Nashua North's Derek Finlay, shown here last week vs. Pinkerton, had another good night in the Titans' regular season finale, ableit a loss at Londonderry. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

LONDONDERRY – After last week’s upset of Pinkerton, the Nashua North football team had an opportunity to finish off their season with an even shinier gem – a win over 7-1 Londonderry.

Of course, the Lancers had a bit of adrenaline pumping after they fell to Salem last week for the only blemish on their record.

On Friday night, the better team won.

Londonderry ran down the Titans for a 35-7 triumph, nailing down home-field advantage for the first two rounds of the Division I playoffs.

“We played hard, we didn’t give up. It wasn’t pretty, but that wasn’t due to any lack of effort,” Titans coach Dante Laurendi said. “Our effort was there, but we made too many mistakes.

The Titans finished at 4-5 and headed home. Quarterback Derek Finlay capped his junior season by running for 82 yards and passing for 51, keying North’s lone scoring drive in the closing minute of the first half.

“Derek’s been making plays, making us able to move the chains, throwing and running,” Laurendi said.

Nick DiGesse hauled in an 11-yard pass for the score, with Dionard Toplana tacking on the point after.

Much to Londonderry coach Jimmy Lauzon’s annoyance, the Lancers helped clear North’s way for the scoring drive with a pair of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties and a facemask call.

“We kind of lost our composure. When we were up 21 and we had three straight penalties to give them 45 yards,” Lauzon said. “Good teams don’t do that. We can’t have those moments.”

They avoided costly mistakes in rolling up that 21-0 lead. Matthew Perron’s 5-yard scoring run in the first quarter and a 6-yard TD run to finish off an 80-yard drive in the second made it 14-0.

Hayden Austen’s 4-yard run made it 21-0 with 1:15 left in the half.

Drew Heenan’s 4-yard scoring run with 5:20 left in the third and his 31-yard touchdown pass Andrew Kullman finished it off less than 2 minutes into the fourth quarter.

Londonderry’s eighth regular-season win included one painful moment suffered by quarterback Aidan Washington, who came back last week after suffering a knee injury Sept. 24 against Pinkerton. Last night he was done on the game’s first series, suffering a broken collar bone that ended the senior’s high school career.

“It was on the second play of the game,” Lauzon said. “And then he stayed in. I could tell something was up, I kept asking him ‘Are you OK?’ Then on the next throw he threw one right into the ground and I knew something was up.”

“He’s a great kid, he doesn’t deserve that.”

His absence, though, seems unlikely to slow down the Lancers as the playoffs beckon.

“They run around defensively, they give you a lot to defend offensively. That’s a real good football team,” Laurendi said. “I think you’re going to see them go deep in the playoffs.”