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SHOCKER! Finlay has career night as Titans stun Astros, 42-41

By Tom King - Staff Writer | Oct 22, 2021

Nashua North's Derek Finlay crosses the goal line for the game-winning two-point conversion, despite the efforts of Pinkerton's Don Terrio (21) and Picasso Bates as the Titans' upset Pinkerton, 42-41, Thursday night in Derry. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

DERRY – Derek Finlay had been waiting a month to strike back.

Against anybody.

The Nashua High School North quarterback was still bugged by the fact the rival Nashua South Panthers beat the Titans on a last-play two-point conversion earlier this season. So he relished the opportunity to do the same thing to an opponent, any opponent.

The Astros of Pinkerton Academy happened to be that team. Finlay’s 3-yard touchdown run and subsequent two-point run with 9.3 seconds left gave the Titans a shocking 42-41 win over the Astros on Thursday night.

“I was thinking the whole time, ever since we lost to South on a two-point conversion, I’ve wanted to do it,” the North quarterback said. “Drive down the field, on the last play, and do the same thing they did to us, kick us in the mouth on the last play.

“It felt good, we had a lot of dogfights in the last few minutes, three one-possession games, that one felt good to win.”

Finlay had a night for the ages, rushing 21 times for 152 yards and four TDs, and completed 13 of 17 passes for 206 yards. He directed an incredible 71-yard, penalty-laden drive that took nearly three minutes with the Titans (4-4) trailing 41-34 after the Astros took the lead on Jack Mackiernan’s 12-yard TD run with 3:13 to play in a wild second half.

“He made some great plays, stepped up in clutch situations,” North coach Dante Laurendi said. “Can’t say enough… He plays his butt off every week. He made some great throws down the field and when he needed to scramble out did that, moves the chains or kept the down and distance manageable.”

And Laurendi knew there was no sense in playing for overtime with a conversion kick.

“We weren’t stopping them,” he said. “You play for overtime, I liked ourselves with an open field, going to take a chance, go for it. What have we got to lose?”

Not a ton. North may still have a faint, faint playoff pulse if the NHIAA’s point rating system is used, because beating a six-win team gives them some good points. The Titans will likely have to beat Londonderry next Friday and hope Salem, which has Londonderry tonight and Merrimack next Friday, loses both.

The Astros don’t have to worry about missing the playoffs, but they certainly weren’t happy with the outcome.

“We had our chances,” Astros coach Brian O’Reilly, whose playoff-bound but injury riddled team is now 6-2. “It was no shock they were going for two, we know who was going to get the ball.

“It was all predetermined on that last drive – he’s (Finlay) the one you stop. But where are they? … Offensively, we can move the ball. Defensively, we can’t tackle.”

Trailing 20-13 at the half, the Titans enjoyed a 21-point third quarter, as the Astros defensively proved their coach’s point. Raisanen-Andino capped a 75-yard second half opening drive with another 1-yard TD run, and Finlay added runs of 2 and 14 yards, the second a go-ahead score (34-27) set up by an Astro fumble forced by North defensive end Toby Brown, Jr., who had another impressive game.

The Astros lone score of the quarter was Caden Michaud’s 75-yard game-tying burst. He finisihed with 110 yards rushing while Cole Yennaco had 124 on the ground for Pinkerton.

Trailing 34-27 going into the fourth, the Astros chewed up five minutes on a 12-play, 85-yard drive capped by Yennaco’s 5-yard TD run and Picasso Bates’ game-tying PAT with 6:25 to play.

Then they thought they had turned the corner after Tyler LeBlanc recovered an on-side kick at midfield. Five plays later, the drive keyed by a 30-yard Yennaco run ended with Mackiernan’s score that the Astros thought was decisive.

Pinkerton led 20-13 at the half but, as O’Reilly said, “We left a lot of points out on the field.” They led 7-0 after an opening drive Nate Campos 30-yard TD to Caden Michaud, but the Titans may have set the tone answering with a drive of their own, a 10-play drive that saw Jordyn Raisanen-Andino’s first of two 1-yard TD runs on the night.

Pinkerton took the lead 14-7 after a Titan fumble deep in their own territory set up a Campos 1-yard TD. The Astros also got a deflected interception set them up in the red zone again. But they had to settle for a field goal attempt which turned into a pass that fell short as the Titans avoided danger.

Back came North, though, with Finlay’s 4-yard run making it 14-13, the PAT kick wide left. The Astros grabbed the lead on a Mackiernan 2-yard run with 2:50 left in the half, but they also missed the PAT and then had a drive down to the North 34 stall in the final minute of the half.

Fast forward to the game’s final drive. North had three penalties that incredibly took away two 20-yard gains and a 19-yard gain, bringing the ball back to the North 32 with under two minutes to play.

But a Finlay 30-yard pass to Nick DiGesse and the QB’s own 23-yard run gave North the ball first and goal at the Astro 3 with just under 30 seconds to play.

“On all those plays we had good gains,” Finlay said. “We just did it again and got the 35 back, first down. … We all played a great game, it was just a dogfight.”

“We keep playing,” Laurendi said. “We’re able to stay in these games because we keep playing. That’s the big thing. The results could be a lot different in the past if we didn’t make as many mistakes as we had, but our effort’s there, we continue to play hard, which is great.”

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