Telegraph photo by TOM KING Nashua South's Chris Keefe loves to run with the football, like he did here in last year's Turkey Eve Bowl vs. Nashua North.

NASHUA – If you build it, the success will come.

That was Nashua High School South quarterback Chris Keefe’s approach last March when the pandemic hit.

Keefe figured there was not going to be a chance to get to a weight room anytime soon, so at the beginning of quarantine he ordered building materials and built his own weight room in his family’s garage.

“At the end of March, when the Governor (Chris Sununu) said we weren’t going back to school, that’s when I really started thinking, ‘OK, I’ve got to lift some weights, because there’s no where to lift weights anywhere’,” Keefe said. “So I’ve got to make it all myself.”

In gets better. Besides building a platform, etc., Keefe needed to get the weight equipment. So he went on line looking for anything available and ended up driving down to Rhode Island two days in a row and get some rubber plates.

“They were very expensive,” Keefe said, adding he spent some of his free time working for his father’s business, which is selling tests for certain illnesses, including COVID. “I was busy, I had no time.”

It took him a week-and-a-half to build it, and remember last spring was not too warm. “I used a lot of heaters,” Keefe said, adding that while he can now use the South weight room he still uses his own a couple times a week.

“This COVID thing didn’t slow down his prep,” Nashua South coach Scott Knight said. “It paid off because he got a lot stronger. It gives him just a little more durability, more speed, more power. Just a bigger, stronger athlete than he was.

“I’m just glad the stuff with COVID didn’t slow things down for him.”

Keefe’s father was a quarterback at Chelmsford High School, “so it kind of transferred over to me,” he said. “The rewards are always great, like the two touchdown passes I had (vs. Alvirne two weeks ago), having that feeling and sharing it with your teammates in the end zone. That’s a great feeling.

“The losses are tough but the wins are so much better.”

Keefe, who takes the Panthers into Bedford for tonight’s regular season finale, has played football since the second grade with the Elks Crusaders, playing on the same team with current North standout Curtis Harris-Lopez. And believe it or not, he was a left tackle to start. By seventh grade, he transferred to quarterback, finally.

There was no Elks team in his eighth grade season so he played in the Goffstown youth program for a year before coming to South.

Keefe’s journey to the South starting QB job was also filled with twists and turns. He had played quarterback steadily on the sub-varsity level but last year the Panthers started out with sophomore Mike Rutstein at the position. Rutstein played well but got hurt just beyond the midway point, so enter Keefe. Both players are good athletes, so they could play other positions and Keefe focused on that, the same way Rutstein is this year.

“Last year we were battling for the spot, but once it seemed Rusty was going to get the spot, I was getting more and more reps at wideout,” Keefe said, “and I was getting more comfortable with that. But I was still getting some reps on offense in case anything happens, and unfortunately it did. The coaches said I was a perfect fit for that moment.”

“We always liked him,” Knight said. “He’d been in our system playing quarterback since he was a freshman. We thought Rusty was throwing the ball a little better in camp last year, and Chris was also an outstanding receiver and was going to play corner for us. We went with that move, but we knew he’d be good.”

This fall, the battle continued.

“He did a great job in the off-season, getting bigger and stronger, and just picked up where he left off,” Nashua South coach Scott Knight said. “He’s getting better every week. When you think about it, he only started a few games last year.”

The two knew one would get the spot and the other would be a wideout, so they were working at both positions in the short preseason. Keefe won that and Rutstein has also excelled on both sides of the ball as the Panthers value him greatly as a safety.

Keefe would like to play in college, getting some looks now from Wesleyan, Lehigh for track (he competes in the 600 meter) and he also plays baseball. There was no spring season, obviously, but he played for the Nashua Defenders (COVID League) this past summer.

What’s his favorite?

“Honestly, I couldn’t tell you,” he said. “I love all of them. Right now I’d say football’s my favorite, and during track season I’d say track’s my favorite, then baseball’s same exact thing.

“It’s season by season. Hopefully I can play two sports in college. We’ll see what happens.”

“We’ll let that sort itself out,” Knight said. “He’s a pretty good baseball player. But he’s good enough (in football) to play at the next level.”

With his grades at a very high 3.8 grade point average, he says he wants to study pharmacy and so something in the medical field, “but I don’t want to go to school for 12-plus years. Pharmacy is a six-year program.”

Keefe is still developing as a quarterback, saying he needs to trust his arm and his linemen more.

“I think my feet are really good, I can outrun a lot of people in open space,” he said. “I think over this past year my arm’s gotten a lot better.”

“Each week the game slows down a little more for him,” Knight said. “He’s going to continue to get better. We just need some games.

“I like (Keefe’s) dual threat (running and throwing). He’s one of our fastest kids in that whole program, he can go. I like the fact if there’s some green he can go, and he can put it on you, too.”

He loves running as a quarterback. When he rolls out, he’ll look deep, then looks short toward the sideline. If the coverage is there, he says, “That means it’s green grass for me to run.”

He’s also starting corner, and had an interception against Alvirne in the game the Panthers played two weeks ago. In college, though, he’d likely be a QB or wideout, but he enjoys defense.

“I love hitting people,” he said with a grin.

“He’s a great teammate, good student, and does all the things you ask,” Knight said.

And, don’t forget, he’s pretty handy. Chris Keefe is building himself a pretty good stint as the Panthers’ QB.

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