Bishop Guertin's Ronan Balistreri hauls in a TD pass ahead of Winnacunnet's Tate Goucher during the Cards' 31-8 win Saturday night at Stellos Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – They always say the smart investors diversify, thus it was natural for the Bishop Guertin High School football team to do the same thing to earn a 31-8 win over Winnacunnet on Saturday night at Stellos Stadium.

The Cardinals spread the wealth, getting other players besides quarterback Matt Santosuosso involved, and it paid off as they remain unbeaten at 5-0 headed into arguably the toughest stretch of their season.

“Just trying to find ways to move the ball on offense,” Guertin coach John Trisciani said. “And try not to be too one-dimensional. We assume everybody’s going to try to stop the run, take away Matt in the run game.

“We can throw. It was kind of an emphasis this week to try and get a few more guys involved in the offense, with the assumption at some point we’re going to need them.”

For example, between Santosuosso and fellow QB Michael MacDonough, the Cards threw the ball 16 times, with some success. Santosuosso, who opened the scoring with a 41-yard TD just over three minutes in, found Ronan Balistreri for a 20-yard TD play that helped – along with the QB’s two-point conversions – make it a 16-0 game with 10:08 to play in the first half.

Balistreri later would add a 45-yard TD run for BG’s only score in the second half. Santosuosso, however, remains the key, as he added a 17-yard rushing TD and two-point run for a 24-0 halftime lead.

“He’s an exceptional athlete, we’ve seen that since last year and this year,” Warriors coach Ryan Francoeur said. “You make a mistake on him he’s pretty much gone.”

That score capped off a 14-play, 90-yard drive that followed an interception by the Cards Ethan Chmielecki. Chmielecki was the Cards’ primary running back with Charlie Bellavance still banged up, and he responded with74 yards on 16 carries.

MacDonough connected on a 44-yard pass play with Cody Szymansky in the second half as well, but it didn’t result in a score. Still, the message was sent.

“I thought Ronan Balistreri made a couple of really nice plays out there with a touchdown catch and then a touchdown run,” Trisciani said. “It’s crazy, it’s Week Five, and we’re still trying to figure out what we have for a team. It’s a puzzle, trying to put guys in position to have some success. Give them a shot and see how they perform.”

And they performed well, except the second half things slowed down, as penalties killed one drive and Winnacunnet’s Daniel Blankenship grabbed a pass intended for Gavin Bombara in the end zone after the two grappled for the ball. The 0-5 Warriors, who had only scored 12 points on offense all year, finally broke through with a 5-yard Frankie Brown run with just over a minute gone in the fourth quarter to make it 24-8. But BG answered with Balistreri’s run and that was that.

“We weren’t surprised by anything they did, they out-executed us tonight,” Francoeur said, adding he was happier with how the second half went.

“It was physical at times,” Guertin pass rusher Jakob Baker said. “It was the most I’d gotten held up since Timberlane. I would say the other linemen would say that too. But it’s always fun playing against tough kids, you’re working hard, it’s making you better.”

And with the Cards at defending Division I champ and fellow unbeaten Londonderry on Friday, better is what they want. From many.

“We’ll need them all, it’s going to be all hands on deck next week,” Trisciani said.