PLAISTOW – The Nashua High School North football team’s running-back-by-committee controlled the game on the ground and the Titans’ defense held Timberlane to just 127 yards of total offense in a dominant 24-0 road win Friday night.

Dana Salem scored two touchdowns and had 99 yards rushing to lead a Titans team that had 251 yards of rushing and four runners with double-digit rushing totals. Salem had back-to-back big plays in the second quarter, picking up a key fourth-down conversion deep in Timberlane territory before scoring on a 12-yard run with a fresh set of downs on the following play.

It was Myles Cassin-Read who opened the scoring for North, rushing up the middle for a 4-yard score late in the first quarter. The Titans’ first scoring drive of the season was largely due to the running of quarterback Colby Gunter, propelled twice by the Owls’ propensity for hitting him in the helmet. After a sputtering first drive and poor start to the second, Gunter’s 9-yard rush was the catalyst for the 70-yard drive, but it was a 15-yard penalty on a hit to the head on the play and a repeat offense four plays later that helped propel North.

“I think we utilized things we excel at,” said Titans coach Jason Robie, “the kicking game, running back by committee.”

The kicking game was indeed strong for North, as the game’s scoring was closed out with a 19-yard field goal by Sushant Niroula in the fourth quarter. Niroula also was perfect on extra points, while punter Stephen Lambert drove a punt 49 yards from deep in Titans territory in the third quarter to get North out of some field position trouble.

True to a game that Robie said “would be won between the tackles” against a Timberlane team described as “a good, hard, physical football team,” it was a quiet night through the air for both. The Owls’ only completion went for minus-5 yards, but Gunter’s only completion, an 18-yard sideline strike to Connor Baldassaro late in the game, was a crucial fourth-down completion that led to Salem’s second touchdown of the game.

The Titans’ Phil Pereira had a momentum-sapping sack in the second quarter for the Titans. In between North touchdowns, Timberlane had finally moved the ball out to midfield before Pereira dropped quarterback Jason Hughes on third down to end the drive. Joel Symes recovered a fumble deep in Owl territory that led to Niroula’s field goal.

Timberlane were largely its own enemy in the game, losing three fumbles (four overall) and while the number of penalties committed was relatively small, three were 15-yarders.

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