Nashua North's Dylan Noble is off to the races for a huge 85-yard TD run in North's 25-8 win over Dracut on Thursday night at Stellos Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – This was a different kind of week for the Nashua High School North football team, preparing to play an out-of-state opponent in a game that had no impact on the Division I standings.

Now, after a 25-8 win over Dracut (Mass.) High at a soggy Stellos Stadium on Thursday night, it’s time to get back to the other extreme. The playoffs await.

“It’s weird,” North coach Chad Zibolis said, his team finishing the regular season 5-4 overall. “It kind of felt like the old school Turkey Bowl practices you used to have leading up. You’re taking your foot off the gas a little bit. … Now we have to re-snap into gear, it’s playoff time.”

The game of course marked the return of former Nashua South standout and assistant coach Trevor Knight, now the head coach of the Middies. Knight has a young 1-7 team that shows promise on some plays, and inexperience on others.

They got a touchdown on a 33-yard TD pass from former Salem player Chris Goss to Andrew Berrios, and the two connected on a two-point conversion to tie the game at 8 with 6:35 left in the first half. But there were other times connections were missed to wide open receivers, whether it be with Goss or sophomore Lyric DeLeon throwing that might have made a difference.

“There’s stuff there,” Knight said. “That’s kind of been our M.O. That’s been us this year. Really close to making those plays but just haven’t’ just executed to the level we need to to compete and win these games.”

North’s Dylan Noble (102 yards on four carries) broke the tie with the play of the game, an 85-yard TD run right up the middle as the Middies got caught in a run blitz with 53.4 seconds left in the half. That helped give North a 15-8 lead at the break.

“That was unbelievable,” Zibolis said, crediting the blocking up front but also a block by Jayden Beaulieu on the edge outside. “Those guys, the way they’re playing defense, they’re blitzing all the time so it’s either a 2-yard loss or a 50-yard gain. That time we covered everybody up and we were able to get that nice run. It was a great win by Dylan. … It was a huge play.

“We knew that first half was where you’re going to have to try some points because that rain was going to pick up.”

North added to Noble’s run first with a 27-yard Marco Raposo field goal with 53.4 seconds left in the third quarter on a possession gained from recovering a Dracut fumble. Then, after Knight surprisingly went for it on fourth and 10 from his own 31 with just over 10 minutes left and failed on an incomplete pass, the Titans took eight plays to get the game’s final points on a Brady O’Connor 17-yard TD screen pass to Kobe Perry with 5:42 left to pretty much seal the deal.

“Down 10, we weren’t really stopping the run and they were killing clock,” Knight said, explaining his decision to go for it on fourth down in his own territory. “We felt that (possession) was kind of our only shot. I figured if they got the ball back, it could be a long drive. We’ve given up a decent amount of points this year, so just had to take that risk.”

Early on, the Titans got a safety when David Theriault-Lago made a tackle in the end zone and then took four plays after Dracut’s kick to score on a Jedwin Lluveres 26-yard catch-and-and run. The PAT was no good so North settled for an 8-0 lead.

Dracut had actually outgained the Titans at the half but managed just 94 yards in the second half, 59 of it on an Owen French run. Defensively Dracut’s Myles Lumsden was a tackling machine.

“They have some young kids playing over there,” Zibolis said, glad he could get all of his own seniors playing time in what could be their final game at Stellos. “They’re very talented, their skill level is very talented. Trevor obviously does a great job getting the kids and keeping them buying in. … Kudos to him.”

“It felt great,” Knight said. “It was fun to be back out here. Would’ve been nice if the elements were better.”

North hopes they are next Friday, for certain.