Bedford football comes back twice to beat Pinkerton (video)

BEDFORD - Things were starting to come apart around Jack Maye.

Pressure by the Pinkerton Academy defense forced the Bedford High School senior quarterback to scramble out of the pocket, and everyone started to move around downfield.

But through the chaos, as he scrambled to his right, Maye saw Landon Ellsmore break free in the back of the end zone and fired a pass to the junior receiver.

Ellsmore leapt up to make the catch, got both feet down in bounds before being knocked to the ground, and the Bulldogs' defense held the Astros on their final drive to give Bedford a 28-25 win Friday night over Pinkerton in a pivotal Division I football matchup.

"I was rolling out and I had pressure in my face," Maye said. "Everybody was going right and I saw my guy come open in the back and just hit (Ellsmore). In the progression, he was (the second option), but I was just scrambling and looking for someone to scramble with me."

It was the second of two touchdown passes on the night for Maye, who was 14 of 21 passing for 229 yards, and seemed to come up with big plays in the passing game whenever the Bulldogs (5-0 in D1, 6-0 overall, No. 1 in the NHSSSports Coaches Poll) needed them.

Brody Helton added 92 yards and two touchdowns on the ground while Ellsmore and Noah Cassamassino each caught a touchdown pass. Bennett Matthews caught six passes for 77 yards and eight carries for 36 yards while Peter Suozzo had two catches for 82 yards.

"Jack continues to amaze me," Bedford coach Zach Matthews said. "For a first-year starter, this was his first big game. The other games we’ve had have been blowouts, no one is really pressuring him, he’s not having to make throws under pressure in clutch situations.

"Some of the throws he made (Friday), the fourth down throw, throwing fade balls, I thought he showed a lot of moxie."

Bedford needed it after falling behind by two scores in the first quarter and trailing 19-7 with more than 10 minutes to go in the second. But after surrendering some big plays early, the Bulldogs regrouped on defense and held a banged-up Pinkerton offense in check for most of the second half.

Matt Morrison led the Astros (3-2, 4-2, No. 3) with 80 rushing and a touchdown on just two carries, as he scored on a 74-yard run on the third play from scrimmage. But the senior injured a finger trying to field a punt after Bedford's first possession and didn't return.

With fellow senior running back Jamie Isaac also sideline for the game, Pinkerton turned to some younger players to carry the load.

Sophomores Ryson Michaud (eight carries, 55 yards, touchdown) and Brady Spellman (eight, 34, touchdown) helped keep the Astros in the game in the second half, including on a 10-play, 60-yard drive in the fourth quarter that put Pinkerton up 25-22 with 7:14 remaining.

"I liked the way my sophomore running backs stepped up," Pinkerton coach Brian O'Reilly said. "We found ourselves in a little bit of a tough situation, and honestly, offensively, we didn’t miss a beat with those sophomores coming in. We were able to move the ball most of the night."

Spellman's 3-yard scoring run on Pinkerton's second possession made it 13-0 Astros with 5:47 left in the first quarter. Bedford got on the board on the final play of the quarter on a 4-yard run by Helton, but the Astros answered with a 50-yard touchdown pass from Aiden McDonald (3 of 7, 74 yards) to Anthony Caruso that made it 19-7.

The Bulldogs responded with a 10-play, 73-yard drive that ended with Maye's 12-yard scoring pass to Cassamassino with 3:32 to go until halftime. A quick three-and-out by Pinkerton gave Bedford a chance to take the lead before the break, but Maye was picked off by David Souther in the end zone with nine-tenths of a second on the clock.

The Astros tried an onside kick to open the second half, but the Bulldogs recovered at their own 42-yard line. Ten plays later, Helton scored from 3 yards out to give Bedford its first lead of the night with 5:27 left in the third quarter.

After each team had an unsuccessful possession, they traded scoring drives in the fourth quarter. Pinkerton got the ball back at its own 33 with 1:39 remaining, but after picking up 9 yards on second down, McDonald threw incomplete on the next two to turn it over on downs with 1:04 left.

"Yeah, we passed the test, but they didn’t have their full arsenal either," Matthews said. "They’re missing some kids, and that’s not lost on me, and that’s not lost on our kids. We’re thankful to win that game. I think we learned a lot from that experience, but I think there’s a better version of Pinkerton that we didn’t see, and who knows, we might see down the road."