Staff photo by TOM KING Nashua North's Austin Ouellette tries to escape the clutches of Merrimack's Zach Twardosky during Friday night's huge Division I game in Merrimack.

MERRIMACK — Curtis Harris or Ben Eichman?

It’s a tough call, but the 7-1 Merrimack High School football team will take their Ben Eichman, thank you, as he rushed 13 times for 120 yards, scored four TDs in a West Conference clinching 32-24 win over Nashua North on Friday night at Student Memorial Field.

“He’s just so much more decisive in everything he does,” Merrimack coach Kip Jackson said. “He’s good. I want him on my team any day of the week.”

Harris? All he did was score three touchdowns, rush for 169 yards, and throw for 88 more.

But for the Titans, now 6-2 and still expecting to be playoff bound, it wasn’t enough.

“(Eichman) was a difference maker,” North coach Dante Laurendi said. “They’ve got a lot of weapons, they used a lot of them, and made big plays when they needed to. We did something we hadn’t been doing, turned the ball over (three times), had some costly penalties. …. That’s a good football team, you can’t do that.”

Eichman not only had four TDs, he had a huge 32-yard fourth down run with just inside eight minutes to play that set up a Jared Dyer 1-yard potential game-clinching TD with 5:12 to play.

“It’s crazy, the line is absolutely amazing, I couldn’t do anything without them,” he said. “Halftime (up 8-6) we were all wound up still. … We were just ready. It’s a huge game for us.”

But after Dyer’s score, Harris, said not so fast as he raced 56 yards to cut the margin to 32-24 with 3:47 to play.

But who else – Eichman – intercepted a Harris pass at midfield with 1:53 to play and clinch the win.

Leading 8-6 at the half, the Tomahawks opened up a 20-6 lead. First, punter Sam Nicholls, feeling the rush, tried to run for a first down and fell short at the 25.

Merrimack said thanks and four plays laterEichman ran it in from 9 yards out to make it 14-6 (failed conversion).

On the ‘Hawks next series, Merrimack QB James Dowling hit Eichman on a short pass in the flat and the senior was uncovered all the way into the end zone to give the hosts a 20-6 lead.

Want more Eichaman? He added a 34-yard scoring run less than two minutes later for a 26-6 lead (kick failed).

North responded with a Harris 2-yard run, but Tristan Wood blocked the PAT and the Titans trailed 26-12 with 1:22 left in the third.

They closed to 26-18, taking advantage of a Tristan Wood kickoff fumble, with Harris scoring again on another 2-yard run with 10:37 to play. But he was stopped short on a two-point conversion attempt.

In the first half, North shot itself in the foot with a roughing the punter call that the Tomahawks took full advantage of as they marched from their own 6 some 93 yards with Eichman scoring from 18 yards out.

Prior to the Merrimack possession that led to the penalty, Loveless fumbled the ball away at the Tomahawk six – points loss for North. Basically a 14 point swing.

However, the Titans marched 85 yards in 18 plays with Mike Loveless leaning in from 2 yards out, a drive that took nearly 10 minutes of the second quarter. However, Loveless was stopped on a two-point conversion attempt and the ‘Hawks took an 8-6 lead into the break.

“We have a great drive and we turn the ball over,” Laurendi said. “We had some opportunites, we didn’t capitalize. … These guys are really good.”

“We worked really hard this week,” Eichman said. “I think we deserved it.”

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