Bishop Guertin's Sam Fayad dives into the end zone while Nashua North's Jedwin Lluveres tries to make the tackle during Saturday's Division I playoff game at Stellos Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Bishop Guertin High School football coach Anthony Nalen swears he and his staff made no halftime adjustments Saturday at Stellos Stadium.

The No. 5 Cardinals were wrapped up in an all-city 7-7 Division I first round deadlock with upset minded Nashua North after the first 24 minutes. Well, something happened during that break, as the Cardinals outscored the Titans 25-0 in the second half en route to a 32-7 win.

“We just were asleep that first half,” Nalen said. “I’ve never seen us play the way we played that first half. We weren’t engaged. … They responded at halftime. There were no adjustments made. We needed to show up and play football.”

And as a result, the Cardinals will play No. 4 Nashua South in a much anticipated quarterfinal this Friday night at 6:30 p.m. Stellos.

“We just came in thinking we were going to blow them out” said Cards QB Nate Bowen. “That was just the wrong mindset. We had to re-lock in and just the team stayed together.”

Bowen was just 1 of 8 for 8 yards and a TD in the first half but completed 5 of 7 for 92 yards and a touchdown in the second half. And that was after North’s Brady O’Connor had a first two quarters to remember, throwing for 151 yards, but just 35 in the second half.

Guertin also got backs Logan Curran and Will Adams going in the second half, which helped. The teams had traded TDs, Guertin scoring on an 8-yard Bowen flip to Sam Fayad in the first quarter and North getting 2-yard Harrison Joshi TD run with 2:48 left in the first half to cap off a nine-play, 82-yard drive highlighted by a 32-yard O’Connor pass to Dylan Noble.

But that was it for the Titans, who finish the season at 5-5, an improvement over last year’s sub-.500 season.

“It’s a tough way to end, but there was some positive stuff,” North coach Chad Zibolis said. “We stuck with them, we had them on their heels a little bit, maybe caught them by surprise a little bit. Our seniors really, really played well …

“Putting those four quarters together is the toughest part. You’ve got to keep up with them. They can score. We held them to seven in the first half which was amazing. But eventually you know that’s going to open up the score.”

And it did. Guertin got the second half kickoff and took just five plays to score, Bowen hitting Will Adams in the flat for a 34-yard TD. His second PAT kick made it 14-7.

The Cards then forced a three-and-out with their third sack of O’Connor, then Adams’ 2-yard TD run capped a 13 play, 63-yard drive to help make it 21-7. They added another 2-yard TD run by Adams plus a Fayad 2-point run and even a Bowen 30-yard field goal to account for the final.

Bishop Guertin’s Logan Curran (3) is chased from behind by Nashua North’s Harrison Joshi during Saturday’s Division I playoff game at Stellos Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

“The line got more push,” Bowen said. “They did great in the second half. The wide receivers started getting open for me, and the run game just kept going.”

The Cards rushed for 78 yards in the second half, 172 overall.

They’ll have to have those numbers and then some for the next round vs. the Panthers, who trailed at halftime 24-8 in their regular season meeting but stormed back for a 28-24 win.

“We weren’t functioning in the first half (Saturday), I think it was more emotionally we just weren’t engaged,” Nalen said. “We’ve got to do a better job of that otherwise it’ll be a running clock at halftime if we do that against South. We’ll wake them up this week and get them ready for a big one.”