Nashua South's Justin Fish tries to escape the grasp of Keene's Miles Desrosiers (8) duirng Saturday's game at Stellos Stadium. (Photo by Tom King/Nashua Telegraph)

Their annual battle is less than two weeks away, but right now what’s more on the minds of the Nashua High School North and South football programs are the opposite directions they are going in.

North has had two tough losses at home to likely Final Four teams Bedford and Exeter, an 0-2 start that ob viously does not sit well with Titans coach Chad Zibolis. His team, which travels to Keene on Friday, has not scored a touchdown yet this season, an eight quarter span.

“Just all around, the whole team in general just has to do a better job,” North coach Chad Zibolis said after this past Friday’s 36-0 loss to Exeter. “Coaches, players, everything.

“To be honest, we had a bad week of practice and we played bad. That’s what happens.”

How does Zibolis want to fix the offense that has lacked big plays? North chewed up nearly 10 minutes on its first drive of the year vs. Bedford 10 days ago, and the Titans are running big back Darius Smith and trying to get some of its speed like Dahryus Smith and Luke Peters, who missed the opener, in space.

“I’m always a guy who’s a run-first guy,” Zibolis said. “I’m a run-first guy, we’re a run-first type of offense. (Friday) we obviously found ourselves in a situation where we had to throw the ball, trying to play some catch-up. We are a grind it out, power football, that’s what we want to do, and we haven’t been able to do it.

“We’re very young up front, and we’ve got to be able to figure that out.”

It’s just the opposite for South, which has won two games at Stellos, beating Bishop Guertin in overtime and blanking Keene on Saturday.

SOUTH HAS GOOD START

“I just have a good feeling about these kids, I’m confident,” said South coach Scott Knight, his team now hosting Lowell on Friday night, a game that won’t count in the Division I standings.

Knight is happy with how quarterback Cody Jackson has played thus far.

“With the exception of a fumble (Saturday) he’s done a good job of taking care of the ball,” he said. “He had a throw last week into a Guertin kid’s hands, but for the most part he’s done a great job of taking care of the ball. We had a lot of turnovers last year. He has a real good grasp of the offense.”

South is hoping to get injured two-way standout Kyle Emmons back this week; he missed the Keene game with an injury. Knight also likes the work linemen Trevor Stevens and Kevin Hamel, among others, have done.

“You probably saw us rotating a lot of guys,” Knight said about his line. “Luckily, we have the depth to do that.”

BRONOCS RIDING HIGH

Last year Alvirne opened some eyes with its playoff appearance – but they certainly didn’t start the year 2-0 like they have now after Friday’s drama-filled win over Salem. They host a struggling Timberlane team that is looking to avoid an 0-3 start so it may not be easy to reach – dare we say it – 3-0.

“This is a big deal for us,” Broncos coach Matt Lee said after Friday’s game. “I have a ton of respect for (Salem).”

AND THE OTHERS

Locally Campbell in Division III is unbeaten at 2-0, while in Division II Souhegan is 2-0. Merrimack won its first game in beating Timberlane and is 1-0 in league play, 1-1 overall, while Bishop Guertin feels better this week after beating Goffstown – but Bedford awaits Saturday. And either Milford or Hollis Brookline will be celebrating their first win next Friday.

Why? They play each other in Hollis.