Nashua North's John Barry Jr. tries to escape the grasp of Merrimack's Joshua Ozog (10) during Friday night's season-opener at Stellos Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – It was a game that early on featured a score football fans and teams alike aren’t used to seeing: 4-0.

But the Nashua High School North football team saw a lot of what it’s been used to in the last year or so: A dominant defense.

The Titans, led by junior defensive end Darius Smith, manhandled Merrimack to the season-opening tune of 24-7, incredibly holding the Tomahawks to just 35 yards on offense at Stellos Stadium.

“Defensively we were flying around,” North coach Chad Zibolis said, “and then we just continued to fly around which was good. Having Darius out there, being a running back and not playing offensive line, gave him a lot of rest. That’s why I think he was really dominant defensively today.”

“They beat us up front, we couldn’t throw the ball, we couldn’t run the ball,” Merrimack coach Kip Jackson said. “The field was tilted almost the entire game.”

Smith was a monster, leading the charge that had the Titans consistently in the Merrimack backfield, making life miserable for first year starting quarterback Sahil Mujawar, who was pressured on almost every play and sacked six times, if not more.

The situation became evident when, after the ‘Hawks took over at their own 1 after a successful goal line stand, North’s Tyler Madeira sacked Mujawar in the end zone for the first safety and a 2-0 lead with 3:51 left in the first quarter.

The second safety came when Jonathan Torres blocked a Matt Schmitt punt out of the end zone with 9:37 left in the first half and that made for an unusual 4-0 score.

“To be honest,” Zibolis said, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that.”

But, of course, the Titans knew they’d have to get in the end zone and did just that on the ensuing possession, first year starting QB Gavin Flynn hitting John Barry, Jr. on a 25-yard TD in the flat to make it a 10-0 game. Flynn finished 13 of 18 for 106 yards and one TD before leaving the game late in the third quarter with a cut throwing hand.

A Smith 1-yard TD plunge capped off a 10-play drive aided by a face mask penalty helped give North a 17-0 lead with 2:15 left in the half and the Titans took that into the locker room.

The Tomahawks, for all their offensive woes, did make it interesting in taking advantage of North’s eagerness on defense. A screen pass to the ‘Hawks’ top two-way player, Garren Brown, resulted in a 49-yard TD with 10:48 to play. Schmitt’s PAT made it a 17-7 game.

“We had a hard time with him,” Zibolis said of Brown. “And we had a hard time with him on defense, he was making a lot of plays.”

But Merrimack needed more firepower. Flynn’s backup, John Canaway, hit a wide open Adrian Lazo with a 23 yard TD toss in the game’s final minutes, and Josh Bozek hit a PAT to account for the final.

“Our kids played hard,” said Jackson, whose team hosts Keene next Friday. “We needed to get first downs and change the momentum, we were just never able to. (The Titans) do a great job with what they do on defense and they were able to stop us.”

“You never feel comfortable,” Zibolis said, “especially against a Merrimack team that’s well coached, they’re scrappy kids, they always play hard. But when your defense is flying around like that, you can feel comfortable at certain points in the game. They were flying around.”

And still really haven’t landed.