It always stings when there’s a sense of finality in any sport at any level.

Thursday night they were putting the bench chairs and basketballs away Nashua High School North’s Titans Gym, as another boys hoop season, this special season in which every game was a bonus, came to a close.

This tournament game lacked the drama that last week’s overtime battle with Bishop Guertin had to entertain us. The Cards blew the Titans away in the second half, 70-44, and they move on. This was a regional semi, an over prelim, and in a normal year these two would likely be playing on the big stage at the University of New Hampshire’s Lundholm Gym.

But the regional setup had them meeting much earlier in the process than you’d want, as fun as it was to have the rematch.

Yet as things were packed up, and players walked out, lost in all of this was the end of a special athlete’s high school career. North’s Curtis Harris Lopez in all likelihood has played in his final athletic event as a Titan, as he said afterward he will not play a spring sport (track would have been it).

And that marks the end of an era. Harris-Lopez, the state’s best football player the last two years (maybe even the last three), will take his gridiron talents to the College of Holy Cross next fall. There was a lot of applause when he left the floor on Thursday night. But when he walked out of the building, it’s too bad there weren’t lines of people there to applaud him again.

“I’m a senior, last game ever, and we lost,” Harris-Lopez said. “It’s tough. It could have been my last game, obviously it didn’t come out the way we wanted it to. Props to (BG), and good luck, since they’re a Nashua team, good luck the rest of the way.”

Classy as always. He knew that this game lacked the atmosphere that could have existed in a non-COVID world with large student bodies, loud atmosphere, etc. But no excuses. He’s never made any.

“Curtis, Sam (McElliott), Spencer (Labrecque), Steven (Norris), Tom (Mason), Jayden Espinal, the seniors are a joy to coach,” North coach Steve Lane said.

Yes, it’s hard to say good-bye to seniors. But even harder, one might think, to say good-bye to Harris-Lopez, who did enjoy the thrill of holding up a championship plaque in the fall. But this generational athlete wanted one for winter, too.

“I’m a huge fan,” Guertin coach John Fisher said. “I’ve known him since he was little. I’ve admired him his entire life.

“I feel for him, I really do. He’s a phenomenal athlete. He’s done our city right, he’s a good representation for Nashua North. He has a lot to be proud of. I really look forward to watching what he does in the future, because his entire life he’s been a gamer. … Total class act.”

“As a coach, you love coaching him,” North football coach and athletics coordinator Dante Laurendi said. “You probably hate coaching against him, but you love watching him play.

“He’s going to be one of those guys you talk about that you came to see play. And they weren’t disappointed when they saw him, they got their money’s worth.”

Soon it will sink in that an incredible high school career in this city came to an end, for us and for the athlete.

“It’ll hit hard later on,” Harris-Lopez said.

A titan among Titans.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on twitter @Telegraph _TomK.

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