Nashua North's Derek Finlay heads downfield, escorted by Toby Brown, Jr.,, left, with Manchester Central's Micah Huffman in pursuit during last night's game at Stellos Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Different week, different opponent, different type of game.

But the most important thing for the Nashua High School North football team on Friday night was the end result was the same as the opening week: A win.

However, this one was a little different. While Bedford’s defense stifled the Titans last week, North could do pretty much what it wanted Friday night in a 48-14 win over Manchester Central at Stellos Stadium.

“Bedford’s a good team, they were flying around,” North quarterback Derek Finlay said. “Tonight (Central) flew around, but they weren’t really disciplined in doing it. … We had a good week of practice … And we came out and played great today.”

They went from one offensive touchdown to seven. Finlay and the North first unit only had to play the first half, as the Titans were up 48-7 at the half, which included a marathon, 50-minute first quarter. The senior QB finished with 155 yards and two TDs rushing on nine carries, plus one throwing.

Jordan Raisanen-Andino rushed for 96 yards and three TDs, as North’s first string offense totaled 297 yards in 24 minutes.

“Our biggest thing was our trenches tonight,” North coach Chad Zibolis said. “We really played well in the trenches where last week we didn’t. We were actually able to run the ball, Derek had some great plays at quarterback running the football.

“Tonight was a little bit different. We started off side-to-side, then we realized we could go north-south. … And started to run the ball really well.”

“They’re a lot better than we are,” Central coach Ryan Ray said. “We’re trying our best, we just didn’t execute. Give (North) all the credit in the world, there was a reason we didn’t execute. If we were playing a lesser team, I’m sure our execution level would’ve been much higher. They’re a good team, they made us make mistakes.”

It was actually North (2-0) that made the first mistake, as after Finlay’s 51-yard TD run on the game’s second play from scrimmage helped give the Titans a 7-0 lead, the Titans fumbled the ball on their own 9 on their second possession and Central’s Khari Whitehead’s scoop and score plus the PAT tied the game at 7.

But that was the visitors’ only score for much of the game, as the Titans, after seeing 0-2 Central’s air attack mount a long drive on its first possession that stalled, shut that down the rest of the way.

“Really, no adjustments, we started playing more physical, better than what we did on that first (series),” said Zibolis, lauding the play of Jack Peters, who was at safety early on.

North took the lead for good 13-7 on a Raisanen-Andino 1-yard TD run set up by his own 54-yard kickoff return. It’s no wonder Zibolis called him “a rising star.”

He later had a 49-yard TD score, and Finlay added a 23-yard TD pass to Nick DiGesse, all still in the first quarter, and the Titans were up 27-7.

They added a safety on a snap out of the end zone, another Finlay scoring run of 8 yards, plus rushing TDs by Luke Peters (a yard set up by his own 17-yard run) and Raisanen-Andino again (2 yards), and the Titans were up 48-7 and took that lead into the locker room.

Running time in the second half made up for the crawling penalty-filled first quarter during which Central QBs Liam Murphy and Caydin Salvi aired it out a combined 15 times. The pair did combine on a 39-yard TD (Salvi to Murphy) in the fourth quarter vs. the North reserves.

“The kids knew what they were doing tonight,” Zibolis said of his offense.

And knew it was better than the previous week.