North’s dream season ends

SALEM – Jason Robie got everything he wanted Saturday in the Division I football title game.

Well, almost everything.

The Nashua High School North football team successfully ran a ball-control offense. The Titans’ defense stepped up to the task of holding Salem’s running game in check. North even played well in the kicking game, keeping the Blue Devils from busting any big returns.

There was just that matter of the numbers on the scoreboard. When the clock ticked down to zero, Salem was the winner, 28-21.

“I’m still having a hard time believing we lost,” North coach Robie said. “I cannot believe that we lost. Maybe they won it more than we lost it.”

Despite running 24 more plays, despite gaining 52 more yards and despite limiting Salem’s running back duo of Max Jacques and Jerickson Fedrick to 150 yards on the ground, the Titans (9-2) came up short in the program’s first championship game appearance because they made the Blue Devils do some things they don’t normally do. And on this day, Salem (11-1) did those things well.

Salem quarterback Matthew Cannone completed just four passes, but three of them went for touchdowns, including a 43-yard scoring pass to Michael Lorenz with 1:10 left in the game that proved to be the difference.

The play might have summed up the whole game. Cannone made a great throw and North’s Anton Marinchik was right there in coverage, but Lorenz made an outstanding diving catch in the end zone.

“The kid threw a 40-yard bomb, they had to do that to beat us,” Robie said. “The play was covered. Our kid was on him. It wasn’t like the kid was 20 yards beyond the coverage and waiting for a pop fly. We were there. The kid had to adjust and he made a heck of a catch.”

Facing a third-and-eight the play before, Salem picked up what would have been a first down on a catch-and-run by Fedrick, but a flag for an ineligible receiver downfield brought the play back, setting up third-and-13.

“I was thinking of getting something shorter so we could work for a field goal,” Salem coach Jack Gati said. “(Offensive coordinator) Dan (Keleher) is the one who suggested that play, which worked last week. It was a great pass and a great route. I thought the coverage was pretty good.”

North’s defense was good all day. After surrendering 623 total yards in the regular-season matchup – including 524 yards rushing – the Titans kept Jacques (107 yards) and Fedrick (43) in check on Saturday. North held the Blue Devils to a total of 272 yards, and limited the number of big plays by Salem.

The defense’s biggest stand came right after the Blue Devils had tied the game at 21 with 7:08 left in the game. Salem kicked off to North’s Cory Avelar, and after a modest return, Avelar fumbled the ball. Tyler Kelly recovered for Salem and set the Blue Devils up with a first down at North’s 17-yard line.

Jacques went for 8 yards on first down, but Fedrick lost 5 on second down and then couldn’t haul in a pass from Cannone on third down. Christopher Saulnier came out on fourth down to attempt a 31-yard field goal, but the kick was wide right and the score remained tied at 21 with 3:20 to play.

“How about that defensive stand?” Robie said. “If we win, that’s all anyone is talking about for the next 30 years.”

North’s first drive of the game gave Salem something to talk about on its sideline. The Titans took the opening kickoff and went 68 yards on 16 plays, using up over seven minutes. Andre Williams, who carried 36 times for 127 yards, went in from 2 yards out to put North up with 4:49 left in the first quarter.

The Titans almost got the ball right back when Anthony Guidice’s onside kick went through the hands of a Salem player and came to a stop near the sideline. Two North players appeared to have a shot at the ball, but it was knocked out of bounds, giving the Blue Devils control.

Salem came back to take the lead in the second quarter. Jacques went in from 38 yards out after a lost fumble by North’s Brandon Karkhanis to tie the game at 7. On their next possession, the Blue Devils used an option pass from fullback Darren Brown to Lorenz to set up Cannone’s 6-yard scoring pass to Kyle Henrick, putting Salem up 14-7 with 24 seconds until halftime.

“They had to beat us with things they haven’t beat teams with before, maybe,” Robie said. “I think we did a pretty good job neutralizing their big threats. We covered the pass fairly well. We stopped the run fairly well. We thought if we could get four stops defensively in the game, we could win. I think we did more than that.”

North stopped Salem seven times, recovering two fumbles and forcing the Blue Devils to punt three times. Other than Jacques’ touchdown run, Salem only had five runs for more than 10 yards.

“They worked hard to take away what we did well all year,” Gati said. “We didn’t break any long runs, but we were opportunistic with some pass plays. We just didn’t have the easy ones.”

While the Titans were bottling up the Blue Devils, Salem was doing the same to North’s offense. The Titans’ longest running play went for 14 yards and they had only two others that were for more than 10.

On North’s first drive of the second half, it was Karkhanis’ arm that helped tie the game. The junior completed both of his pass attempts on the drive to Trevor Rancourt, one for 19 yards to get into Salem territory and the other for 31 yards into the end zone to make it 14-14 with 6:43 left in the third.

Alex Sobrado fumbled on Salem’s first play and Devin Blais recovered at the Blue Devils’ 38. Four plays later, Williams went in from 4 yards out to give North a 21-14 lead.

“That’s how you win games, by running the ball,” Williams said. “If you can’t run the ball, you can’t win.”

After rushing for 141 yards in the first half, North had just 59 in the second. And when the Titans needed just a couple of yards in the fourth quarter, they were unable to get them.

North faced a second-and-three on the drive after Salem’s missed field goal, but Dylan Brodeur was dropped for a loss of 4 yards. The Titans appeared to have a first down on a pass from Karkhanis to Eric Muite, but an illegal block in the back brought the play back.

On third-and-two, Williams came up a couple of chain lengths short of a first down. On fourth down from the North 41, Brodeur lost a yard to give Salem the ball with 1:59 left, setting up Lorenz’s winning touchdown catch.

“We’ve been making fourth-and-a-foot all year,” Robie said. “It wasn’t a question to me. Put it in the hands of the defense. The defense has been playing well, I thought we could keep them out of the end zone and then go into overtime.

“It just wasn’t meant to be for us, I guess.”