Ahhh, Nashua South vs. Londonderry in Division I playoff football.

Yes, that is on this weekend’s schedule (Saturday afternoon) as football is the only fall high school sport still going. It’s a quarterfinal game in LancerLand, but when Nashua and Londonderry meet in this sport in the postseason, you’d be surprised to see how significant the connection is between the two, especially South.

“We have a history that goes back,” said South coach Scott Knight.

Let’s explore it:

This weekend’s game, which may be going on while you read this, will be the first playoff game between the two since 2007 – the last game coached by the father of Londonderry football, Tom Sawyer. It was post split, and the Panthers won a semifinal in an offensive dominated affair that was so prolific it was mentioned in Sports Illustrated, according to South coach Scott Knight, and had one player, Lancer Ryan Griffin, who went on to be an NFL tight end.

“There was over 1,000 yards combined in that game,” Knight said of a game paced by South’s Bill Ferriter. “They couldn’t stop us. … and we couldn’t stop them. … That was one helluva matchup, a real close game.”

The Panthers prevailed but went on to lose to Pinkerton in the finals, 14-2, so all their offense had been used up.

When Knight first became the head coach of the one Nashua in 2003, the Panthers were at Londonderry to start the season and it was Knight’s first career win as a head coach. It wasn’t close as the Lancers were having a rare down year.

But we need to go back further. You can’t ignore the back-to-back Nashua-Londonderry meetings for the Division I title in 1996 and 1997. Those games contained Hall of Famers galore: Sawyer of course, but Panthers Kole and Femi Ayi, QB Aaron Gureckis and coach Bill Hardy. The one Nashua lost 20-17 in a heartbreaker at Londonderry, before the Mud Bowl of 1997, a 15-0 championship win for Nashua, the final title of the one Nashua school. One of the linemen in that game for Nashua was none other than current Nashua North coach Chad Zibolis, and Knight was an assistant coach on that team, a line coach.

That game had huge historical significance. It had snowed the weekend before, the Panthers beating Pinkerton in the semis at Holman Stadium in sloppy conditions. But the slop worsened during the week and the field was basically destroyed in that title game.

Long story short, the city had just agreed to a lease with the independent minor league baseball team, the Nashua Pride, and the lease terms raised the standard that the field needed to be. Thus it was clear that with all the usage and how damaging football could be, the city would need another place for school rectangular sports just because of the financial burden on Park-Rec to keep up the stadium. Hence the concept of Stellos Stadium was born, and a few years later it became reality.

“They put sand down for the Thanksgiving Day game (the following week),” Knight said. “We were playing on a beach.”

Chad Zibolis, back row, right, was a top lineman at Nashua High School and helped the Panthers win a title under head coach Bill Hardy in the mud in November of 1997 at Holman Stadium. (Courtesy photo)

Nashua football players celebrate their mudfest championship win at Holman Stadium over Londonderry in November of 1997. (Courtesy photo)

There’s one more impact Londonderry had on Nashua football. We take you even further back to 1989, when legendary Panthers football coach Ken Parady announced he was retiring. Nashua being one of if not the largest school in the state, was an attractive opening with its tradition, etc.

Or was it? Several of the top coaches around were interested, or courted. The one coach Nashua went hard after was none other than Londonderry’s Sawyer. But when Sawyer interviewed and checked out the program, he had one big question: “Where’s your weight room?”

Truth be told, there wasn’t one,just a small area with a universal machine or two, no free weights, etc. Sawyer was shocked, and obviously didn’t end up taking the job. In reality, Nashua wouldn’t have been able to pay him what Londonderry was.

“I’ll never forget that as long as I live,” one former Nashua booster said recently. “That set off an amazing reaction. They were beating us in scrimmages And that’s (lack of a weight room) why, and he (Sawyer) made that clear.”

The result? A weight room was built – a separate small building on the side of the school just outside the locker room – by the booster club known as the Friends of Nashua Athletics at the behind the scenes urging of former longtime AD Al Harrington. It’s the prototype of the weight room that is at South today.

“I spent a lifetime in that room,” said Knight, who supervised it.

There you go. Panthers vs. Lancers football. They’re playing it again, and really it’s just another chapter in the fascinating history between them on and off the field.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on X (formerly twitter) @Telegraph _TomK.