> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Balanced Bedford football picks up win against Dover (video)
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/balanced-bedford-football-picks-up-win-against-dover-video/
- Published: 2021-09-11T14:00:01.000Z
- Updated: 2021-09-11T14:00:01.000Z
- Description: BEDFORD - The Bedford High School football team spent a good amount of time trying to improve its rushing attack in order to be more balanced on offense this season. If Friday night is any indicator, the Bulldogs' work is paying off. Bedford had enough success on the ground to set up its passing att
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division I, Bedford, Dover, football, slider, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

BEDFORD - The Bedford High School football team spent a good amount of time trying to improve its rushing attack in order to be more balanced on offense this season.

If Friday night is any indicator, the Bulldogs' work is paying off.

Bedford had enough success on the ground to set up its passing attack, and with both clicking, Dover couldn't slow the Bulldogs down, as they won 43-22 in a Division I game.

Joe Mikol had a hand in every point for Bedford, as he was 8 of 9 passing for 192 yards and four touchdowns while rushing for 30 yards and two more scores on five carries. The senior also kicked a 29-yard field goal and was 4 of 5 on extra points.

"This is the type of game we’re looking for from him," Bedford coach Zach Matthews said of his quarterback. "The passing touchdowns are things I’ve been seeing from him since he was a sophomore, but I think the place where he has really improved is his running. He had a nice touchdown run there, he had some timely runs that were good first-down runs."

The Bulldogs had four players rush for 25 yards or more, while four players caught passes from Mikol.

Colby Snow had four of those receptions for 110 yards and two touchdowns, including a 67-yard touchdown late in the second quarter that put the Bulldogs up by 20 points. Logan Sfeir led Bedford (1-1) with 55 yards rushing and also had a 34-yard touchdown reception while Andrew Grudinskas also caught a scoring pass.

Bedford was plus-3 on turnovers, but only held a 349-311 edge in yards, as the Green Wave (1-1) were unable to get the Bulldogs' offense off the field. Bedford scored on every possession with the exception of a kneel down at the end of the first half and its final drive of the game, when the second unit was in the game.

"Slow start," Dover coach Eric Cumba said. "Turnovers early on, and once they took the momentum from us, we couldn’t stop the bleeding and we struggled. We couldn’t get off the field defensively all night. They were able to keep drives going and make plays pretty much whenever they wanted to."

Darian Lopez-Sullivan led the Green Wave with 79 yards and three touchdowns on 15 carries, and the senior was also 19 of 26 passing for 190 yards and an interception.

But after Dover won its opener last week behind several big plays from Lopez-Sullivan and his teammates, the Green Wave was unable to execute those against the Bulldogs. Dover had just three plays that went for 20 yards or more, and one was in the final moments of the game.

Bedford was able to shut down Dover's rushing attack, outside of Lopez-Sullivan, was the rest of the offense had just 27 yards on 16 carries.

"The crazy part is I feel like we played really well against the first phase of the play," Matthews said. "(Lopez-Sullivan) is such a special athlete with his legs, the ability to extend and create plays, that’s where, to be honest, we didn’t play well. Where he’s extending plays and people are popping open.

"That kid is a special player and we were expecting him to get some. The thing you want to do, we talked to the kids about is attempting to contain him. A 10-yard run is OK here and there, we just can’t let it be a 45 or a 50\. Get him on the ground and make him keep playing."

Gabriel Rubio was Lopez-Sullivan's top target, catching eight passes for 80 yards and the senior also caught a pass for a two-point conversion on Dover's last touchdown. Bryce Carberry also had four catches for 51 yards.

Things went bad for the Green Wave almost from the start, as Jackson Carroll fumbled on the second play and Colin Chandonnet recovered for Bedford at the Dover 25-yard line. Four plays later, on a play-action pass, Mikol found Grudinskas for a 15-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead with 9:24 left in the first quarter.

Dover responded with an 11-play, 77-yard drive, that ended in a 7-yard touchdown run by Lopez-Sullivan. The score was set up by a 30-yard pass from the senior quarterback to Rubio that put the Green Wave at the Bedford 8.

The Bulldogs wasted no time going back in front, needing just five plays and less than three minutes to 62 yards, with Mikol scoring on a 10-yard run to make it 14-7 with 1:31 left in the first.

The Green Wave got to midfield on the next possession, but on the first play of the second quarter, a pass from Lopez-Sullivan was tipped at the line and intercepted by a Bedford lineman. Two plays later, Mikol hit Sfeir with a short pass that the junior took 34 yards for a score and a 21-7 lead.

Bedford's defense forced a punt on Dover's drive, and with a first down at the Bulldogs' 33, Mikol used a play-action fake again to get a receiver open. This time, he found Snow alone on the right sideline and the junior sprinted 67 yards for a touchdown a 27-7 lead with 5:04 left in the half.

"It’s a great example of how our running plays set up those passes," Mikol said. "We do that play action because they were biting up. We knew that safety was going to come down and we were able to pop the ball right over him."

Snow helped put Bedford up by four scores at the start of the second half, returning the opening kickoff to the Dover 32, and on the next play, catching a pass from Mikol for a 32-yard touchdown.

"We fumbled that first drive and they score," Cumba said. "And then we come back and respond, and that tipped pass for the pick, that was probably the deflator. The way they were rolling offensively, they went down and scored right away. That touchdown we gave up in the second half really hurt us. If we even battle on that drive a little bit, it gives us a chance to get closer."

Dover scored on its next two possessions, but so did Bedford.

"We never wanted to settle down and stop pushing," Mikol said. "We wanted to keep pushing in the second half. I think we were able to get something going."