Telegraph photo by TOM KING Nashua North's Curtis Harris rolls out with teammate Anthony Greene blocking Nashia South's Jason Compoh (27) and Liam Novak (52) right in front during the Titans' 24-7 win over the Panthers in the season opener Friday night at Stellos Stadium.

NASHUA – Where’s the beef?

It’s on the offensive and defensive lines of the Nashua High School North football team, and that’s a big reason why the Titans were able to push their way past rival Nashua South 24-7 Friday night at Stellos Stadium in the season opener for both teams.

“I thought at times we kind of got beat up up front,” South coach Scott Knight said. “We’re so young up front.”

And the Titans are just the opposite, as they basically ran the ball 95 percent of the time behind linemen like Max Ackerman, Liam Novak and Spencer Whiting, just to name a few.

“We were in a rhythm coming out of the gate,” said North quarterback Curtis Harris-Lopez, who rushed 16 times for 143 yards and two TDs. “Just beating our man one on one, I guess we’re just stronger. … We’re better this year, the line is opening holes and giving us more space to run.”

“It helps when you’ve got experience coming back, that’s always a positive,” North coach Dante Laurendi said. “And the other guys are stepping up and played well tonight. And we’ve got some guys who can carry the ball and did a good job following them.”

Harris-Lopez followed his blockers for a 1-yard scoring plunge with 53 seconds left in the first quarter to put the Titans up 6-0. It capped a 15-play, 87 yard march that was highlighted by a Harris-Lopez 26 yard run on third-and-13 from the Titan 23-yard line.

“Our end fell down and we lost the edge,” Knight said. “That was a big first down, and they drove down and scored. We had a chance to get the ball back, 0-0, and we gave it up.”

Anthony Greene did the honors in the second quarter on a 2-yard run with 4:52 left in the first half. North went 0-for-4 on PAT or two-point conversion attempts, but the Titans had a 12-0 lead at the half.

The Titans took advantage of some good field position thanks to a shanked punt and Greene ran it in from 10-yards out to make it an 18-0 game nearly four minutes into the third quarter. Harris-Lopez added an 11-yard score with 11:29 left to give the Titans a 24-0 lead.

South did get on the board on a pretty 82-yard TD strike down the middle from Chris Keefe to Jaden Murphy with 4:28 left to account for the final.

“I thought we got out of the gate pretty good moving the ball a little bit,” Knight said. “But then some of their kids up front started taking the game over.”

North’s defense was swarming. Keefe was sacked four times, including at least twice by Evan Soares. They also contained the Panther back tandem of Jason and Josh Compoh.

“The guys played great,” Laurendi said. “Guys played great up front, we tackled well, we ran to the football. That’s the stuff we need to do against some real big strong guys.”

Remember, not only was Harris idle in the spring like all the other athletes, he missed the final three games of North’s season, including a quarterfinal loss to Merrimack.

“It feels great to be out here,” Harris said. “It’s a revenge tour this year. Our season didn’t end the way we wanted it to last year.”

But this one has started out pretty well.

Newsletter