Nashua North keeper Geo Quintanna and goal scorer Preston Thompson (9) lead the Titans' celebration after Wednesday's Divison I prelim win in penalty kicks over Londonderry at Stellos Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Everybody loves Geo.

Only now they adore him.

Nashua High School North keeper Geovanny Quintanna was the hero on Wednesday night at Stellos Stadium when he knocked away Londonderry shooter Zach Mantegeri’s penalty kick to preserve a 3-2 win in the Division I preliminary round.

The Titans, who led 2-0 midway through the second half, saw their lead evaporate and the game get through two overtimes to the penalty kick phase. But at that point, in the fifth round tied 3-3, North’s Preston Thompson scored (third goal of the night) and then Quintanna dove to his left and knocked out Mantegeri’s shot, sending No. 3, 13-4 North to a quarterfinal date at Stellos Sunday at 1 p.m. vs. No. 6 Manchester Central, 3-1 winners yesterday over Bishop Guertin.

According to Quintanna, the eyes had it.

“I was looking at his eyes,” Quintanna said. “Usually when a keeper looks at the eyes of the player, they’ll try to send him the other way with their eyes. So he was looking to my right, so I know he was going to my left. I read him, was able to make the save and get my team to the next round.”

“Playoff soccer, it doesn’t get any better than that,” North coach Jeremy Zelanes said. “I’ve been lucky enough to see Geo playing in club soccer. Between the two keepers, I trusted mine, I’ve seen him in those situations before, and I never doubted him.”

But many felt it should have never come to that. The 13-4 Titans had two first half goals disallowed but led 1-0 on the one Thompson was able to get, sent in by Cam Rodrigues at 18:30 of the first half.

Then six minutes into the second half Thompson scored on a penalty kick, awarded on a questionable call that he was pulled down by the Lancers on a free kick. North led 2-0 over the No. 14, 5-10-2 Lancers, so ho-hum, right?

Wrong. The game totally changed nearly midway through the half, during some contact involving Thompson, as dual yellow cards were handed out and Thompson had to leave the game.

“Our team rules call for him to sit, so we had to sit him out for the half, which is what we did,” Zelanes said. “We trusted the guys on the field to get the job done. Unfortunately we made a few mistakes, but you saw Preston back out there in the overtime.”

The Lancers took advantage, with goals by Christian Levantavski-Correa from left wing at 19:07 of the second half, and then another by Sullivan Street with 10:03 left. It was even tougher as Lancer keeper Jason Reilly robbed Rodrigues on a breakaway a few minutes before the tying goal that would have likely iced it for the Titans.

“Like I told the kids, I give them credit for the fact we came back from 2-0 to tie it up,” Lancers coach Todd Ellis said. “What were we, the 14th seed? They showed heart, they got back in it, to get it at the end would have been tremendous. But they were going against a group of very talented players. … We had them a little nervous.”

They did, especially when things got dicey in the fourth round of PKs. North’s Sam Paintsil, Matthews Ferreira and David Pereira’s goals in the top half were matched by the Lancers’ Levantavski-Correa, Brady Joncas and Stefan Sandu in the bottom halves. But in the top of the fourth Titan Arthur Santos fired high, putting North in danger. But Lancer Owen Evans did the same, preventing a Londonderry lead that could have led to a huge upset.

After the game, Quintanna told his team they shouldn’t be happy with the win – proud, maybe. “We let them tie,” he said. “But all that matters is we didn’t give up, put our heads down. We kept pushing as a family.”

Afterwards, a young boy, Monty Barbosa, son of International Soccer Club president Jared Barbosa, leaped into Quintanna’s arms.

See, everybody now reeeeallly loves Geo.