Nashua South's Joshua Tripp (11) celebrates a touchdown catch by teammate Justin Fish in the first quarter, while being marked by Londonderry's Nathan Velazquez (37) during Friday night's Divison I prelim round playoff game at Stellos Stadium. (Photo by Dan Attorri)

NASHUA — Nashua South has played most of its big games from behind, but the Panthers didn’t want to start their playoff run that way.

Senior quarterback Cody Jackson connected with fellow senior Colvin Levesque on a 28-yard passing touchdown on just the third play of the game. Jackson was 15-for-21 passing, throwing for 270 yards and three touchdowns, adding two more touchdowns on the ground, and junior receiver Justin Fish scored both in the air (101 yards on six receptions, two touchdowns) and on the ground as the No. 4 Nashua High School South football team (7-2) defeated No. 13 Londonderry (3-6), 44-15, at Stellos Stadium in Friday night’s Division I preliminary round.

The upstart Lancers, who had appeared in the last four D-I championship games, entered the playoffs with a huge upset over Windham on the final day of the regular season to snag the 13th and final playoff spot. Londonderry is a program with the kind of pedigree that you don’t want to see early in the postseason, regardless of seed.

“Super proud of the boys,” Nashua South head coach Josh Porter said. “We wanted to start fast and we did that. Get out of the gate and take care of business early.”

A 25-yard pass from Jackson to Levesque (108 yards on five catches) on the first play from scrimmage put the Panthers in Londonderry territory. Senior running back Sam Levine (152 yards, touchdown on 21 carries) gained six yards on the next play and Levesque capped the quick drive by hauling in the first scoring pass of the day.

South struggled with extra points, only connecting on two of six and failing to convert a two-point plays, but the Panthers still led 6-0 with 10:51 left in the first quarter.

Londonderry senior running back Adrian Cruz (78 yards on 18 carries) helped the Lancers move the chains and junior quarterback Sullivan Daron (13-for-27, 139 yards) found junior tight end Davis Magarian (33 yards on three catches) on a 23-yard pass. The extra point gave Londonderry a 7-6 lead with 6:27 left in the opening quarter.

But Levine scored on a 3-yard touchdown run and Fish caught a 20-yard scoring pass to make it 18-7 at the end of the first quarter, and a 4-yard TD run from Fish and a 17-yard keeper from Jackson gave South a 31-7 lead at halftime.

“We felt good about being able to put up some points tonight, so it’s nice when the game plan goes accordingly,” Porter said. “We’ve got a lot of guys that you’ve got to cover and Cody does an awesome job, basically playing point guard, passing it out to all of them. Any one of our receivers and Sammy in the back field, any one of them can take it to the end zone any play really. They’ve been playing together for three or four years now in the same system.”

Defensively, senior linebacker Bruno Goncalves had an interception and a fumble recovery, senior lineman Kevin Hamel forced a fumble, Levesque had an interception and senior defensive end Ray Karuru made several tackles on the edge to lead the Panthers.

“(Goncalves) was phenomenal, I thought our perimeter defenders did well,” Porter said. “A couple weeks ago against Memorial, they killed us on that, so we’ve been working each week to shore that up for (playoffs). … We repped it all week in practice and the boys were ready for us. That’s what we wanted to do, not let (Cruz) get downhill, because he’s a good runner.”

Thanks to Daron and Cruz, Londonderry was able to move the ball fairly well, but couldn’t match South’s ability to make big plays. The Lancers converted on fourth down twice in a scoreless third quarter, only for Daron to be picked off by Levesque in the end zone.

“That’s been the difference for us all season, not being able to provide that big play when we need it,” Londonderry head coach Jimmy Lauzon said. “(South has) great athletes. The difference is speed and the amount of space they use on the field. They utilize it well. It’s hard to simulate those things when you’re prepping. I think we knew what we were going to get schematically, but athletically it’s hard to replicate.”

Jackson threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Fish and ran it in from 12 yards himself, with a 7-yard keeper from Daron and a two-point conversion to Magarian in between those South scores to cap the 44-15 scoreline in the fourth quarter.

Nashua South quarterback Cody Jackson runs up the sideline while Londonderry defenders Brandon Dyer and Dante Fabiano chase. Jackson threw for 270 yards and three touchdowns, while also running in a pair of TDs himself in Friday night’s Division I playoff game at Stellos Stadium. (Photo by Dan Attorri)

The loss means that for the first time since 2020, Londonderry will not be playing in the D-I title game. The Lancers won in 2021 and have been the runner-up for the past three seasons.

“I’m sad for the seniors, I never want to see seniors leave,” Lauzon said. “We set such a high standard that these guys want to live up to and I wanted that for them.”

Owen Crafts (42 yards on three catches) contributed offensively, while Dante Fabiano (interception, tackle for loss), Magarian (tackle for loss, blocked kick), Chad LeBlanc (blocked kick), Austin Holmes (blocked kick) and Nathan Mbuyi (blocked kick) led the defense.

“They’re young,” said Porter, referring to Londonderry’s roster. “They’re reloading and they’re going to be really good in a couple years because they’re getting their experience now. That was us last year.”

South now needs to prepare for next weekend’s all-Nashua quarterfinal against the winner of No. 5 Bishop Guertin (6-2) vs. No. 12 Nashua North (4-4).

“I’m excited that it’s going through Nashua, it’s a cool thing for the city,” Porter said. “Either way, we’re going to take the opponent in stride one week at a time. It’s always fun playing those intra-city games with the rivalry, the kids will get up for it. It’ll be a blast out here.”