Nashua North's Gavin Adkinson leans ahead while Bishop Guertin's Sam Ronzio moves in to secure the tackle during Saturday night's game at Stellos Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING

NASHUA – Nashua North defensive back Luke Peters turned to an old friend for advice during one of the time outs late in Saturday night’s thriller vs. Bishop Guertin at Holman Stadium.

The Cardinals, trailing by four, were at the North 5 yard line with 1:09 to go, and it was fourth down.

The friend was former Titan two-way standout Jordan Raisenen-Andino, who was on the sidelines. The message was simple:

“One of my old friends on the sideline told me to look back at the ball,” Peters said. “The past two plays I was just hands on, I wasn’t looking at the ball.”

And it was great advice. Peters turned at the right time and picked off BG QB Mike MacDonough’s pass intended for the much taller Guertin receiver Connor Lennon, and North was able to escape with a big 21-17 win over a city rival before a good-sized crowd.

It was probably the best game of the season so far. The teams were deadlocked at the half at 7, and the lead changed hands four times, North (2-1) getting the final advantage four-point advantage on John Canaway’s 35-yard TD pass to, of all people, Peters, who was wide open with 6:25 left.

“We ran that play three times and I was always blocking,” Peters said. “So I just gave him a little bump, (the defender) thought I was blocking him, and I just went right by him.”

“Obviously, Luke stepped up there, a couple of big plays,” North coach Chad Zibolis said. “We weren’t getting the same pass rush we wanted, and they were running the ball pretty well. …

“It’s just a huge win because all week we talked about responding to adversity, and tonight there was a boatload of adversity. … I was proud of them.”

For the Cards,who fell to 0-2 in Division I, (1-2 overall), it was a game there for the taking. Twice during the contest MacDonough missed connecting with receiver Will Helmke, who was all alone in the secondary for what would have been two sure TDs, one in each half.

And on BG’s final march, back A.J. Holmes (90 yards and one TD on 12 carries) had gotten to the 2-yard line on first and goal from the 5. But Guertin went to the same play again, and this time North’s Jonathan Torres (two interceptios) on a run blitz stopped him for a 2-yard loss.

That led to two pass attempts to Lennon in the same corner of the end zone. The first he caught but was ruled out of bounds – his foot appeared to just touch the end line.

“They did a good job once we got into the red zone on the run game,” Nalen said. “Once they tightened up, we had to pass the ball. We felt one of our best opportunities was to go to our 6-foot-5 guy, and it ended up not panning out.”

Guertin was plagued by turnovers, four INTs thrown by MacDonough (19 of 35 for 191 yards) plus a fumble, and under pressure often. One of the picks was on a first and goal at the 9.

“There’s a lot of mistakes we’ve got to clean up going into Merrimack,” Nalen said, “to make sure he’s better protected.”

The two first-half scores were a 1-yard MacDonough run for BG and Steven Rosario’s 4-yard run in the second quarter for North. In the second half, a Lennon 27-yard field goal gave BG a 10-7 lead, but the Titans came back with a 12-yard Rosario TD to help take a 14-10 lead with 3:40 left in the third. That score was set up by a 64 yard kickoff return by none other than Peters. It’s no wonder Zibolis said after the game “He’s coming into his own.”

The Cards answered with a Holmes 4-yard run with 8:55 left to, with Lennon’s PAT, give BG a 17-14 lead.

Then Canaway hit Peters with the wide open toss, North had the lead but BG took over at their 31 and began their long march.

“I was very proud of the kids, we worked really hard,” Nalen said. “Regardless of the outcome, we grew today from where we were the last two weeks. They’re headed into the right direction.”

But Peters liked the direction he headed in, over to Raisenen-Andino for much needed advice.

“I love that guy, I love him,” Peters said. “He knew what to do.”

And then so did Peters, much to the delight of the Titans and chagrin of the Cardinals.