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# Bedford boys lacrosse now firmly on Bishop Guertin's radar
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/bedford-boys-lacrosse-now-firmly-on-bishop-guertins-radar/
- Published: 2024-04-26T18:00:37.000Z
- Updated: 2024-04-26T18:00:37.000Z
- Description: NASHUA - There are plenty of sports in which the teams from Bishop Guertin and Bedford high schools are rivals. For boys lacrosse, it's been one-sided for the decade that the programs have been playing one another. After Tuesday night's 13-12 overtime win by the Cardinals, they've now played each ot
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division I, Bedford, Bishop Guertin, boys lacrosse, NH High School Sports Insider, slider, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

NASHUA - There are plenty of sports in which the teams from Bishop Guertin and Bedford high schools are rivals.

For boys lacrosse, it's been one-sided for the decade that the programs have been playing one another.

After Tuesday night's 13-12 overtime win by the Cardinals, they've now played each other a dozen times since the Bulldogs moved up to Division I in 2015\. Bishop Guertin has won all 12 meetings, but this most recent one was different.

In the previous 11 meetings, six of them were decided by double-digit goals, and two more by nine. Bishop Guertin had a plus-110 goal differential in those games, and the closest Bedford had been was an 11-6 loss to the Cardinals in 2016.

Two of those Bishop Guertin wins were playoff games in 2021 and 2022, and the very first win, a 15-4 Cardinals victory in 2015, snapped Bedford's state record 72-game winning streak.

For a stretch in the first half, it looked like this year's meeting was heading in the same direction. Bedford had a 3-2 lead with three minutes left in the first quarter, but a penalty put Bishop Guertin on the manup and the Cardinals needed just 19 seconds to score.

They scored three more goals in a 40-second stretch before the end of the quarter, and then tacked on two more in the first 2:07 of the second for an 8-3 lead.

"There was a point where I thought we were going to score 20 goals," Bishop Guertin coach Chris Cameron said. "Then all of a sudden the game changed. The offense wasn’t flowing. Too much one-on-one, and they knew some of the plays that we were running. To their credit, they know our personnel and know what we’re doing."

But the key for Bedford during that stretch was to never doubt what it was doing. The Bulldogs chipped away at the lead, getting it to 9-6 at halftime and then 9-8 with 8:21 left in the third quarter.

Bedford eventually tied the game at 10, but Bishop Guertin scored late in the third to go up 11-10 heading into the fourth.

"Down 8-3 and there wasn’t a moment of disbelief," Bedford coach Drew Bourdeau said. "I think it was our leaders. All those guys kept lifting guys up. We have a saying ‘we just need one.’ Whether it’s a groundball, a goal, whatever it is, you start building those ones and you start closing the gap."

#### Faceoff maneuvers

Bedford also made some adjustments, starting on faceoffs, where Bishop Guertin's Paulo Vazquez was in control early. The Bulldogs started rotating poles on faceoffs, trying to slow Vazquez down enough to give them a shot at a groundball.

"We felt like we could get a pole on a guy who isn’t used to having a pole," Bourdeau said. "It’s just a one-on-one battle between the two shorts sticks and we thought can we change it up. Get some pressure on (Vazquez) and try to make a 50-50 groundball. We just needed a change of pace. We believe in Dylan (Riccio) and we’ll go back to him for the next game. I want to get some of these athletes out there and let them work."

It did work for stretches, but eventually, the Cardinals made adjustments of their own. Vazquez won both of the overtime faceoffs, and the one in the second overtime eventually led to the game-winning goal.

#### All about matchups

The Bulldogs surge was fueled by sophomore midfielders Brody Helton (five goals) and Bennett Matthews (two goals, three assists).

With the Cardinals top defenders taking care of Bedford's attack, the midfielders were able to find some freedom to operate. Matthews had both of his scores late in the second quarter, while Helton had four of his five in the second half, including the one that sent the game to overtime.

"Defensively, we were a mess," Cameron said. "Alex (Dumont) and Finn (Moran) are two great defenders, but those close defenders are tough to bump them up. We didn’t get that matchup all the time, but when we did get that matchup, we felt pretty good."

#### Going to OT

Caleb Yeung scored a manup goal to give Bishop Guertin a 12-10 lead with exactly 10 minutes left in regulation, but Bedford wasn't done.

The Bulldogs got their own manup goal from freshman Sam Barad with 7:10 to play, and after Moran was called for a hit to the head and locked in, Helton tied it with 1:04 remaining.

Bedford still had 51 seconds remaining on the manup, and won the ensuing faceoff, but the Bulldogs first shot missed, and Will Murphy came up with a save on the second to send it to overtime.

Vazquez won the faceoff to start overtime and Cameron quickly called a timeout. Despite missing out on the win in regulation, and the situation Bedford was in, Bourdeau felt good in the timeout.

"We had a strategy, we were ready to rock," he said. "We talked about what we were going to do when we get a stop. Then we were talking about how we were going to celebrate after. We wanted to just those guys in the mindset that we were going to win one."

The Bulldogs did get the stop, as Ethan Conn came up with a save, and Bedford had two shots to get the win, but both were off the mark, sending the game to a second OT. Yeung scored 52 seconds into the overtime for the Bishop Guertin win.

"They certainly have our attention, if they didn’t have it already," Cameron said. "For them, you never want to lose, but for them, that’s a win because of how much they’ve closed the gap. Drew is such a good coach, he’ll get that message to them. The gap has been closed."

Bourdeau didn't quite share the same sentiment, but right after the game, the significance of the outcome was evident to the Bulldogs' second-year head coach.

"Not about the moral victories, but we know we have to see them again if we want to win the whole thing," he said. "We were in a lot of one-goal games last year, but this was a little bit different. For the longevity of the season, I think it was great for us. Obviously, we want to win one, but for those guys to be in this type of game, this type of atmosphere, it was awesome."