Telegraph file photo by TOM KING Nashua North's Jayden Espinal has shown a lot of big play capability for the Titans this season.

NASHUA – Jayden Espinal was a late bloomer.

When it came to football, he didn’t start playing when he was in the sixth grade, signing up with the Nashua PAL program.

“My grandmother said I should join,” Espinal said.

And he was hooked.

The Nashua High School North football team is glad he gave it a shot. Espinal has been a great compliment to heralded teammate Curtis Harris-Lopez and will be a key in the Titans’ Division I quarterfinal rematch with Merrimack tonight at 6:30 at Stellos Stadium.

“As you can see, Jayden is probably one of our best athletes on the team,” North coach Dante Laurendi said. “Can really be a jack of all trades. Defensively he can cover, great ball skills. Offensively can run the ball, catch the ball, has the ability to be a quarterback.”

“When I was younger, I liked defense a lot more,” Espinal said. “I liked coming out, being physical, flying around and hitting people.

“But now that that I’m at the high school level, I’m starting to like offense a little more, catching the ball, scoring some touchdowns.”

The ball is always around Espinal, whether he’s on offense as a back or slot receiver, or on defense in the secondary.

“When I was younger, I got the ball a little bit, not too much,” he said. “Over the years, I worked on my game, got a lot faster, a little bigger.”

And perhaps smarter. Espinal’s football savvy is always on display.

Espinal says “You just have to read your keys. … From there, I just follow the ball in the air (on defense).”

Either way, he makes big plays for the Titans on both sides of the ball.

“Yes, he has, and he’s had that capability,” Laurendi said. “He’s so competitive. Jayden gets frustrated if he carried the ball five times and only had 30 or 40 yards. He felt he should have more. But that’s his competitive nature.

“But this year, he’s really being patient and being understanding, what do we need. If we need four, I’m going to get five.”

He loves playing with Harris-Lopez, as the two actually played against each other in youth football. Better to be on the same side of possibly the state’s best player.

“I’ve known Curtis since probably second grade,” Espinal said. “He and I go way back to probably Boys Club. It’s amazing actually, when we were younger I had to play against him.”

Espinal had some catching up to do, though. Harris-Lopez was on varsity as a freshman while Espinal was on JV until later in the second – when he was the backup QB.

But last year, when both were juniors, Harris-Lopez got hurt late in the season. And Espinal had to be the quarterback in last year’s loss to Merrimack in the quarterfinals, a loss the Titans hope to avenge tonight.

“It was fun, I just wish I had a little bit more practice with it, a little bit more time,” Espinal said. “I think I would’ve done a little better, but that’s OK. This year I don’t have to play QB.”

And that’s a good thing, because as Laurendi said, having Espinal the QB meant the Titans would lose Espinal the Slot Receiver.

“We missed him on the perimeter,” Laurendi said. “He’s such a tremendous blocker out there. … We were losing the ability to run to the perimeter because he was such a great blocker. And he takes pride in that.”

Meanwhile, Espinal has shown great vision running the ball, finding the weakness in a defense.

“I have trust in my linemen, I let them develop the blocks and go from there,” he said.

“That’s part of the patience and understanding he has,” Laurendi said. “We need to move the chains and move the football and he’s done that this year.”

“He’s so good in the read game, and so quick. Extremely, extremely competitive, extremely hard on himself. But that comes with being competitive.

“This year he’s become more patient. Not forcing things on the offensive side of the ball when he gets his opportunities. He’s done a good job with that.”

Will Espinal play beyond this year? As much as he loves football, he’s still debating it.

“I do,” Espinal said. “But I’m still back and forth. I don’t know yet.”

“There’s plenty of places he could play at,” Laurendi. “I know he’s talked about a few things, the military, and also about playing, depending on what he wants to study.”

Espinal plays basketball and is a defensive specialist on the court, but football would be the choice.

Laurendi thinks Espinal could do another sport.

“He probably should run track,” he said and do some type of long jumping and high jumping. He’s got springs. … We have the big foam tackling wheel in practice. He laterally hurdles them.

“The kid practices at 100 percent. He’s really matured and he’s a really good coach (on the field). He’s not afraid to say ‘Here’s how you should run this, how we should cover that.’ He’s been all you could ask for this year.”

And the Titans hope they can ask him to hurdle over the opposition for three more games.