Telegraph photo by TOM KING Nashua North's Curtis Harris stands a short distance away from the Titans post game huddle. Harris ran for three TDs and threw for another but injured his left knee in the third quarter of Friday night's 31-19 Titans win over Merrimack at Stellos Stadium.

NASHUA – Add the Merrimack High School football team to the list of those left in Curtis Harris’ wake.

But a hush fell over Stellos Stadium Friday night late in the third quarter of Nashua North’s 31-19 win over the Tomahawks. That’s because Harris was on the ground writhing in pain, an apparent injury to his left knee.

Luckily, he walked gingerly off the field on his own, and after being examined in the locker room was on the sidelines for the remainder of the game, helmet on. Harris ran for three scores and threw for another as North built a 31-7 halftime lead, clinching the top seed in their East-West Conference playoff cluster. But cautious optimism is the phrase when it comes to Harris’ health after he ran for 180 yards and three TDs and threw for 76 and a score.

“We don’t know for sure right now,” Harris said. “We’ll go to the doctor’s Monday or Tuesday and they’ll tell me. It (walking off) keeps my mindset good that it’s not as bad as I think it was. My left knee, I landed on it as I got tackled.

“At first it was hurt bad, but then it didn’t hurt that much, but right now it’s sore.”

As a result, the game wasn’t completely over until Chris Acevedo knocked down a Jared Dyer fullback pass in the end zone with 1:32 to play.

Merrimack had cut a large deficit down on a James Dowling halfback option pass to Devin Wood with 9:17 left to play and Jared Dyer added a 5-yard run with 2:30 left to cut the gap to 31-19.

“Curtis is such a big factor on defense also,” Merrimack coach Kip Jackson said, his team now 5-3 but hoping to beat Winnacunnet next week to get a playoff berth. “I think emotionally it was a letdown for everybody in the stadium because nobody wants to see a kid like that get hurt.

“But I think we were a little bit better to play in the second half, but he made so many big plays in the first half, it really changed the tone of the game.”

“They didn’t think it was the ACL, which was good,” North coach Dante Laurendi said. “But now let’s hope it’s not anything severe in any of the other areas.

Harris set the tone with a 62-yard touchdown run with 8:30 left in the first and North really never looked back.

“Special player, have to surround him,” Merrimack coach Kip Jackson said. “We did a good job of it for several plays, but obviously if you have any breakdowns, he’s gone. Can’t make mistakes against players like that.”

After a Lucas Cunningham 26-yard field goal that made it 10-0 with 2:59 left in the quarter, Merrimack closed to 10-7. Zach Twardosky’s 59-yard kickoff return set up a Jared Dyer 2-yard TD run that helped close things to 10-7, but that was as close as Merrimack would get.

That’s because a pass interference penalty helped set up a 9-yard Harris TD run, and with 4:29 left in the half he ripped off a 34-yard touchdown.

“They’re (Merrimack) real good up front,” Laurendi said. “Everything we had, we had to fight for. We had to grind.”

For good measure, Harris went to the air to finish the half, the Titans’ possession set up by a Jayden Espinal pick of a James Dowling pass. Harris tossed a 37-yard pass to Sam Nicholls, and with 13 seconds left the pair connected again on a 16-yard TD with 13 seconds left in the half. Cunningham’s fourth PAT made it a 31-7 game at the half.

Merrimack was driving after an on-sides kick recover with 2:25 left, still down 12. But Acevedo made a big play and that gives north the top seed.

“We’ll have one game left to play (at Portsmouth), a tough game, then things start all over again, when things get real tough,” Laurendi said.

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