Nashua South's Nathan Case tries to chase down Goffstown's Sam Chapman during Friday night's game in Amherst. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

AMHERST – Goffstown High School football coach John Preston was a man with a plan on Friday night.

And his team carried it out to perfection, stunning the Nashua Purple Panthers 14-6 at Souhegan’s Calvetti Field.

“I believe in running a program, and establishing the run game and playing great defense and doing things the right way,” said Preston, a New Hampshire native who coached in Indiana the last seven years but took over Goffstown this year. “Today this group of guys established the culture of what Goffstown is going to be the next couple of years. … God dang they played hard today.”

What happened was simple: The 3-6 Grizzlies, with a few exceptions, ran the ball down South’s throat, controlling the ball and the clock. As South coach Scott Knight said, “Who would’ve thought we’d score less than we scored against Bedford?”

Well, who would’ve thought in the second half, after the Grizzlies took a 7-6 lead into the break, that they would run 35 plays to just 10 for South (6-2, 7-2 overall) in the second half? Or have a 16-play drive to start the second half that, although they didn’t score, chewed up 10:28 of the third quarter? Yes, you read correctly.

Thus it was no surprise when Goffstown took over after a Panther punt near midfield it kept the ball for the final 6:52 of the game. Incredible.

The impact of the game is that it likely knocks South of what would have been a cinch for a fourth overall seed and possible home quarterfinal. The Panthers will likely be somewhere around sixth, and if they advance after a home first rounder, be on the road.

“We didn’t have the ball,” Knight said. “And when we did, we put it on the ground twice. … They hit a couple of real good punts and buried us. Just one of those nights. … We’re really disappointed. We were 7-0 and last week were 14-14 in the third quarter.”

But since then they’ve been outscored 38-6. The thing is last night Goffstown was paced by senior Jayden Pares, the team’s quarterback earlier in they year. Friday they found out Friday top back Bill Schmidt had pneumonia, so they made Pares the feature back and he carried 26 times for 172 yards. “A special player,” Preston said.

The Grizzlies ran for 224 yards overall.

They gave a preview of what was to come with a 12-play 95-yard march on their first possession, all but one play on the ground, that ended with Mason LeClerc scoring on a 12-yard run with 3:59 left in the opening quarter. Trevor Spofford’s PAT kick made it 7-0.

“We were running up the field past everything, weren’t reading our keys, things like that,” Knight said. “We weren’t real disciplined tonight. One of those nights. Crazy.”

The Panthers on their next possession did it the opposite way, taking just four plays to score just 1:15 later after Justin Fish returned a squib kick 33 yards to the Goffstown 22. QB Cody Jackson ran it in from 2 yards out, but a two-point conversion failed.

South’s only other scoring chance in the game came when the put together a 13-play drive in the second quarter. But it died on the Goffstown 5 after a fumbled snap on fourth-and 2. Ouch.

The irony is the Panthers stopped the Grizzlies from scoring on that marathon drive to start the third quarter, but took over inside the 5 couldn’t seize any momentum, going three and out.

“We were coming out from the one-foot line,” Knight said. “We just couldn’t get into a rhythm.”

But then a punt was tipped, Goffstown getting the ball on the South 28. And this time Pares was at quarterback and found LeClerc for a 28-yard TD pass to help make it 14-6 with 11:50 to play.

Still only a one score game. But do you know how many plays the Panthers ran the rest of the way? Eight for a total of 48 yards. And the Grizzlies pulled off a 66-yard punt to make life even tougher for South.

“We just didn’t play well at all,” Knight said. “We were trying. … It was frustrating. But hats off to them. They played a great game. … They played like a championship game.”

PINKERTON 30, ALVIRNE 17

Ryan Rocheleau (120 yards receiving) made a nice one-handed grab of a Charlie Crawford TD pass to bring the Broncos to within 22-17 entering the fourth quarter in Hudson, but it was not enough as the Astros added a Joseph Osanya 7-yard TD run and a safety off a bad snap on a punt attempt.

The Broncos actually led 10-9 at halftime on Shawn Boudreau’s 35-yard field goal at the end of the first half, but PA’s Ryson Michaud returned the opening kickoff of the second half 98 yards to give Pinkerton the lead for good.

Alvirne ended its regular season 6-3 while the Astros are now 7-2. Both will await playoff seeding early this week.