lauzon said. “We won the turnover battle, and a lot of bounces went our way. We capitalized and made the big plays we needed to against one of the toughest and most well-coached teams year in and year out.“

Defensively, the Lancers held the Astros to 86 yards on the ground and 47 through the air. Offensively, Londonderry put up 204 total yards - 107 by air and 97 by land.

Early in the second quarter, Jack Drabik hit a 36-yard field goal for a 10-0 lead that was expanded to 17-0 five minutes later on a 20-yard connection from quarterback Drew Heenan to Jack Schena.

Cole Yennaco made things interesting halfway through the third quarter when his 7-yard touchdown run cut the Astros’ deficit to 17-6.

However, Londonderry flipped the momentum switch right back in its favor five minutes later on a 9-yard TD run by Andrew Soucy for a 24-6 Lancers lead.

Heenan would close out the scoring just 20 seconds into the fourth quarter with a 44-yard TD strike to Andrew Kullman, sealing the Mack Plaque rivalry game victory and sixth straight win for Londonderry over Pinkerton.

“There are a lot of people in town that probably don’t care if we win another one the rest of the season,” Lauzon said jokingly. “This rivalry is a big deal to people in both towns. For me, every win is big and we just want to keep getting better as the season progresses.”

The Astros (3-1) still own a 32-12 advantage in the series despite this current impressive run by the Lancers.

Nashua North 47, Nashua South 0

It was the Derek Finlay and Jordyn Raisanen-Andino show at Stellos Stadium Friday night, as Nashua North walloped Nashua South 47-0 in this fall’s Battle of the Bridge rivalry game.

Finlay rushed for 129 yards and three touchdowns (30, 14 and 10) on 11 carries, while also connecting on six of seven passing attempts for 100 yards and a 46-yard TD pass to Amaury Almonte.

Not to be outdone, Raisanen-Andino carried the ball 12 times for 195 yards and two scores of his own from 12 and 53 yards out.

There was no talk of last season’s one-point loss all week, according to North coach Chad Zibolis. It’s not like you need any added motivation when you’re playing your in-town rival.

“We certainly made a statement,” Zibolis said. “The kids didn't mention last year’s game at all this past week. The kids were focused, they came out to play, it just took is a little bit to get going. It always happens that way though. In this North-South game, our kids don't settle in until that second quarter. When they settled in this week, they just took off.”

The Titans offensive line will be remembered for aiding in that process.

Led by Darius Smith, Bryson Borromeo and Dionard Toplana, North’s line opened holes for Finlay and Raisanen-Andino all night as North improved to 4-0 on the season, tied with Bishop Guertin atop the West Conference standings.

South, which saw quarterback Karsten Lemire throw for 117 yards in defeat, falls to 0-4 on the season.