Hawks fall to Titans in makeup game

Friday, November 18, 2011

NASHUA – A meaningless game, played before a smattering of fans in a steady rain?

Not for Nashua North senior kicker Erin Dresser, who booted four extra points in the Titans 28-14 victory over Merrimack on Thursday afternoon at Stellos Stadium, a game postponed by the freak October snow storm two weeks ago.

Not for North senior running back Eric Dion, who had career day for the Titans with 77 yards on 15 carries.

Not for North senior quarterback Taylor Miranda, who warmed up for Thanksgiving by completing 11 of 19 passes for 108 yards and three touchdowns in very tough conditions.

Merrimack had its own senior moments, like the 95-yard kickoff return by Chaz Myers in the third quarter and another big game from running back Jackson King, who rushed for 95 yards in the first half and 121 for the game.

Counting it’s two-out-of-league victories, North is now 4-6 on the season, and a victory on Thanksgiving would leave them just one win shy of last year’s win total, when they played in the Division I finals.

“I think this year our kids played at their potential most of the time,” North coach Jason Robie said. “We demanded a lot from our kids this year to play hard all the time and for the most part we got that.”

After getting picked off on his first pass attempt of the day, throwing a wet ball on a sopping field, Miranda made some adjustment, put a little more air under the ball and gave his receivers a chance to catch it.

“It was hard to get a grip on the ball,” Miranda said, “so we kept the routes short, I made nice easy throws and my receivers did a great job.”

After a scoreless first quarter, North took advantage of a Merrimack fumble at its own 11 yard line – recovered by North’s Curtis Lima – and scored two plays later on the first of two Miranda to Vijay Bala touchdown passes.

Merrimack answered with a eight-play, 75-yard drive that include a 30-yard run by King and a 25-yard run by Myers.

King scored on a 3-yard run to make it 7-7 with just 1:41 left in the half.

North didn’t have much time to answer, but managed the clock well to go 79 yards on 13 plays, scoring with no time left on a Miranda 6-yard pass to sophomore John Vidal.

The Titans chewed up a large chunk of the third quarter with a 15-play, 68-yard drive capped off by a 16-yard scoring toss to Bala. Myers answered it with his second kickoff return for a touchdown in two weeks to make it 21-14.

But North went up 28-14 by going 67 yards on eight plays, with some hard running by Dion and senior Marc Lavine, who finished the day with 87 yards on 17 carries. Miranda scored on a 1-yard dive.

“Eric (Dion) has played hard all year,” Robie said. “We wanted to give him a chance and he showed what he could do.”

He’s a senior but, hey, better late than never.

For Merrimack coach Joe Battista it was a perfect tune-up for the 15th and final Thanksgiving game with Souhegan.

“I thanked the North people for rescheduling the game,” Battista said. “The kids were anxious to play last time and happy to play today.”