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FOOTBALL FRIDAY: North-South rivalry returns in full force

By Tom King - Staff Writer | Sep 24, 2021

Nashua South will try to contain the Nashua North tandem of QB Derek Finlay, left, and back Jack Peters for tonight's Battle of the Bridge game at Stellos Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – It’s back in full force.

There will be a pretty spirited crowd if the rain is kept at a minium tonight at Stellos Stadium for the 35th rendition of the Nashua High School North-South Battle of the Bridge football rivalry.

Remember, a year ago, with the pandemic severely limiting everything, the crowds were kept to a minium, and only the home team fans were allowed to attend. Plus it was the opener of an abbreviated season, and no one really knew what to expect before North pulled out a 24-7 win.

Tonight it will be different. There’ll be a crowd. And there will be expectations for both teams, but you’d be hard pressed to find a North-South game with the records so unexpectedly different. The Titans, who were in a full on rebuild following a senior-filled Division I championship season, are 3-0.

The Panthers, who had a lot of players returning, including up front, are 0-3 – and they really need a win to keep their season alive. Going into the season, one might have thought the records would be flipped.

“Obviously we know they’re a better football team than their record,” North coach Dante Laurendi said. “It’s not like they’re just throwing games out the window. They’ve lost to some really good football teams and some explosive offenses.

“We know this is a whole new week. … We’re not playing their record, we’re playing them. They’re a good football team and we expect them to play the best game they’ve played yet.”

“I think we’ll be fine,” Nashua South coach Scott Knight said. “Our issues are what a lot of teams are – none of us are particularly deep. We’ve all been battling for numbers. Everybody’s got their go-to guys.

“But if you said you’re not going to have (back Josh) Compo late in a couple of games, and (Connor) Rowsell will miss a game and be dragging a leg around. And (Karsten) Lemire would be out and (Tony) Martinez would be out, I’d say, ‘Yeah, we’re going to struggle.’ That’s kind of where we’ve been. It’s tough to swallow.

“Unfortunately we’ve had to play some tough teams early, and the injuries and things have kind of overwhelmed us. … But we’ve regrouped, 0-3’s tough, you have to make sure the kids stay together, still believe and stay hungry, and they’ve done a good job of that.”

Knight is expecting close to full health for this game. It comes down to playmakers, and it will be Compoh, Rowsell, and QB Mike Rutstein for South and QB Derek Finlay, backs Jack Peters, Jordan Raisanen-Andino and receiver Nick DiGesse for Nashua North.

“They appear to be young in some areas,” Knight said of the Titans. “They’re finding ways to win. Sometimes the year after you win a state title, you can win some games on that, the belief that we’re going to win. They’re doing a good job of that, making sure they can be there at the end and can find a way to get it done.”

If there’s a difference between the two teams right now, Laurendi says it’s South’s physical nature.

“They give you a bunch of different looks so they’re tough to defend, and they play physical,” he said. “This is always a physical football game.

“South has made more of commitment to run the football this year. They’ve done it very well. And they have a three-headed monster that can get it done for them and they have pretty good size up front. I think South knows who they are, and they’ve done a good job with it.”

Who are the Titans? They outlasted Alvirne, rallied from 35-14 down to beat Merrimack on the game’s last play, and rallied from 10-0 down in the last quarter at Windham to win 14-10 on a couple of Jack Peters scores.

“I think we’re still trying to figure that out,” Laurendi said with a chuckle. “It’s still a work in progress because we’re only three weeks in. Based on personnel and matchups and what we’ve got, I don’t know what we are. We’d like to be more consistent. … We’re still, I think, trying to find something to hang our hat on. … This is a team where we need contributions from a lot of different people.”

“They’ve got some people who can fly around on defense and a quarterback (Finlay) who can run a bit and throw. And some backs with some decent team speed. We’ll have to play well. And we’ll have to have our guys.”

And both will have to handle the emotions of the night with the crowd. For many of the players, especially on the younger North squad, this will be their first real big North-South experience.

“This game is always tough to control the emotions,” Laurendi said. “Kids get up to play their friends. The one thing that’s been great about the rivalry is it’s been a pretty clean rivalry.

“Getting the fans back, the atmosphere of Battle of the Bridge Week and having fans, having kids back in school, that’s going to elevate the emotions even more.”

“They’re just excited to be at Stellos, with a crowd,” Knight said. “It should be fun.”

LECIUS TROPHY TO BE PRESENTED

With the Turkey Eve Bowl in doubt still due to the pandemic, it was announced the Edward F. Lecius Memorial trophy will be presented to the winning team after the game. Usually it’s reserved for the holiday event…

Nashua South leads the series overall 21-13. The breakdown: South leads in regular season 9-8, Thanksgiving 12-4, while North has won the only playoff meeting between the two.

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