Telegraph photo by TOM KING Alvirne's Alvirne Thumi grabs a pass despite double coverage by Nashua South's Drew Fleury (4) and Tyler Armeen , one of the few positive plays for the Broncos during Friday night's 47-0 South win at Stellos Stadium.

First steps are always important. Just ask the Nashua High School South,Campbell High School, and Hollis Brookline football teams.

The three squads managed to get their first wins over the weekend with their offenses in gear against young teams, South beating Alvirne 47-0 on Friday night and Campbell beating Laconia 41-24 on Saturday.

Points equals wins. Souhegan proved that with a 42-point outburst as well over Milford, but the Sabers are now 3-0 and clicking. Same with Nashua North, beating Bishop Guertin 34-6 and Hollis Brookline, the Cavs getting their first win as well, 40-7.

In this pandemic-shortened season, when everyone has a post season, the goal is to improve at something each week and win when you can.

“We had to put one together,” South coach Scott Knight said. “We’ve been getting better every week. … We started settling down on offense a little bit.

“We’ve got a really young offensive line. I think they got better (vs. Alvirne). It was a good challenge for those guys up front, and they responded.”

The Panthers used battering ram back Jason Compoh (6-2, 230) often on Friday, but Tyler Armeen, a senior, also got involved in an all-purpose setting. He helped alleviate somewhat the absence of junior back Josh Compoh, Jason’s younger brother, who has an ankle injury. His return has not been mapped out yet.

“We’re not sure yet,” Knight said. “He may be a little bit. It could be a little bit. We’ll take it day-to-day.”

But again, it’s all about first steps.

“This was a good step for us,” Knight said. “We’ve got Merrimack coming to town, then Guertin. Hopefully we’ll be hitting on all eight (cylinders) by Week Five. That was the goal.

“We know we’re a work in progress, when you’re really, really young up front. We’ve got the horses.”

Knight’s 1-2 Panthers also have some history on their side.

“We get out 0-2, I’m not that worried,” Knight said. “We were 0-2 in 2008 when we won the state title. I’d be worried if we weren’t improving.”

COUGARS FOLLOW STRENGTH

Campbell head coach Glenn Costello says he knows where the strength of his 1-2 football team lies.

“When you look at the strength of us, I think it’s our senior offensive line,” Costello said. “Those guys, on both sides of the ball, as linebackers and O-line, are just very good.”

That would include Kyle Wark, whom Costello calls “one of the better players in the area”. And Josh Lavoie, whom he calls a “quiet hero” and Drew Adamakos, who has been a force.

Those three also led a defensive surge Saturday.

“I felt we were back to playing Campbell defense,” Costello said. “I felt pretty happy. We just got better this week. In my mind, the entire pandemic has just been working on one percent improvement. That’s the message I’ve been preaching since March. Even last week (in a 40-0 loss) we improved on a couple of things. But Pelham (3-0) is the real deal.”

Indeed, after a 25-0 win over Trinity of Manchester on Friday, the 3-0 Pythons have outscored the opposition 107-0.

DIVISIONAL EQUALITY

Alvirne coach Tarek Rothe has seen some of the scheduling quirks this season as teams are playing out of division to keep close. And the results – such as Souhegan’s win over Bishop Guertin 10 days ago – are interesting. And the Cards take on defending Division III champion Trinity Friday in Manchester.

“I tell you one thing, if this panedmic thing is showing us anything,” Rothe said, “you can throw all of the classifications out the window. Teams are beating teams from any division.

“The system’s antiquated. I don’t think we belong in this division.”

No, the Broncos, who made the finals and the semis in their two seasons in Division II, were basically pushed up when Timberlane moved down.

He admits his team would have struggled in Division II this year, anyway, but “we would have competed.”

The Broncos on Friday sorely missed two way junior lineman and captain Alex Lawson, who rolled his ankle a week ago.

“He’s got kind of an Achilles strain,” Rothe said. “He should be back next week. Not having him hurt us in the interior.”

Of course, who would the Broncos’ opponent, albeit at home, be? None other than perhaps the state’s best team, Nashua North.

But Rothe says the positives far outweigh the negatives.

“I tell everybody, call it what you want, but we got to play a football game,” he said. “That’s the great thing about it. We’re playing a football game.”

DON’T DISCOUT MWANGI

The Titans in their win got two touchdowns from senior back Brian Mwangi, who may go unnoticed among the talented group of Curtis Harris-Lopez, Jayden Espinal and Anthony Greene.

“He’s sneaky good,” North coach Dante Laurendi said. “He’s a real quite kid, doesn’t say much. He just does the job you ask him to do. And he did a great job tonight and had some real good runs to seal the game.”

Including TD runs of 34 and 4 yards.

“He can do a lot of things, but again, he’s been a kid that’s been overshadowed,” Laurendi said. “But he came to play, and make contributions when we called on him.”

CARDINALS LOOK TO IMPROVE

Bishop Guertin’s offensive woes continued the other night, but as Cards coach John Trisciani said, it’s just a matter of trying to get better.

“All we can really do is continue to coach the kids up, watch film with them, and kind of make sure everybody gets better,” Trisciani said. “But it’s frustrating.

“We’ve played three quality teams so far (Merrimack, Souhegan, North) and we kind of have an idea of where we stand.”

Trisciani added, “We hopefully just trying to get better, and we’re happy we’re able to play,” he said. “I thought the kids competed. We’re trying to build something. It’s a slow process. We’re staying positive. … If they compete, we’re running around and physical, ultimately that’s what we’re looking for.”

Guertin was without one of their QBs, Josh Larson, on Saturday as he suffered a concussion after taking a hard hit the week before vs. Souhegan.

UPCOMING NOTABLES

Hollis Brookline is slated to play its first game on its brand new turf field on Friday night vs. Timberlane….

Hopefully, barring any setbacks, Merrimack returns to action Friday after missing two weeks due to being quarantined. The Tomahawks (1-0) are slated to visit South at Stellos on Friday night.