Nashua North players raise the Monsen Cup in celebration of their 14-13 win over Nashua South in the Battle of the Bridge Wednesday night at Stellos Stadium. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Josh Parsons was clutching the Monsen Cup like it was the Stanley Cup, although much smaller.

“We held it together and now we have this,” he said. “It’s a nice trophy.”

The Nashua North boys lacrosse goalie is pretty good at holding on to things. He snared rival Nashua South’s Tyler Benzekri’s shot with just over 14 seconds left for his 19th save to preserve the Titans’ 14-13 win over their archrivals in Wednesday night’s Battle of the Bridge. The win, just North’s second of the season, gave them possession of the coveted trophy named in honor of late beloved South coach William Monsen.

While Parsons preserved the triumph, it was Nico Bottari’s rocket from the right side with 28.9 seconds left that won it for North, snapping a 13-13 tie, which he created with a goal with 48 seconds to play. A wild one, indeed.

“I just know we wanted this one really bad, and we never took our foot off the gas,” Bottari said. “That’s what drove us getting that last goal. … Once I had the ball I wanted to go right at the net and shoot it.”

A roller coaster of a game to be sure. South led 8-5 early in the third quarter, led 9-8 on a goal by Jason Brinley with 5:20 left in the period then went over 10 minutes without scoring. During that span, North grabbed a 12-9 lead by early in the fourth. South’s Cody Jackson then went on his own personal three-goal run to tie it with 5:25 left, and fellow Panther Grant Imbeault gave the Purple its last lead, 13-12 with 2:17 to play. Whew!

But the Titans (2-7) fastened their seat belts for the wild ride.

“Honestly, it says a lot about this team,” North coach Matt Muser said. “We’ve been through a lot in my six years here, not a lot of close games. And for us to be able to stick to what we’ve been working on all year long, and kind of be our backbone, got us through the storm.

“That South team doesn’t quit. Most of those kids don’t even leave the field. It’s truly remarkable what they’re able to do. We had five or six timely saves from Josh that kind of kept us in the game.”

“Anytime these two teams kind of come together, they always bring a different intensity, players, coaches, everything,” Panthers coach Will Delanoy said. “So when Cody started kind of going off a little bit, it was a change in momentum. But just got to finish the game. That’s all it is. You can’t get into a hole. It’s a game of runs. They went on a run, we went on a run, and we were hoping ours was going to be the last run of the game.”

Nick Wilkinson added four goals and two assists for the Titans, while Gavin Dungan had three goals, and single tallies were by Jared Gauthier (plus an assist) and Ricky McKenzie.

South was paced by five goals by Max Signorini, while Jackson finished with four goals and an assist. Owen Roy (two goals), Braedyn Thyne (goal,assist), Benzekri (three assists) also helped out. Imbreault had two assists to go with his goal. South netminder Bryce Stuart had 15 saves.

Bottari is only a sophomore, so that helps your program when its youth progresses.

“The growth that he’s had, he’s one of our captains, he’s one of our top offensive players,” Muser said. “The growth he’s taken in one year has been outstanding.”

Speaking of outstanding, Parsons said he finally took what he’s been taught by the North staff to heart, especially remembering it on his final save.

“I finally listened to a coach for once,” he said, “and it all worked out. … We just held it together.”

“One hundred percent,” Muser said. “A good goalie like that shouldn’t have to bail you out as much as he does.But we’re very lucky he’s on our team.”

And fittingly, he left Motta Field clutching a valuable prize.