Third time the charm in Nashua North football's playoff win over Merrimack

The Nashua High School North football team had been here before.

Opening weekend of the playoffs, and for the third year in a row, the Titans drew Merrimack. The first two times, it didn't go well for them.

In 2018, playing on a field that had been turned to mud and with wind that altered the path of the football, North and Merrimack went into overtime scoreless. The Titans had a field goal blocked on their possession before the Tomahawks found the end zone for a 6-0 win.

In 2019, North exacted some revenge with a win in the regular season, but saw quarterback Curtis Harris-Lopez go down with an injury in the second half of that game. Two weeks later, the teams met again, and without Harris-Lopez, the Titans suffered their first loss of the season at the hands of the Tomahawks.

But this season, with both teams only playing in their fifth game of the season thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic, North prevailed, beating Merrimack 42-12 in the Division I quarterfinals.

"I think having Curtis back for the playoffs, they thought about that, but I don’t think it weighed much," North coach Dante Laurendi said. "It has no bearing on this year. We just knew they were a dangerous team and can make big plays and can score fast. We needed to slow them down."

North (5-0) did just that, holding Merrimack to 146 yards, including minus-8 yards rushing on 21 carries, and forced five turnovers. The Tomahawks gained 74 of their passing yards on two receiver option plays in the second half, after the Titans had taken a 35-0 lead at the break.

Of the five turnovers, three came on interceptions of Merrimack quarterback Kyle Crampton, who was 12 of 28 for 80 yards.

"It was important for us to get pressure on (Crampton), because as you’ve seen all year, he can sling the ball and put it in spots," Laurendi said. "He made some great throws (Friday). Our front, our linebackers, did a really good job of getting pressure on him and made him rush some throws."

Offensively, Harris-Lopez had one of his most productive games of the year, despite playing just a half. The senior had 139 yards and four touchdowns on just 10 carries, giving him 705 yards and 12 touchdowns on the ground this season, averaging 8.7 yards per attempt.

It hasn't just been Harris-Lopez leading the Titans' rushing attack this year, as they have three other players who have averaged better than seven yards per carry this season - Jayden Espinal (9.02), Issac Smith (7.2) and Brian Mwangi (7.5). Those three have combined to rush for 746 yards and seven touchdowns on the year.

"The guys do a good job sharing the football," Laurendi said. "They’re doing a great job blocking for each other and the line has done a great job all year."

Although both teams are in the D1 West Conference, this was their only meeting of the season, after their regular season game was canceled out of precaution, when Merrimack had a couple of positive Covid cases among its student community.

"I would have been happy just getting one game in," Merrimack coach Kip Jackson said of the 2020 season. "It was a very emotional year for the kids. At first, we didn’t even know if we were going to have a season just because of what was going on. During the season, just to have it stopped for a couple of weeks, and it could end at any time, it’s a great lesson for the kids."

After three playoff games were canceled last weekend because teams were forced to drop out, Laurendi said his message to his team would be to not take any of another week of practice for granted.

"Let’s look forward to putting the pads on one more day, one day at a time," Laurendi said. "Everything we get from here on out is a bonus. Just play and enjoy it because you never know when it’s going to be taken away from you."

North is scheduled to host Salem on Nov. 14 at 1 p.m. at Stellos Stadium in the D1 semifinals. It will be the first playoff meeting between the teams since the D1 championship game, won by Salem, in 2009.