Bedford football stops Merrimack on final play to win opener
Fatigue might have been setting in for the Bedford High School football team, but when it needed its defense to make plays, it did.
BEDFORD – Fatigue might have been setting in for the Bedford High School football team, but when it needed its defense to make plays, it did.
With Merrimack doing whatever it could to come back in the fourth quarter Friday night, the Bulldogs’ defense forced two fumbles and made a stand on the final play of the game to hang on for a 24-20 victory.
Bedford led 17-0 after scoring on the first drive of the second half, but the Tomahawks were able to get things going, finding the end zone on the first play of the fourth quarter.
Merrimack started four drives with an opportunity to take the lead, which included recovering an onside kick with 2:08 remaining and the Tomahawks down four, but they couldn’t get any closer.
“The way we faced some adversity was very good,” Bedford coach Derek Stank said. “We have a lot of sloppiness that we need to fix. I’m proud that we were able to walk away victorious. I think the guys going through this experience is going to help down the road, but if we try to win games like this on a regular basis, we’re not going to do too well. We need to clean up some of our play.”
Connor Robert led the Bedford (1-0) offense, completing 15 of 29 passes for 165 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. Liam Greene and Noah Chaberek caught touchdowns of 23 and 37 yards respectively.
Nick Leahy added 97 yards rushing on 25 carriers, as Merrimack was able to hold the Bulldogs’ running game in check for most of the night, and Sean Tierney added a 4-yard scoring run that put Bedford up 24-14 with 3:38 to play.
That score came after the second of two straight fumbles for Merrimack. After the defense held Bedford at the Tomahawks’ 24-yard line, on the next play, the Bulldogs brought pressure. Nick Cannone’s strip sack of Merrimack’s Justin Grassini gave the Bulldogs the ball at the 12.
“It was a blitz up the middle and (Cannone) was able to get through and when he got in there, he was luckily able to get in on the football,” Stank said.
Caleb McDonald recovered the fumble for Bedford and Tierney scored two plays later.
“We stopped them on a fourth down and on the next play we fumbled,” Merrimack coach Kip Jackson said. “That was a huge turn of events. We came back from that, but it would have been nice to get the lead after we stopped them because we had all the momentum.”
Grassini finished the game 27 of 55 passing for 304 yards with two touchdowns and an interception, while Alec Bronchuk threw a 51-yard touchdown strike to Justin Weiser on the first play of the fourth quarter on a trick play.
Tyler DeNeill caught seven of those passes for 109 yards and a touchdown while Weiser caught four passes for 118 yards and a score. Dan McKillop also had a touchdown reception among his five catches for 63 yards and Joe Eichman caught 10 balls for 61 yards.
Bedford held an advantage in yards in the first half (205-98) and first downs (14-6), but after opening the third with a eight-play, 76-yard drive that ended with Chaberek’s touchdown, the Bulldogs struggled to move the ball against Merrimack’s defense.
And with 22.6 seconds remaining, the Tomahawks had one more chance, despite being out of timeouts. Starting at their own 20, Grassini hit Weiser for a 34-yard gain, and two plays later, connected with DeNeill for 33-yard reception and a first down at the Bedford 13.
Grassini spiked the ball with 7.2 seconds to go, but his underneath pass to Eichman was sniffed out by Bedford, as Erik Brown and Kyle Jalbert combined on the stop to end the game.
“I feel good about the effort and I feel good that they’re a very, very good team,” Jackson said. “I think we gave them more than enough and hopefully we have the opportunity to play them again.
