Telegraph photo by TOM KING Milford's Charlie Urda tries in vain to get ahold of HB's Marc-Andre Thermitus, who rushed for an incredible 318 yards on Friday night.

Chris Lones knows a great running back when he sees one.

And in the last couple of years, he says he’s seen two.

One, of course, is the Hollis Brookline football coach’s own senior, Marc-Andre Thermitus, who rushed for an incredible 318 yards and three touchdowns in a tough 26-24 loss to Milford on Friday.

The other? Well, Nashua North fans know exactly who that is.

“The only person I’ve seen, that I would put him up against, is Curtie,” Lones said. “Curtis Harris (-Lopez) at North. But he plays a different position, although he’s a running back playing quarterback. He’s a quarterback.

But those two, having seen both kids play, knowing both of them, that’s (Nos.) 1 and 2 right there.”

What’s made Thermitus so good? The Cavs were kept off the scoreboard by the Souhegan defense in the season opener, but Thermitus wasn’t letting that happen again.

“He’s got all the tools,” Lones said. “He’s got speed, he’s got vision, he’s got power. You know? We just have to clean up the little things that are killing us right now.”

“We knew he was going to be slippery,” Milford coach Keith Jones said of Thermitus. “He made some huge runs. He probably got most of those yards on five carries.”

Friday’s film will be a hot commodity as opposing Division II coaches will want to get a look at Thermitus – and Milford already has an advance copy for the teams’ next meeting on Oct. 23.

He won’t be hard to find on tape, but the Cavs will try to disguise him. He was number 21 vs. Milford. But not against Souhegan.

“Last week he was 83,” Lones said with a chuckle. “So they’ll be all messed up.”

INTER-DIVISION

Souhegan felt it had nothing to lose on Saturday night going into its 17-7 win over Bishop Guertin, a Division II team facing a good Division I opponent.

“All week, we saw it as a great opportunity to play a great program,” Sabers coach Robin Bowkett said. “Coach Trish (John Trisciani) is doing an awesome job at BG. And we’ve got nothing to lose. Play loose, play fast, have fun.”

Trisciani was impressed with the Saber defense (seven points allowed in eight quarters) and the play of Souhegan defenders Mike Maroun, Alex Karpawich and William Boyle, all seniors.

“Those guys can really play,” he said. “And Coach Bowkett’s a fantastic coach. Those two D-ends and that linebacker. They’re the real deal. They’ve got some kids who would be very good in Division I.”

GUERTIN LOOKING TO IMPROVE

The Cards, meanwhile, looked like they were having anything but fun, and Trisciani, quite vocal from the sideline during the game, basically sent his players a stern message afterward after a game in which the 0-2 Cards turned the ball over a whopping seven times.

“We’ve got to do a better job coaching,I’ve got to do a better job coaching,” Trisciani said. “But ultimately some pressure’s got to be put on these kids. If that’s going to be the performance, there’s nobody here that we need. We’re going to need the guys, we’re going to play the guys that are going to give a great effort and practice hard, study the playbook, who can know their rules and get after it. This was gross, this was sad.”

One thing the Cardinals did do well was shut down back Riley Lawhorn, who had 236 yards last week but was held to just a meager 12 on Saturday.

“You didn’t have to be a genius to know that kid’s a real good player and if we had a shot to win this game we were going to have to stop No. 2,” Trisciani said. “The kids I think responded well to that. A couple of guys were really physical; Dan Fleming had a real good game, he was really physical.”

QUARTERBACK TALK

Let’s take a look at some of the QB play over the weekend, with some interesting results:

Hollis Brookline – HB has two capable QBs, junior Keith Hubert and senior Drew Gryniewicz, the latter who threw a TD pass the other night.

“We’ll see what happens during the course of the week in practice,” Lones said. “This was (Gryniewicz’s) first week that he was available to play. We put him out there (Friday) to see what happened, they’ll battle all week long and we’ll figure out who’s going to be the one next week at Sanborn, and we’ll go from there.”

Milford – The Spartans went with Charlie Urda at quarterback and he produced a long TD run and was cool under pressure.

“He completed some nice passes,” Jones said. “Was cool under pressure, didn’t get rattled. There were a couple of plays where (the Cavaliers) were in the backfield and he could have like, flipped out.”

But he didn’t.

Souhegan – Bowkett had to be happy with the play of QB Austin Jain, who tossed two TDs and played with poise.

“Yeah, no doubt, no doubt,” Bowkett said. “He’s light years away from where he was last year as a junior. Just great.”

THIS WEEK

Stellos Stadium, dark last week after the Merrimack-North game was cancelled due to a coronavirus outbreak at Merrimack, should be busy all weekend.

On Friday, something’s got to give as both 0-2 Alvirne and Nashua South will be seeking their first wins in a 6:30 p.m. meeting. And the Cards will do the same on Saturday night, but against a tough 1-0 Nashua North team that will try to get back in gear after being idle.

Meanwhile, it should be a classic matchup Friday night at Milford when the 1-0 Spartans host the 2-0 Sabers.

Milford’s goal should be simple, play keep away from the Saber offense with their ground attack led by junior backs Caden Zalenski (106 yards Friday) and Logan Barnhill.

“That’s always been our goal,” Jones said. “We like to ball control. We like to keep it away from other people.

“They’re (the Sabers) a two-headed dragon. They like to sling it, but they can run it. Riley’s (Lawhorn) a good back. And the quarterback (Austin Jain) can throw it.”

Robin Bowkett knows that after his team’s win over Bishop Guertin on Saturday night that a different opponent is next.

“Another great test,” Bowkett said. “Coach Jones, Coach (Rick) Urda and those guys, they do a great job killing clock and running the football. They’ve got some really good players back.

“It’s Milford-Souhegan, anything can happen. It’s going to be a great game, regardless. … We’ll get ready to stop the run and try to beat a good Spartan team.”

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