Football

Nashua Crusaders eighth grade

Another tough outing for the 8th grade Nashua Elks Crusaders as they lost to the Salem Rams 26-0. The Nashua defense showed some improvement and forced 2 fumbles and stopped a Salem drive with a sack by Aren Kennedy but just ended up being on the field too long. The Salem defense kept the Nashua offense struggling all game and held them to just three first downs.

Nashua Crusaders fifth grade

The fifth grade Nashua Crusaders played their home opener against the Salem Rams on a beautiful football evening. The Crusaders would receive the opening kickoff and would draw first blood on a 45-yard touchdown run by Curtie Harris. Alex Ortiz would punch in the extra point to give the Crusaders a quick 7-0 lead.

Salem took a 14-7 before a 40-yard run by Tyler Armeen brouth the ball to the Salem 7. Armeen burst through the left side for the touchdown.

Crusaders quarterback John Sullivan got loose for a 27-yard score. Later, Brandon Metivier strip-tackled a Salem ball carrier with Kyle Gauthier recovering to keep it 20-20 at the half. Salem dominated the second half for a 41-27 win.

Curty Harris set up the first score with a 30-yard run. Quarterback John Sullivan ran in for a 7-0 lead.

Manchester tied it but Nashua regrouped quickly and Curty Harris made a 27-yard dash for a touchdown and a 14-0 halftime lead.

Ortiz’s 13-yard TD run iced the win.

PAL Force

The Nashua PAL Force third Grade team traveled to Londonderry and defeated the previously undefeated Wildcats 21-0.

The FORCE defense stymied the Wildcat offense all day posting their third straight shutout behind a dominating defense.

Unfortunately for the NPF fourth-grade team, Salem showed the rest of the league just how tough they are as the Rams cruised to a 33-0 win.

The sixth Grade NPF team faced the Londonderry Wildcats in Goffstown and after a tough game the Force fell short losing to the Wildcats 12-26.

After a close game, the seventh-grade NPF football team lost to the Salem Rams 34-26.

The eighth grade Nashua PAL Force team lost 41-6 against the Bedford Jaguars.

Cross country

Nashua PAL hosts meet

Nearly 700 local runners turned out for the first Nashua PAL Elementary School Race of the season at Nashua North High School on Sept. 13. Two races were held with 674 competitors from almost all Nashua elementary schools and from Hollis elementary schools. This was the largest turnout for the first season race in the 20 year history of this PAL-sponsored program.

The next race will be held at North on Sept. 27, while the championship race will be held on Saturday, October 12th.

In the first race, second and third graders ran a challenging 2K course. In the second race, grades 4-6 ran an equally challenging 3K course.

Top 5 girls and boys finishers from each race included.

Girls 2K (third grade and under)

1. Mariz Barko, Main Dunstable

2. Christina Juris, St. Christopher

3. Carolyn Byrne, New Searles

4. Kelechi Okorie, St. Christopher

5. Hannah Lynch, Main Dunstable

Boys 2K (third grade and under)

1. Christopher Prangley, St. Christopher

2 Peter Wilson, St. Christopher

3. Will Dodge, St. Christopher

4 Armon Farahani, Infant Jesus

5 Mathew Ferreira, Birch Hill

Girls 3K (fourth grade and up)

1. Caroline Fischer, Infant Jesus

2. Grace Jones, Birch Hill

3. Lily Jackson, Hollis Upper

4. Rylee Bouvier, Hollis Upper

5. Libby Knapp, St. Christopher

Boys 3K (fourth grade and up)

1. Ryan Fischer, Infant Jesus

2. John Sullivan, New Searles

3. Max Burns, Hollis Upper

4. Griffin Johnson, Bicentennial

5. Jesse Hantula, Bicentennial

Hockey

Southern NH Cavaliers Squirt Blue

The Cavaliers dominated Groton in the season opener. Andre Ducharme scored five (natural hat trick) of the Cavs’ 12 goals, Will Dodge netted two goals with two assist, Ethan Gaffney chipped in with two goals, Thomas Cahill, Ryan Bizier and Nate Bizier had one goal each while Benjamin Foley and Ryan Kelley each provided assists.

The offensive forechecking of Jack Conmy combined with the skillful defensive play of Matthew MacBean and Aiden Rowe helped goaltender Matthew D’Ortona fend off any advances Groton in the 12-0 win.

Squirt 1 earns first win

Nashua Squirt 1 posted their first win of the season with a 3-0 shut out over Valley League rival Nashoba.

All three goals were scored on break-aways started by smart plays at Nashua’s defensive blue line. Chris Skelley lit the lamp twice with Karenna Beckstein adding one. Assists went to Beckstein and Ryan Cavanaugh. Substitute goalie Brian Chisholm made several tough saves to keep Nashoba off the board.

The short handed defense corps of Cavanaugh, Kyle Dunn and Connor Ludford were a brick wall at the blue line. Forwards Mitchell Lynch, Eric Bragg, Titus Tieman and Shawn Marion turned in solid efforts as well.