FULL STEAM AHEAD: Panthers’ offense too much for BG

Bishop Guertin's AJ Holmes closes in on Nashua South's Kyle Emmons during Friday night's Division I playoff game at Souhegan High School. (Photo by Joe Marchilena/NH-HighSchoolSports.com)
AMHERST – The Nashua High School South football team just wanted to have the ball.
A week after seeing the defense on the field too much in a loss, the Panthers took the ball to start Friday night’s Division I preliminary-round game and never took their foot off the gas.
Sixth-seeded South scored on six of eight possessions in the first half, got touchdowns from six players, and rolled to a 59-26 win over No. 11 Bishop Guertin in the first ever playoff meeting between the longtime rivals at Souhegan High School in Amherst.
The win is the first postseason victory for the Panthers (7-2 in D1, 8-2 overall) since 2008 and puts South in the quarterfinals, where it will face No. 3 Londonderry next weekend.
“It was nice to get back on track and have the kids making plays,” South coach Scott Knight said. “We got out of the gate pretty good, like we intended.”
Coming off a 14-6 loss to Goffstown last week, Knight felt like the offense didn’t have enough opportunities to try to get the Panthers back in that game. So when South won the coin toss, it chose to receive the opening kickoff.
While South didn’t score on that opening possession, it didn’t take long for them to find the end zone after that.
Cody Jackson ran for a pair of touchdowns on the Panthers’ next two possessions and then threw the first of his three scoring pass on the ensuing drive to help South take a 20-0 lead in the first quarter.
Jackson finished the night with 80 yards rushing to go with his two scores and was 12 of 20 passing for 243 yards and three more scores. Two of those went to Justin Fish, who had four catches for 46 yards.
Sam Levine added 97 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries while Kyle Emmons, Bruno Goncalves and Diego Cabrera had a touchdown apiece.
“This game probably showed our depth even more because I think we had six different guys score a touchdown,” Jackson said. “Once one person makes a big play, we really just feed off each other’s success. We all keep improving as the game goes on as a team. Once we start going, it usually keeps going.”
After falling behind by three scores, Bishop Guertin’s offense came to life behind running back AJ Holmes. The senior, who had 166 yards rushing, got the Cardinals on the board with a 1-yard touchdown run that made it 20-7.
The first of two touchdown passes from Nate Bowen to Ryan Connelly on the next possession made it a six-point game, but that was as close as the Cardinals (4-5, 5-5) could get it. “We gave it our best shot,” Cards coach Anthony Nalen said.
Bowen was 7 of 17 for 112 yards and three scores, with Connelly catching five passes for 94 yards and two touchdowns. Sam Fayad also caught a 22-yard touchdown pass.
Bishop Guertin made it a two-score game with 59 seconds left in the first half when Bowen connected with Connelly for a 39-yard touchdown.
Instead of just going in for the half, South pushed the ball down field, as Jackson hit Colvin Levesque and Colin Kochanek for gains of 11 and 14 yards, respectively, to start the drive. A defensive holding call on the Cardinals set up an 11-yard touchdown run for Levine that made it 40-20 at halftime.
After forcing a three-and-out to open the second half, the Panthers went on a 12-play, 64-yard drive that was kept going on a fake punt by Emmons. Facing fourth-and-18, the senior kept the ball for a 35-yard gain, eventually leading to an 11-yard touchdown pass from Jackson to Fish for a 46-20 lead.
“That was huge,” Knight said. “We knew going in, we need a stop, go three-and-out, and then score and put this thing to bed. That’s what we did. That was awesome.”