The Panthers celebrate one of their 17 goals much to the chagrin of the Titans during Friday's rivalry rematch at Stellos Stadium. (Photo by Alex Posani)

NASHUA — It was a tale of two halves at Stellos Stadium on Friday for the Nashua High School North-South boys lacrosse rematch.

The first half in the meeting between the Panthers (8-10) and the 5-13 Titans was the biggest domination between a North and South since the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863.

The second half, however, was much more like the 14-13 score of the previous meeting of these cross-town rivals, but it didn’t go North’s way like that one did as South prevailed 17-12.

The Panthers jumped out to an early 6-0 lead in the first quarter, with fast paced passing, oppressive physicality, and timely saves from goalie Bryce Stuart contributing to a lopsided 13-4 score at the half.

Nashua North couldn’t get accustomed to the breakneck speed of the first half, and junior goalie Logan Hansen, despite making good athletic saves, was consistently beat by the South offense. Hansen would later injure his ankle, and Junior goalie Josh Parsons would check into the game in relief.

If the story of the first half was South’s blitzkreig-esque offense, the story of the second half was the valiant effort of North. With great goaltending by Parsons, North remained in the game.

However, South, riding the dominant trio of Owen Roy and Braedyn Thyne (4 goals apiece), and Max Signoroni (6 goals), was able to stave off the North offense and stifle the hopes of any comeback on a damp Motta Field.

“(This game) was what we’ve been waiting all season,” South coach Will DeLanoy said. “Play that way, very unselfish and moving the ball and doing the right things on defense and offense. So everything was clicking. And then the second half got a little got a little scary. But I think we were just very eager and excited for the game. And the second half, we showed a little bit of nervousness, but came out through and finished the game out.”

Asked about early scoring streak, DeLanoy said, “That was great, and that’s what we’ve been,we play fast, push the ball in transition a lot, get good opportunities, and we were cashing in on all of them today, which was great.”

The Panthers will now prepare for a likely tourney prelim at Windham this week, while the Titans season ends just two or three wins shy of a postseason spot. Nick Wilkinson led the Titans with six goals while Nico Bottari and Dylan Noble had two goals apiece. Parsons finished with 12 saves.

Despite being on the losing side of the ledger, North coach Matt Muser saw plenty of positives.

“We didn’t quit,” he said. “That’s the biggest thing I can take away is at the end of the day, this is our last game. We didn’t have really necessarily anything to play for except for, you know. all the pride that we’ supposed to have and everything that, you know, we’ve been working for for the last two and a half months. 
And I think specifically kind of in the second half, we were able to do that a lot better.”

Muser wanted his younger players to get some great experience, and felt they did.

“I mean, we’re still a relatively young team,” he said. “We’re going to be returning probably about 22 kids. So that’s huge.
Just for everybody that able to get as many minutes as we possibly could this year. Obviously, you know, both varsity and JV being able to just put our sticks in our hands for two and a half straight months, half games that are competitive, right?

“We’re a team that hasn’t won a ton recently, and we still need to kind of learn how to win, and I think this was a good stepping stone for that.”

When asked about his goaltending tandem, Muser expressed confidence in both junior goalies and showed obvious admiration for Parsons coming in cold to relieve the injured Hansen. “Shout out to him just coming off the bench cold, completely,” he said. “I mean, he really honestly kept us in that game at a time when, you know, maybe goalie depth isn’t a thing that we’ve had in the past, right?”

And now the Titans look toward what they hope is a bright future.