Jeremy Zelanes is the new boys soccer coach at Nashua North. (Courtesy photo)

NASHUA – Jeremy Zelanes is thoroughly involved in soccer.

He’s the general manager of the Eagles of the International Soccer Club of Nashua, and spent all winter putting together a roster for this Saturday’s season opener.

He’s involved in trying to bring a professional soccer team to New Hampshire, hopefully by 2024, as well as trying to build a 5,000-7,000 seat stadium to house it, likely in Londonderry.

And now he can add the title of Nashua High School North head boys soccer coach to that list.

Zelanes, who had been coaching the Titan junior varsity the last couple of seasons, was the obvious choice to replace Josh Downing, who resigned to focus on other things, but may help out from time to time.

“He’s so involved in soccer,” Nashua athletic director Lisa Gingras said. “He’s invested in the community and the program.”

Zelanes, when the JV games would be done earlier than the varsity, would then join Downing on the sidelines as an assistant. He was there for the tournament as well.

“We did joint practices and I got to know the guys,” Zelanes said. “It was definitely a good experience getting to know the guys and work with Josh.”

The Titan players, once they heard Downing wasn’t returning, lobbied for Zelanes to be their new coach.

“They would come to my office, even seniors who wouldn’t be here next year, and tell me he should be the new head coach,” Gingras said. “That what he did for them was unbelievable.”

Zelanes played his high school soccer in Florida, saw the World Cup in 1994 and rather than continue playing got the coaching bug. He eventually found his way to New Hampshire seeking a better school system than the ones in Florida for his family, and has worked in the club and youth level circuit, with NYSL, the ISC, and his love for the game was paramount. “I just love the game,” he said. “They don’t call it the beautiful game for nothing.”

His work in the local soccer community made trying to get into a high school program a goal.

“It was just a natural progression for me to take that JV job,” Zelanes said. “Working with Josh, I don’t think there’s a better coach in the state that I could have worked with at the high school level than Josh. … I got to learn from him and hopefully he learned a few things from me too.

“He’s a great players coach and I think that’s what the kids loved and respected about him. He asked me if he could stick around, that where were a couple of guys on the team he wants to see graduate, so he still wants to be part of the program. He just wants to be on the sidelines, no pun intended, rather than be the man in charge.”

“I knew in November when it ended, he had told me this is it,” Gingras said of Downing. “It was a couple of years coming. He just is busy with other things, and wanted to spend more time on other things than coaching.”

Soccer hit its recent high point in the city with the Nashua South state title shootout win over Hanover, but that was preceeded by the North-South Division I semifinal at Stellos Stadium, a 1-0 Panthers win that turned out to be Downing’s final game. He expressed confidence before the tourney began that his team that went 7-9 during the regular season would make noise in the playoffs, and he was right. The Titans won two rounds and it took a Jadiel Bomfim goal in the final half-minute before 2500 fans at Stellos Stadium to end their momentum. They’re expected to be strong next season, led by seniors-to-be Preston Thompson and Gaurav Maharjan.

Nashua North’s Amos Karnuah (17) and Preston Thompson, shown in the season opener last fall. Titan players, even this year’s seniors, lobbied for Jeremy Zelanes to be the Titans new coach once it became known Josh Downing was stepping down. (Telegraph file photo by TOM KING)

A solid coach over the years, Downing, according to Gingras, had been wavering after each season and he decided just after that classic semifinal, sometime around the holidays that he wasn’t returning, and told Zalenes as well.

“That (the great tourney run) my be the thing that pushed him over the edge (to stepping down),” Gingras said. “It was like ‘Let me go out on a high note after such a successful season.’ I know the last couple of years it was ‘I don’t know, I don’t know’, so I think the success of the season was a good way to go out.”

And that event certainly encouraged Zelanes to stick with the program.

“First and foremost it was great that both schools represented the city of Nashua as well as they did,” Zelanes said. “But to see the hard work, the grit that the (North) guys put in as the season went along, and seeing it come together when it mattered the most, was super exciting. I was glad to be a part of that last year.”

And now he’ll be an even bigger part of it this coming fall.