A hit by Nashua South's Colvin Levesque (5) and Joshua Tripp (11) causes the ball to pop free from the arms of Winnacunnet quarterback Riley McDaniel resulting in a turnover early in the first quarter of Friday's Division I football game. Nashua South improved to 6-0 with a 43-8 win. (Photo by Matt Parker/Seacoastonline)

HAMPTON – What a difference a year has made for the Nashua South High School football team.

The Purple Panthers lost their first six games last year, now the tables have been turned in a complete 180-degree direction.

Senior Kyle Emmons scored two touchdowns and the South defense returned two defensive turnovers for touchdowns as it rolled to a 43-8 win over Winnacunnet on Friday at Alumni Field.

Nashua South improved to 6-0 overall (5-0 Division I) on the season, while the Warriors fell to 4-2.

“I am so proud of this team, they’ve worked so hard,” Nashua South head coach Scott Knight said. “We were 0-6 at this time last year, and now we are 6-0. A turnaround like that is a credit to their work ethic.”

Winnacunnet turned the ball over on five of its seven drives in the first half.

“We didn’t show up to play football tonight,” Winnacunnet head coach Ryan Francoeur said. “I love these kids, great group of kids, they work really hard, but we were non-existent on the football field tonight in all aspects of the game.”

South junior Josh Tripp had a 90-yard interception return for a touchdown, and senior Diego Cabrera returned a fumble 50 yards for another score as the Panthers took a 29-0 lead into intermission.

“(Tripp) is a special athlete,” Knight said. “He’s done that a couple of other times this year. He’s dangerous when he’s in the middle of the field and you throw near him; that was just a special play right there.”

Tripp’s score gave South a 22-0 lead with 3:41 left in the half. On Winnacunnet’s ensuing possession, South junior Cole Patno stripped a Warrior ball carrier of the ball near midfield, and Cabrera picked it up and ran down the sideline, extending South’s lead to 29-0 lead with 2:13 left in the half.

“Sometimes you get lucky with (turnovers),” Knight said. “We work on stripping balls a lot. (Patno) stripped the ball and (Cabrera) is a great athlete. He scooped it up, and off he went.”

Winnacunnet got on the scoreboard with 38.6 seconds left in the game as junior Sean O’Riordan ran it from 3 yards out for the score. Sophomore Burke Spaulding ran in the 2-point conversion.

Emmons scored on a pair of 5-yard runs, and South also got rushing touchdowns from Samuel Levine from 9 yards out, and Justin Fish from 8.

“I love this team,” Knight said. “We were warming up and I could just tell we were going to have a night. The kids looked great, and they looked fast.”

South quarterback Cody Jackson completed 11 passes for 125 yards. Emmons had three catches for 53 yards, and Colin Levesque had one catch for 26 yards. Levine ran for 60 yards on seven carries.