Telegraph photo by TOM KING Merrimack running back Jake Trahan holds off a diving Nashua South's Tyler Armeen during the Tomahawks' stunning comeback 27-26 playoff win Sunday in Merrimack.

MERRIMACK — When his team was down 20-0 at the hands of Nashua South in the first quarter of Sunday’s Division I first round playoff game, Merrimack High School football coach Kip Jackson felt it was, well, a sign of the times.

“It’s ironic, right? We’re down by 20 in 2020, which has just been a heckuva year,” he said.

Ah, but in this year expect the unexpected. The Tomahawks regrouped and rallied for a stunning 27-26 win the propels them to a Division I quarterfinal game vs. Nashua North, likely Friday night at Stellos Stadium.

“We’ve had some interesting situations,” Jackson said, noting how his team had played just three games going in due to all the pandemic related reschedulings, etc. “But the kids have been resilient and I’m happy it paid off for them.”

The payoff came when Merrimack QB Kyle Crampton hit Shea Goodwin on a 12-yard TD pass with 7:33 left in the game. Crampton had an amazing game, completing 25 of 34 attmepts for 289 yards and two TDs, and two interceptions.

It was really a tale of two halves as South was up 26-14 at the break on Jason Compoh’s 2-yard TD run on the final play of the half.

However, the Merrimack defense held the Panthers to just 62 yards of offense in the final 24 minutes.

“I didn’t see this one coming,” a stunned Nashua South coach Scott Knight said, his team’s season done at 2-3. “I wish I had answers. We were trying just about everything. It felt like we were stuck in mud today. I don’t have an answer. It looked like we had no legs. Even on that first (South scoring) drive, nothing was going by design.”

What changed? The Panthers looked like world beaters early, taking the opening kickoff and marching 75 yards in 11 plays with Connor Rowsell catching a Chris Keefe 12-yard TD pass. Three plays later, Cody Goode’s 39-yard interception return of a Crampton pass made it 13-0 (PAT blocked) with 5:44 left in the opening period. South QB Chris Keefe added an 83-yard TD with 3:43 left in the quarter and it looked like Purple Reign.

The Tomahawks solution:

“Just try to do our jobs, we really weren’t doing what we needed to to do,” Jackson said. “South did a great job with their blocking on the perimeter. Our guys had to do a better job of being physical with what they were trying to do.

“We made just a minor adjustment. It was just our kids playing better more than anything else. I wish we could say we changed our entire game plan, but the kids played better in the second half, played a little more physically, and that helped out a lot.”

And they also eliminated some mental errors.

“We thought at the end of the first half, that some of the success they were having were due to some mental breakdowns,” Tomahawks defensive coordinator Branden Lilley said. “They’re a great team and you can’t make mistakes against a team that’s coached like that, and those athletes.”

Merrimack did manage two first-half TDs to get back in it, closing to within 20-14. Crampton hit Jake Trahan on a 20-yard TD on the last play of the first quarter, completing a 10-play drive, and Trahan had a 1-yard scoring run three minutes later to close to within six.

But South put together another 12-play drive, with Compoh barreling in from 2 yards out on the final play of the half. However the Panthers went for two and didn’t get it, and that could have cost them.

Jackson thought the score cost his team big.

“I thought that was going to be the one,” he said, “just because of the way they scored. But once again at halftime, there was no panic. We just thought about some of the things we needed to fix and get back in it one score at a time.”

They needed just two scores. Trahan scored his third TD of the day with 3:21 left in the third (Petz PAT), closing things to 26-21.

“The field was tilted the entire third quarter,” Jackson said. “We started all our drives on this (South) side of the 50.

“We didn’t always finish, but that puts a lot of stress on another team when you do that.”

And thus midway through the fourth, the ‘Hawks got their go-ahead score. South had a late drive stall at midfield, and the Tomhawks ran out the final 4:49.

Scott looked back at the failed two-point conversion at the end of the half. “I’m not one to ever chase points, either,” he said. “I’m not one to go for two after missing a PAT. … I felt good about us being able to get three yards. Credit to them.

“There were all kinds of things that went down today that were uncharacteristic of the way we’d been playing. eWe looked like we were panicking a little bit.

“I give (Merrimack) a lot of credit. They hung in there.”

It’s been a crazy season. But one thing may feel normal: Merrimack and North will meet in the quarterfinals for the third straight year.

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