The Panthers celebrate their OT win as Bishop Guertin's A.J. Holmes begins to leave the field Saturday night at Stellos Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA — A game like this so early?

When the Nashua South High School football team had grabbed a 15-0 first half lead over city rival Bishop Guertin, no one could have imagined the drama that was ahead Saturday night at Stellos Stadium.

But drama there was, as the Panthers had to withstand a BG rally ignited by a 20-play drive on the ground that tied the game and a Cards 29-yard field goal try in the final seconds of regulation that would have won it but missed by a couple of feet left. It all resulted in a South 21-15 overtime win that made you feel like it was November instead of a season opener.

“These kids work hard,” South coach Scott Knight said. “They love football. You’re going to see us get better week-to-week.”

It wasn’t decided until defensive back Josh Tripp, with a great advantage at 6-foot-2, knocked away a Cardinal Nate Bowen fourth down pass in the end zone in BG’s bottom half of the OT. That came after South sophomore Justin Fish squeezed into the right corner of the end zone on a 4-yard run in the top half of the OT to put the Panthers in front.

“Just get it in the dirt,” Tripp said. “No need to tip it up or anything and take chances. … We just have a lot more experience, nine months of hard work and it all came down to tonight.”

South’s joy was certainly BG’s agony.

“I was happy with the fact that they fought,” BG coach Anthony Nalen said. “But you can’t dig yourself a deep hole like that (down 15-0). … They (South) took their best swings early, we were able to bounce back but just not enough.”

The Panthers showed they aren’t the same team bitten by youth as they were the last two years. Returning QB Cody Jackson found Josh Tripp in the end zone twice, first on a 15-yard play with 8:39 left in the first quarter and second on a 17-yard play early in the second quarter. South got a two-point conversion on the first score and was up 15-0.

But BG showed what was ahead when Bowen found Cole Reeves for a 13-yard TD with 2:30 left in the half that got BG on the board, down 15-7 at the break.

South looked like it would get a two-score lead back when a bad Cardinal punt snap and personal foul penalty gave the Panthers first and 10 on the BG 13. But an array of penalties and sack had South eventually turning it over on downs, and no one could have imagined what was about to take place: A 20 play drive, all on the ground, marching 78 yards that chewed up the rest of the third quarter into the fourth. A.J. Holmes, who had 73 yards on 18 carries, plowed into the end zone on a 4-yard run and Bowen found Sam Fayad for a 2-point conversin to tie it with 11:53 to play.

We knew they were going to do that with the double wing,” Knight said. “A lot of that is determined by down and distance.”

“That’s our strength, and we knew we had to do that,” Nalen said. “But they did a good job in the first half of stopping that run. We knew eventually we’d be able to get some yards after contact that we didn’t get in the first half. So we kept going back to that well.”

Bishop Guertin’s A.J. Holmes has to deal with Nashua South’s Sam Levine (9) and Colvin Levesque (5) during Saturday night’s game at Stellos Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

Bishop Guertin’s A.J. Holmes has to deal with Nashua South’s Sam Levine (9) and Colvin Levesque (5) during Saturday night’s game at Stellos Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

The Cards weren’t done driving. With 3:03 left, they got the ball back on their own 41 and drove all the way down to the South 11, where they let the clock tick down for a potential game-winning field goal. But Bowen’s boot after a high snap just missed to the left.

Nalen felt the location of where the ball was placed didn’t help.

“We tried to run a play to get the ball in the middle of the field and it just bounced out left,” he said. “We ended up getting it on the left hash.”

Guertin won the toss for overtime and chose to go second. After South scored on Fish’s third down run, Guertin faced a fourth-and-goal on the 5 and Bowen was looking for Fayad but so was Tripp.

“He’s an outstanding player,” Nalen said.

In what became an outstanding game.