Seven Greater Nashua Elks Soccer Shoot champions – 12-year-old Tyler Downing, 10-year-old Daniel Miranda, 9-year-old Ethan Emata, 6-year-old Noah Kapopoulos, 13-year-old Hannah Dobson, 11-year-old Katie Paquette and 8-year-old Alexandria Kapopoulos – will all travel to the Plymouth Elks Lodge on Oct. 12 for the 2013 New Hampshire State Elks Soccer Shoot Championship.

Registration begins at 9 a.m. The Shoot will begins at 10 a.m.

The U-8 and the U-10 champions will compete in the Five Goal Soccer Shoot with the each kicking 15 shots for score. U-8’s will kick from a distance of 15 feet and the U-10’s from 18 feet with the five goals ranging from 48 inches wide down to 17 inches wide.

The U-12 and the U-14 champions will kick from 36 feet at a Grid Goal with assorted size openings that will be attached to the front of a regulation 24-foot soccer goal. Contestants will have 15 kicks.

The seven Greater Nashua Elks champions will be competing against their respective area champions from throughout the state. The U-8’s, U-10’s, U-12’s and U-14’s from the state event advance to the Area One Regional Soccer Shoot competition in Massachusetts on Nov. 9.

Hockey

Southern NH Squirt Blue romp

The Cavalier dominated both games last weekend against league opponents, beating the SMS Squirts, 9-0, and Acton Boxboro, 13-0. Ethan Gaffney got the shutout in net against SMS, while Will Dodge stood between the pipes against Acton Boxboro.

Against the SMS Squirts, Cavalier scorers were Andrea Ducharme with four goals, Matthew D’Ortona with one goal and two assists, Aidan Rowe with one goal and one assist, Nate Bizier with one goal and one assist, Ben Foley and Will Dodge with one goal each, and Jack Conmy with one assist. The impressive back-checking by Thomas Cahill, Matthew MacBean and Ryan Bizier helped hold the opponents scoreless.

Scoring against Acton Boxboro showcased two hat tricks as Ducharme had five goals and one assist, Gaffney had three goals and one assist, Nate Bizier had two goals, Conmy had one goal and two assists, D’Ortona and Cahill each one goal, Rowe chipped in with three assists while MacBean had two assists and Ryan Bizier had one assist.

The Cavaliers finished the weekend 5-0.

Cavs Pee Wee 1 remains undefeated

In Valley League Youth Hockey action the Southern NH Cavaliers notched three more victories to start the season 6-0. In their first contest the Cavs faced a tough Reading Pee Wee team. The game remained scoreless until halfway through the second period when TJ Vitullo drove home a beautiful pass from line mate Damien Barahona.

The Cavs scored two more late in the third to seal the victory. Max Sears beat the Reading goalie off a feed from Vitullo, and Chris Haley scored a nice unassisted, short-handed goal with a little over a minute remaining.

The Cavs’ defensemen Sean Kelly, Ruthvik Yenisetti and Nic Miller again turned in strong performances while goalies Nick Hall and Ben Goolsby shared the shutout.

In the next game the Cavs opened the offensive flood gates downing the Andover Pee Wee team 8-1. The front line of Austin Ciszek/Chris Haley/Isaac Rogers battered the Andover goalie; Ciszek had two goals and one assist, Rogers had a hat trick and Haley had a hat trick and two assists. The Cavs defense controlled play in their zone; limiting Andover to only a few shots.

In their final weekend match-up the Cavs had a hard-fought battle against the Woburn Pee Wee 1 team. The game remained scoreless until late in the second period when on a 3-4 penalty kill, Vitullo made a quick pass to linemate Isaac Rogers clear in the neutral zone for a goal. In the third period the Cavs took a 2-1 lead, with Sears scoring off excellent passing from Vitullo and Nic Miller. Woburn tied the game, but Joe Roth, Ruthvik Yenisetti, Nic Miller and Sean Kelly worked hard on defense to keep Woburn from taking the lead; while goalie Nick Hall was tremendous between the pipes.

With less than a minute to go the Cavs, pinned in their defensive zone, appeared to be heading for a tie. The Cavs’ defense then created a 2-on-1 with Haley and Vitullo driving the net, Haley made a nice move and beat the Woburn goalie with 40 seconds to secure the win.

Football

PAL Force eighth-grade team wins

The Nashua PAL Force were hard at work Sept. 29, as they traveled to their football games on a lovely fall day. The NPF eighth Grade team showed up ready to win as they face the Milford Mustangs. The boys in blue lived up to their name, “Force” in this game. The team played in sync, with incredible force. Scyler Boykin ran a 97-yard touchdown as well an additional touchdown.

Most PAL Football teams did not share the same luck. The seventh grade was winning, 2-0 against the Keene Knights, until the Knights scored late in the fourth quarter, en route to a 7-2 win.

Other Nashua PAL Force scores: Nashua PAL fourth grade fell to Plymouth, 33-0; and Nashua PAL sixth grade lost to Milford, 45-12.

Elks Crusaders seventh-grade team wins

The seventh-grade Nashua Crusaders won their third consecutive game by defeating Mt. Washington 26-16. Nashua’s game captains were Adam Paquette, Allen Godfrey, and Alex Fortier. The story of the day was the play of the Nashua defense.

The Elks had several key stands deep in their own territory. Nashua received big plays from Jaylan Pacheco (interception for a TD), Tanner Plourde (sack), and Casey McNally (interception). Also collecting multiple tackles were Braden McDonnell, Andrew Penkala, James Ference, Cole Desmond, Zach O’Neil, Max Stevens, Mark Lagasse, Brandon Martin, and Godrey.

Offensively the Crusaders controlled the clock with a steady diet of run plays. Nashua’s offensive line blocked extremely well all day and received big games from Tim Santerre, Josh McElligott, JJ Arnesen, Quincy Cotto, Paquette, McDonnell, and Martin. The Crusader’s runners received great performances from Plourde (13 carries and TD), Penkala (10 carries and TD), Ference (10 carries and TD), Pacheco (10 carries), and Brendon Frost (3 carries). McElligott also nailed an extra point attempt in the second quarter.

Nashua’s receivers were also active all game and received solid efforts from Gabe Perrault, Tom Cullerton, Fortier, and Pacheco.

Rounding out the team performance was the play of the Crusader special teams. McElligott was solid on kickoffs all afternoon, while Penkala, Stevens and Martin were effective on returns. The Elks also received special teams tackles from Ference, Penkala, Stevens, Fortier, and McDonnell.

The 5th grade Nashua Crusaders hosted Hudson on Sunday evening. Hudson took the opening kickoff and had a quick four-and-out. Nashua wastede no time as on the second play from scrimmage Curtie Harris would race down the sideline for a 38-yard touchdown. Alex Ortiz would pound home the extra point for a 7-0 lead.

Hudson scored on its next play, a 45-yard dash for a touchdown. Josh Taylor stuffed the extra point attempt and Nashua would retain the lead.

Nashua again struck quickly with Harris again out running the Hudson defense for a 52-yard touchdown. The extra point was no good and Nashua led 13-6.

Nashua’s purple defense would buckle down on defense as Tyree Durham and Colby Spencer made tackles in the backfield on consecutive plays. Aiden Smith and Landon Moore would also chip in with shutting down the Hudson offense.

With the first quarter winding down the Nashua offense was not done. First Alex Ortiz would rumble for a tough 10-yard gain right up the middle andquarterback John Sullivan followed with 31-yard quarterback keeper for the third touchdown of the quarter for Nashua.

Ortiz would banged in the extra point again for a 20-6 cushion.

Hudson would start the second quarter with the ball and again found the going rough against the Nashua black defense. Jason Compo seemed to be in the middle of every tackle with outstanding support from Michael Rutstein, Harris and Sullivan as Nashua would make many gang tackles all night.

Nashua got the ball and again the quick strike would prove deadly against Hudson as Harris ripped off a 33-yard scamper for his third touchdown of the game. Chris Keefe booted the extra point to put Nashua comfortably ahead 27-6. Hudson would try to get back into the game by going to the air but Harris had other ideas as he would pick off a pass and return it 50 yards for the score.

Running

PAL race draws big field

Local area youth turned out in record numbers for the second Nashua PAL Elementary School Race of the season at Nashua North High School on Sept. 27. Two races were held with 725 competitors from almost all Nashua and Hollis elementary schools. This was the largest turnout for a race in the 18-year history of this PAL-sponsored program.

The City Championship Race, in which all Nashua elementary schools will compete, will be held at North on Saturday, Oct. 12. Races start at 8 a.m.

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

Top finishers included:

Girls 2K (third grade and under) No. 1 Christina Juris, St. Christopher, No. 2 Izabella Haytayan, Hollis Primary, No. 3 Maizie Barker, Main Dunstable, No. 4 Kelechi Okorie, St. Christopher, and No. 5 Kristin Hallerman, Hollis Primary.

Boys 2K (third grade and un der)No. 1 Christopher Prangley, St. Christopher, No. 2. Santiago Somorrostro, New Searles, No. 3. Sean McCarthy, Bicentennial, No. 4 Javari Ellison, Mount Pleasant, and No. 5 Grevan Singh, Main Dunstable.

Girls 3K (fourth grade and up)

No. 1 Grace Jones, Birch Hill, No. 2 Lily Jackson, Hollis Upper, No. 3 Meghan King, Hollis Primary, No. 4 Libby Knapp, St. Christopher, and No. 5 Rylee Bouvier, Hollis Upper.

Boys 3K (fourth grade and up)

No. 1 Ryan Fischer, Infant Jesus, No. 2 Drew Fleury, Broad Street, No. 3 Siddhant Dutta, Bicentennial, No. 4 Griffin Johnson, Bicentennial, and No. 5 Max Burns, Hollis Upper.

Swimming

New England swimming presented awards for its annual Top 6 Times for the year on Sept. 29, at Lenzis’ catering in Dracut, Mass. The Hampshire Hills Seawolves had two swimmers who achieved at least one or more top times for the 2012-2013 season, Jack Januario (Amherst) and Juliana Guida (Milford).

New England Swimming has two seasons: short course (25 yards) and long course (50 meters). Times are for efforts recorded between Sept. 1, 2012, and August 30, 2013.

The guest speaker for the event was Olympian Jason Lezak. He told a brief history of his life that lead up to that memorable anchor swim in the 2008 Games that helped Michael Phelps’ quest for eight gold medals.