Nashua North's Luke Peters (6) zeroes in on Merrimack QB Sahil Mujawar during Saturday's game at Souhegan's Calvetti Field in Amherst. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

AMHERST – Sometimes, as they say, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.

The Nashua High School football team couldn’t have started Saturday’s encounter with West Conference foe Merrimack any worse at Souhegan High School’s Calvetti Field, down 15-0 before you could blink.

But nearly three hours later, they left smiling with a 31-21 win.

“We came out extremely slow, and they came out flying,” North coach Chad Zibolis said, his team now 2-6. “That takes two, right? It took us the first half to even start waking up. … At half, it should’ve been worse (than 21-13 Merrimack). We were in the game at half, and then we were able to keep going.”

The win likely means Merrimack (2-5 Division I, 2-6 overall) will need to beat Bishop Guertin next Friday’s regualar season finale at home just to have a faint shot at the playoffs.

How’d the Titans do it? Two things: The swarming pass rush on both the left and right side by Darious Smith and Denzel Delgado that produced eight sacks of Merrimack QB Sahil Mujawar, and on offense, the dynamic play of senior Luke Peters. Peters had two TDs – a 78-yard kickoff return, plus a 70-yard run, and he set up a third with a 58-yard reception.

“We came out slow, I didn’t get too many touches in the beginning,” Peters said. “I knew our offense would start rolling … I had confidence.”

“He was electric,” Jackson said, “which we knew. We said before the game he’d hit two or three plays. The one he hit on, the kickoff return, that was the biggest one because we had all the momentum at that point. That kind of started to turn the tide. Although when you’re up 21-7, and he makes another big play (the 58-yard catch) and that makes it 21-13.”

Peters wound up with 114 yards rushing and 86 yards receiving, plus near 130 return yards. Yikes.

“Luke has become Luke, probably since BG (a 43-42 loss that Peters excelled in),” Zibolis said. “That’s when we got Luke back. … I’m proud of him to have had the game he did today.”

The Tomahawks, though, had the jump right away before Peters got involved. After a Titan fumble, they scored on their third play from scrimmage, a 33-yard pass to an open Stephen Doyle plus a two-point flip to Cayden Dine, 8-0 at a minute in. Then a blocked punt set up Nathan Sadia for a 2-yard run and it was 15-0 three minutes in. Yikes.

But then Peters took the ensuing kick to the house and the Titans were on the board, 15-7.

Merrimack had one more drive in them , this still in the first half, after a North fourth down play was short at the Titan 22. Eight plays later Mujuwar found Doyle for a 9 yard TD and it was 21-7 less than a minute into the second quarter.

Peters, though, had that 58-yard catch of a Dharyus Sisay pass that set up a 1-yard Smith touchdown and the Titans were within 21-13 at the break.

Then came the second half, during which the Tomahawks could only muster a total of eight yards, thanks to the pressure on Mujawar. Neither team could really run the ball, so Mujawar was constantly dropping back or rolling out.

Our defense played amazing,” Zibolis said. “We just kept putting them in bad spots.”

“They did a good job with their pass rush, obviously,” Jackson said, “which left (Mujawar) with no time to make decisions. We felt good with some of those opportunities we would have had in the passing game, but with no time it makes it a challenge.”

That keyed the turning tide. Of course, so did a Peters’ 70-yard TD run that brought North to within 21-20 early in the third. Peters then intercepted Mujawar late in the third and that set up Marco Raposo’s 24-yard field goal that put the Titans ahead to stay, 22-21, with 9:51 to go.

The next two Titan scores were on special teams and defense – a safety off a Jedwin Lluveres blocked punt midway with over six minutes to go (24-21) and a pick six off a deflection by Jayden Beaulieu deep in Tomahawk territory with 2:37 left to take away any late drama.

“It’s a good win, a good one for these seniors,” Zibolis said. “Dealing with Stellos (closing) and having one win coming into this game, they still want to play and they still want to play hard. Proud of them for that.”