Bishop Guertin football hangs on for win over Keene

NASHUA – The Bishop Guertin High School football team had a two-point lead Saturday over Keene and was trying to run out the clock.

But with 1:15 left in the game, and the Cardinals facing a second-and-6 at the Keene 21, head coach Travis Cote called a timeout.

“I told them this is the ball game,” Cote said. “We get one more first down and the game is over.”

It took two plays, but Bishop Guertin got the first down and held on for a 14-12 win over the Blackbirds in a Division I West Conference game at Stellos Stadium. It was just the third first down of the second half for the Cardinals, who struggled after halftime against Keene’s defense.

After gaining 155 yards and scoring 14 points in the first half, the Cardinals had just 54 in the final two quarters, including 30 on the final, game-clinching drive.

“They made some good adjustments and we had a tough time moving the ball in the second half,” Cote said. “They were beating us up front. Their line did a good job in the second half of controlling our guys. Whatever adjustments they made, they did a better job up front and the holes just weren’t there in the second half.”

Keene coach John Luopa wouldn’t specify what the Blackbirds (1-2) did differently on defense.

“We didn’t make stops in the first half,” he said. “We made adjustments. I’m not going to tell what we did. We made adjustments, obviously.”

Bishop Guertin (2-1) started the game off strong, going 73 yards on 12 plays on its opening drive, which ended in a 6-yard touchdown run by quarterback Tom Hurley. The extra point by Christopher Fox hit the upright and the Cardinals led 6-0.

Keene answered on the next play from scrimmage, as Alex Parenteau, who was at quarterback in the first half, took the snap and raced 65 yards through the Cardinals defense for the score. But the Blackbirds missed their extra point, too, and it was tied at 6 with 5:35 left in the opening quarter.

Parenteau finished the game with 167 yards rushing after moving into the backfield in the second half as Keene switched back to quarterback Hunter Massucco under center.

“We thought at the time it was the best chance of getting Parenteau some looks, which he definitely had at fullback,” Luopa said. “He basically owned the third quarter running inside, but we’ve got have threats going along with him.”

Not knowing where Parenteau was going to lineup caused some problems for the Cardinals while they were preparing for the game.

“They run a lot of formations, they do a lot of different things, and our big priority, we had three or four different fronts we wanted to use, so we wanted to make sure we lined up correctly and were in the best position to face those formations,” Cote said. “A couple of times, they caught us out of position. Overall, I think we did a pretty good job making the checks and adjustments.”

Bishop Guertin retook the lead on the first play of the second quarter as Brandon Levesque plowed his way into the end zone on a 2-yard run. The score was set up by a 54-yard run by Kelvin Rivera, and Mike Devereaux ran in the conversion to make it 14-6.

The Cardinals took that lead into the second half, and appeared to have a field position advantage, with Keene starting its first drive at its own 8-yard line. But with Parenteau carrying the load, the Blackbirds went 93 yards on 14 plays, scoring on a 1-yard run by the senior captain.

On the drive, Keene converted a third-and-1 in its own 41 with an 11-yard run by Parenteau, and picked up a fourth-and-8 at the Cardinals’ 34 when Riley Morris picked up 29 yards on a reverse.

But on the conversion, Parenteau’s pass to Emmett Kieman was picked off by Tony Reale, and the Cardinals still led 14-12.

It was a battle of the defenses after that. Bishop Guertin struggled to move the ball, but forced two turnovers in the fourth quarter to thwart Keene drives. The second was another interception by Reale, who stepped in front of a pass by Massucco on fourth-and-10 near midfield and returned it to the Blackbirds’ 36.

“This was the first conference game,” Cote said. “You want to go out in the first game and be on top. To go out with a win is huge.”