By Chris Paul
The Londonderry High School football squad finished the regular season with an important win over the Nashua North Titans to solidify a home field advantage in the first two rounds of the playoffs and put them at 8-1 to finish the season.
With the convincing 35-7 victory at home over the Titans on Friday night, Oct. 29, the team will now host the Pinkerton Academy Astros on Saturday afternoon, Nov. 6, and try to replicate their Mack Plaque win earlier in the season.
The one-sided win over the Titans did come with some bad news though, starting quarterback Aidan Washington was knocked out of the game with a shoulder injury that may eliminate his action in the playoffs.
In the game against Nashua, NNHS had the ball to the first drive, but the Lancer defense forced a quick three-and out resulting in a punt to end the drive.
The first drive of the game by the LHS squad was the final drive for senior QB Washington when he suffered his injury while running up the middle on third down.
Following that play, junior Drew Heenan took over at quarterback and the Lancers were successful at fourth-and-three, to continue the drive inside the 20-yard-line of Nashua.
In that drive, senior Matthew Perron ran for a five-yards touchdown to start the scoring for LHS. The point after kick by junior Dylan Wrisley was good and gave Londonderry a 7-0 lead.
Nashua responded with a strong drive of their own, but ended in a fumble recovered by junior safety Kyle McPhail at the LHS 18-yard line.
Perron had his second five-yards rushing touchdown of the game in the second quarter followed by Wrisley’s second successful point after and a 14-0 lead.
Also in the second quarter Hayden Austen ran the ball in from the four-yard-line for another LHS touchdown and a good kick by Wrisley gave them a 21-0 start.
Before the half ended, Nashua scored their only points of the game with four seconds left on the clock.
The Lancers scored two more times in the game for the 28-point win. Heenan ran for a four-yards touchdown at 5:20 in the third quarter for the 28-7 lead.
In the fourth period, Heenan completed a pass to junior wide receiver Andrew Kullman for a 25-yard touchdown. Wrisley’s fifth consecutive point-after attempt was successful for the 35-7 win.
Londonderry mounted 328-yards of total offense in the game with 300 coming on the ground.
Nashua North managed just 161-yards of offense in total.
Heenan had just two pass completions for 28-yards in five attempts.
Heenan also led the team in rushing with 100 yards in 17 runs. Sophomore Jake Schena had 50-yards in rushing, Perron had 38-yards, Perron had 33-yards in six attempts and Washington had 29-yards in his three runs.