Bedford survives to beat Exeter, advance to D1 boys lacrosse final (video)

MANCHESTER – Cobe Rubin scored a manup goal with 1:13 remaining Wednesday night and the Bedford High School boys lacrosse team held on for a 9-8 win over Exeter in the Division I semifinals at Manchester Memorial High School.

John Purnell had five goals and two assists to lead the top-seeded Bulldogs (17-3), who will be playing in their second title game in three years, while Dax Bekar had two goals and an assist. Brody Helton added a goal and an assist and Bennett Matthews had two assists.

Ethan Conn finished with 18 saves and Dylan Riccio won 17 of 21 faceoffs for Bedford.

No. 5 Exeter (12-7) got two goals apiece from Matt Wilhelm and Griffin Genard while Sean Haugh, Alex Carrigan, Sam Gibney and Tommy Graves added a goal apiece. Ronan Wilbur played well in goal, helping to keep the Bulldogs to just five goals over the game’s final 41 minutes.

Bedford got out to a 4-0 lead in the first 6:45 of the game, with Purnell scoring two of those goals. But Exeter’s defense settled in and the offense started to possess and slowly chip away.

The Blue Hawks took a 5-4 lead with 2:03 left in the first half on Gibney’s goal, which capped an almost four-minute possession, but Purnell scored with 47.3 seconds remaining to make it a 5-5 game at half.

Purnell added two more goals in 30 seconds early in the third quarter to put Bedford up 7-5 but Exeter was able to cut the lead back to one, 8-7, before the end of the quarter.

That’s where it stood until the final two minutes, when Wilhelm scored a 5-on-5 goal with 1:34 remaining to tie the game.

Riccio won the ensuing faceoff, and after a timeout, Bekar found Rubin alone in the middle of the Exeter defense for the game-winner just 21 seconds after the Blue Hawks tied it.

Exeter got the ball back after a Bedford turnover following a faceoff win, but after taking a timeout with 1:06 remaining, the Blue Hawks gave it right back and the Bulldogs were able to run out enough of the clock to end it.

Bedford will take on No. 2 Pinkerton (16-3) in the D1 title game at 5 p.m. Saturday at Stellos Stadium in Nashua.