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PURE ENERGY: Peters sets the tone for Nashua North

By Tom King - Staff Writer | Nov 11, 2022

Jack Peters will be a huge key on both sides of the ball for Nashua North in today's 4 p.m. Divison I quarterfinal vs. Bedford at Stellos Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA — He’s Energizer Money.

You just don’t send Jack Peters out onto a football field.

You wind him up and watch him run.

And run. And tackle. And run. And tackle. And make plays.

Pretty much a sure thing.

Nashua High School coach Chad Zibolis admit he could watch the Titans’ senior back/linebacker forever.

“I love watching him play,” Zibolis said. “Absolutely love watching him play. Coach Tave will look at me and I’ll say, ‘Lets send him (on a blitz). Let’s send him.

“He’s fun to have at practice, just an all around. … He’s just everything we thought he was going to be – and more.”

The No. 2, 9-0 Titans hope he makes some key plays in today’s 4 p.m. Division I quarterfinal at Stellos Stadium vs. No. 10, 7-3 Bedford, a team North beat 19-7 in their season opener.

Defense is Peters’ preference, and he’s developed a great bond with Titans defensive coordinator Kyle Tave. He’s learned a lot.

“It all started sophomore year,” Peters said. “I gathered so much more information than I thought I was going to, which really prepared me for junior and senior year.”

And Peters is now all over the field defensively. If you’re an opposing quarterback, it’s now you see him, now you don’t because he moves so quickly. “It’s hard to game plan against a kid like that,” Zibolis said. “He’ just so instinctive and fast to the ball. Each year he just continues to get better and better. Now he not only reacts, but he’s not biting on plays. His speed, his aggressiveness, he’s just an all-around defensive player.”

And don’t forget, Peters was vying with teammate and friend Derek Finlay for the starting quarterback job after the graduation of the famed Curtis Harris, now a defensive standout at Holy Cross. But the Titans knew both would be in the lineup anyway, so Finlay became the QB, and Peters became an all-purpose back who while defense is his forte, can make big plays on offense, like his long, game-tying TD catch last month vs. BG.

That’s the energy he brings.

“The way he plays defense, and then comes over to the offense and runs a 60-yard go (like he did vs. Bishop Guertin),” Zibolis said. “He doesn’t get tired.

“He’s the type of kid you can use everywhere.”

Peters wasn’t expecting to be used in the variety of roles he’s had offensively, but “taking a step back now, kind of assessing myself watching film, I can see where they’d want to do that, whether I’m a tight end/blocker, running back, receiver. I don’t want to glorify myself, but I feel I can do it.”

Where do the instincts come from? Peters has been doing more film work, he says, this year more than any other. And when he watches himself on film, he’s amazed.

“I’m not going to lie, I see myself doing things that I’m like ‘I really did that?’,” Peters said.

“It’s funny, film is so easy to watch now, they have it everywhere,” Zibolis said. “A kid who gets to his senior year and realizes what film can do for him is a kid like Jack right now, he realizes what film does for him. He can pick up on mistakes, pick up on what they’re doing, what he’s doing, that stuff is huge.”

Of course, there’s mixed emotions for Peters and the Titans, because any game now could be his last. He signed a letter of intent to attend and play lacrosse for UMass-Amherst on Wednesday night, so this playoff season will be it for the gridiron.

“It’s terrible, but not terrible,” Zibolis said. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s great he has a scholarship to play lacrosse. He’s doing what he’s supposed to do. But boy, he could have been a good college football player.”

Football vs. Lacrosse, and lacrosse won.

“I’ve had more than enough time to think about it, and I’ve been asked that question about a million times,” Peters said. “Majority of the times, it would depend on the season. But as we come closer to the end of the season, I’d probably consider football my favorite sport…It’s where I’ve developed half of my friends. I had a lot less friends growing up playing lacrosse, I’d actually try to recruit them to come play with me.”

But Peters said the recruiting aspect for the two sports was different, and playing off-season lacrosse for the New Hampshire Tomahawks gave him tons of exposure, and help in the recruiting process. So lacrosse it was, and he said the coaches during the process gravitated toward multi-sport athletes. Peters also plays basketball for the contending Titans in the winter. The North hoop team has a faction of players where basketball isn’t their main sport, and “that’s my favorite part of that basketball team.”

He says the defense he plays in lacrosse (as a defensive midfielder) and in basketball helps him with football. He’s still trying to recruit player to help the Titans lacrosse program, which has fallen on hard times in terms of numbers and results, but still has Peters as its poster player.

Peters credits his mom and dad with the athletic instincts he has. Chris Peters was a pitcher who might have had a baseball future but shoulder woes changed that; Christina Peters played college basketball at Framingham State. It’s a sports family, Peters loves playing football at North with his brother Luke, who is a sophomore running back/linebacker and has made some key plays for North this year as well.

The Titans’ other great defensive standout, Toby Brown, Jr., is out tonight as a precaution after suffering a knee injury last month. But Zibolis doesn’t think it will put that much more pressure on Peters, who is the leader of the defense. Being a linebacker, Peters is tough to game-plan against because of the position and his mobility.

“As a linebacker, it’s tough to game plan against him,” Zibolis said. “Can you run away from him? Maybe, but it’s tough to get there. His reaction and his speed is just too hard.”

As is his tenacity.

“He just has no fear,” Zibolis said. “He’ll put his nose right in there. He makes our entire defense a better defense with his speed and his knowledge. It’s huge.”

The one fear? The emotions of that final game, whenever it comes. He remembers even as a sophomore getting teary eyed on the bus ride to the title game vs. Bedford because it would be the last game with the seniors he grew close to and looked up to even when he was in middle school.

Now he’s the senior.

“It’ll be one of the most emotional endings in my life,” Peters said. “Like I said, football has played such an important role in my life, whether it be friends, family – it’s brought me countless things.”

Zibolis was talking with his staff the other day, going over the key players the team will see graduate this spring.

“We’re going to miss a lot of guys,” he said. “But we will really miss Jack.”

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