CARVER – Carver went to the Division 8 Super Bowl last season, but its starting quarterback graduated, and first-year head coach Chris Pabst wasn’t sure what he had under center to start the season.

After just two weeks, it seems as if Jack Balzarini is the key to the Crusaders’ new-look offense.

The senior quarterback was 13-of-24 for 260 yards and four touchdowns through the air as Carver (2-0) posted a 26-15 victory over Nantucket (1-1) in a nonleague Saturday matinee.

“There was a lot of work over the summer with M2, getting comfortable with the scrimmages, and it took some steps to get to this point, but I think we just have to keep moving forward and progressing on the season,” said Balzarini, who now has nine touchdowns to only two interceptions. “When we tight ended up, they would go with a high-end safety, and we just took advantage of it in the first half.”

Both offenses were clicking early in the game as they exchanged first possession touchdowns.

Balzarini started off the touchdown parade with an 18-yard score to Teagan Zakrzewski as Zakrzewski took a pass in the flat and did the rest to break the end zone for the 6-0 lead.

Nantucket answered quickly with a 12-play drive as Amare Blackwell hauled in a 27-yard pass from Brock Beamish but just as the Wahlers blocked the extra point on Balzarini’s first touchdown – the Crusaders returned the favor on the block party and the score was tied 6-6 75 seconds into the second quarter.

Balzarini went deep on the first play from scrimmage on the next series and found Colin Eakins for Eakins’ first touchdown of the season on a post route over the middle for 65 yards and 14-6 leads after a Zakrzewski two-point rush.

The game took a bad turn for the Whalers as they lost Beamish to injury midway through the second quarter and while first-year backup quarterback Burke Lombardi played admirably in relief, it changed the momentum for Nantucket.

“We knew coming into the game it was going to be a hard-fought game, they came off a Super Bowl last year, and we respected that. Unfortunately, our starting quarterback went down with an injury so we had to do as much as we could,” said Nantucket head coach Reese Everett. “We knew coming in (Lombardi) would be an asset, so we are going to continue to work with him and right now wait for Brock to come back and be 100 percent.”

Nolan Kenneally is the biggest recipient of the emergence of Balzarini under center as the junior receiver hauled in the final two scores on catches of 48 and 29 yards.

The final one was all Kenneally as he ripped down a jump ball in the end zone like a centerfielder going over the wall for the game-saving catch in baseball to give the Crusaders the 26-15 lead as the third quarter came to a close.

“We practice a lot, and with the deep balls, Jack always will try and roll right. I go with the safety in back and it was always open,” said Kenneally, who now has five touchdowns on the season, with one kickoff return for a score. “We really didn’t know what we were going to do for a quarterback and Jack has been there from the start and has been great.”

Other than a safety, the scoring came to a screeching halt for Nantucket in the first half and only a third quarter touchdown to Blackwell for his second in the game kept things interesting for the Whalers and the Crusaders’ defense registered six sacks as a unit to stifle Lombardi for the second half.

Carver was able to kill the remaining 10:02 of the fourth quarter with a 15-play drive off the running attack of Darrian King and Zakrzewski down the stretch. The Crusaders took a knee on the one-yard line to finish off the game and the Whalers.

“Great group of kids, they have a nice little chemistry now with Jack and his receiving core,” said Pabst, referring to Kenneally, Eakins and Nate Helms. “Jack has really taken the bull by the horns this preseason and worked extremely hard and really worked on his craft knowing he needed to become the man this year. He’s walking around like he is a three-year starter, and this is only his second start.”

Carver’s Darrian King, front, is hauled down by Nantucket’s Jeremy Jenkinson during the second quarter Saturday in Carver’s 26-15 win. (Photo by Paul Connors/Media News Group/Boston Herald)