Bedford boys lacrosse uses big second quarter to beat Exeter

BEDFORD – Matt Guerard has seen a lot of good lacrosse as the head coach at Bedford High School, but the second quarter of Saturday’s game against Exeter was something else.

The Bulldogs were able to control possession for most of the 12 minutes, turning a one-goal game into a 6-1 lead that felt bigger. Despite going scoreless for the game’s final 16 minutes, Bedford held off the Blue Hawks for an 8-5 victory, the Bulldogs’ 43rd in a row.

Dan Colella scored four goals, including three during a 7-0 run by Bedford that spanned three quarters, while Tyler Sullivan, Ryan Wittenberg, Kyle Colella and Dakota Clark also had a goal each. Samuel Stanton added three assists.

“At halftime, I liked everything that was going on, from man-down, to defense, to offense, to clearing game, to groundballs,” Guerard said. “There wasn’t a thing I didn’t like in the first half. Offensively, for us, it was more about ball possession. The first half was the best ball possession I’ve seen this program play. We were patient and we weren’t forcing balls.”

Exeter coach Gerry Holly felt his team’s problems with possession was a lack of effort on groundballs during the first half.

“We really couldn’t possess the ball,” he said. “They outworked us on groundballs and when you don’t have possession, it’s hard to do anything. They outplayed us completely in that first half.”

The Blue Hawks (0-2) got two goals from Brad Simas while Sean Penna had a goal and an assist and Isaiah Thompson also had a goal. Bedford was able to achieve its goal of shutting down Exeter’s Buddy Carr, who had just one assist.

“I know Buddy Carr is a phenomenal player,” Guerard said. “We had to key on him defensively. They put 12 goals in on Bishop Guertin (on Wednesday), so I was thinking their offense was going to come out firing.”

Exeter did get on the board first, taking a 1-0 lead 3:19 into the game. But Bedford tied it just 33 seconds later and went ahead for good two minutes after that, which was where the teams stood going into the second quarter.

An offensive change by the Bulldogs helped them break things open at the start of the frame.

“We went into a different set that we thought would work against what they were running for defense and it got us the majority of our goals,” Guerard said. “For us to make that switch was one of the biggest differences.”

A goal early in the second by Colella put Bedford ahead by six, but Exeter got two back quickly to cut the lead to 7-3. The Blue Hawks appeared to have another score, but the goal was waved off when a player was ruled in the crease.

Bedford took advantage, scoring less than a minute later to make it 8-3 with 5:57 left in the third.

Exeter’s defense stepped up from there, as goalie Cole Finerty made some big saves and the Bulldogs elected to work the clock.

“I think at one point (Finerty) was our best defense,” Holly said. “We were almost better off letting them shoot so that we could get the save because we couldn’t do much else.”

Both teams get back to their division schedules on Monday, as Bedford heads to Goffstown and Exeter hosts Souhegan.