Bedford football rides bend-but-don’t-break defense in win over Salem

BEDFORD – The result might have been the same, but how the Bedford High School football team got its second-straight win over Salem was different.

The Bulldogs kept their undefeated season alive with a 33-7 win over the Blue Devils in the Division I quarterfinals Saturday, in a matchup that was a repeat of last week, where Bedford squeaked out a 12-7 victory over Salem in Salem.

When asked about what was different this week compared to last week Bedford coach Derek Stank said, “Penalties. I believe we only had four today. We double downed and then some last week.”

Going into the week the rematch seemed to favor Salem due to their speed and the turf field in Bedford, but Salem junior running Josh Sibanda back was ruled out with a concussion.

Even without Sibanda, Salem was able to focus on its run game, tallying over 200 yards on the ground through its three-headed underclassman running back core of Dominic Paci, and brothers Adam and Josh Maroun.

After some back-and-forth play, Bedford was first on scoreboard with a 5-yard touchdown pass from Connor Robert and Noah Chaberek. On the ensuing possession, Salem drove down to the Bedford 2-yard line, talking seven minutes off the clock. However, the drive resulted in a missed field goal.

Bedford’s next drive resulted in a 14-yard touchdown run by Sean Tierney, which was setup by a 70-yard run from senior running back Nick Leahy. Leahy tallied over 130 yards in the win, with Robert being the second leading carrier from the quarterback position.

The scoring continued for Bedford in the first half with the second receiving touchdown of the day for Chaberek. For the day, Chaberek tallied 78 receiving yards, leading the Bulldogs in this department. This pushed the score at halftime to 20-0.

Salem never gave up and made the game competitive, scoring with 3:52 remaining in the third on a 5-yard touchdown run by freshman tailback Josh Maroun. A little over a minute later Salem’s Benjamin Emerson intercepted Robert, giving Salem the ball in Bedford territory. However, Bedford’s defense forced a turnover on downs without allowing Salem a first down.

From here on in, Bedford was able to pull away, scoring two fourth-quarter touchdowns. First there was a 14-yard run by Tierney, and then a 5-yard TD run by Leahy. This pushed the score to 33-7 giving Bedford a win by its largest margin of victory against any playoff team all season.

“Most of the guys out there who played today will be back next year and where these seniors have led this program since they started here is really special,” Salem coach Rob Pike said, adding that he was extremely proud of his senior class and looks forward to the future.

Bedford looks to punch its ticket to the final against Merrimack in next weekend’s semifinal.

“We have to be ready to go,” Stank said. “Merrimack is a high powered offense with a great passing game. Coming off two weeks of facing Salem and focusing on the ground game, the passing game is a change of pace for our defense.”

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