Nashua South football rallies to beat Dover, clinch D1 playoff spot

NASHUA – It wasn’t the prettiest game Scott Knight has seen the Nashua High School South football team play.

Not when the Panthers turned the ball over seven times, blow a double-digit lead and fail to find the end zone on five of seven trips inside the Dover 25-yard line.

But South still found a way to come back from a 12-point deficit in the fourth quarter, as Sean Holland found Derek Downing on fourth-and-goal from the Dover 4-yard line with 43.1 seconds left to give the Panthers a 33-32 win over the Green Wave on Saturday.

The win clinches the final playoff spot for the Panthers (6-3) in the Division I East/West Conference cluster and South will play at Exeter in the quarterfinals.

“It was unreal,” Knight said. “I’m happy, but I’m still shocked.”

Holland finished the day 24 of 42 passing for 244 yards and two touchdowns, but he also threw four interceptions and lost two fumbles. Downing caught 10 passes for 94 yards and two scores.

Dover (6-3), which also turned the ball over six times and struggled to move the ball all day, especially through the air, was eliminated from the postseason with the loss.

Vinny Panetta led the Green Wave with 74 yards rushing and two touchdowns while Carson Webb was just 6 of 23 passing for 84 yards with a touchdown and five interceptions.

“They played their rear ends off,” Dover coach Ken Osbon said. “They showed up and gave it everything they had, it was a few breaks here and there that would have gone our way. We couldn’t have asked for anything more in the turnover battle because we certainly got our share. They played their hearts out.”

South opened the game by forcing a turnover on Dover’s first three drives, starting with a 21-yard pick-6 by Max Osgood. But on the other two turnovers, plus another drive that started in Green Wave territory, the Panthers settled for two field goals by Caio Campos to take a 13-0 lead.

“The way we were clicking (against Portsmouth last week) on offense, if you’d said they were going to turn the ball over on the first three possessions, we’d get a pick-6, I’d have thought it’d be over quick,” Knight said. “Credit to those guys, they did a really good job. We played tight at times, especially when we got into the red zone. We had to kick field goals, we had procedure (penalties) and dropped balls, things like that.”

The Green Wave were able to stay in the game thanks to South’s turnovers, scoring their first touchdown on a 41-yard fumble return by Dylan Russell to make it a 13-7 game with 10:22 left in the first half.

Dover swung field position midway through the quarter when Erik Stephens placed a punt at the 1-yard line, and after forcing a three-and-out, the Green Wave found the end zone on a 3-yard run by Panetta. But the extra point was no good and the teams were tied 13-13.

Holland was picked off on South’s next drive, setting up an 8-yard touchdown run by Webb, but the Green Wave went for two and didn’t get it. The Panthers answered three plays later when Holland found Downing for a short gain and Downing slipped a tackle to go 49 yards to the end zone, give South a 20-19 lead it would take into halftime.

“We felt good going into halftime because we were up one and we were getting the second half kickoff,” Knight said. “Who would have know we’d go three-and-out and have a punt off a kid’s helmet? And then they score, we turn it over and they score again. All of a sudden we’re on our heels.”

Dover took advantage of short fields to score two touchdowns to open the second half and take a 32-20 lead with 8:50 let in the third.

But from there, it seemed neither team wanted possession of the ball, as they traded turnovers on seven of the next eight possessions.

South finally capitalized on the last one, as Taevon Olson returned a pick of Webb to the Dover 1-yard line and Holland scored on the next play to cut the Dover lead to 32-27.

The Green Wave went three-and-out and the Panthers looked like they might score again, as a 29-yard run by Myles Johnson gave South a first down at the Dover 14. But South went backward and turned the ball over on downs with 5:18 left.

After giving up a first down, the South defense was able to hold Dover and force a punt. The Panthers took over at the Green Wave 48 with 3:30 to play and got down to the 10, thanks in part to a 23-yard completion from Holland to Osgood.

On third-and-goal from the 4, Holland had Osgood open in the end zone, but the pass was just out of the senior tight end’s reach. On fourth down, Holland went to Downing, drilling a pass right between the receiver’s numbers.

“It was a dart, but I trust Sean and he trusts me,” Downing said. “We’ve come a long way together and if feels good to make playoffs.”