Bedford football puts it together on offense to beat Goffstown (video)

GOFFSTOWN - The Bedford High School football team had so many new components to its passing game, coach Zach Matthews knew it would take time for everyone to get on the same page.

On Saturday, the Bulldogs got there.

Bedford scored on all five of its possessions in the first half and the defense scored two touchdowns of its own in the second half, as the Bulldogs posted a 48-7 win over Goffstown in a Division I North Conference game.

All of Bedford's points came after the Grizzlies scored on the game's first possession, as the Bulldogs had a 307-235 advantage in yards and won the turnover battle, 4-0.

"That was the type of effort we were looking for from our guys," Matthews said. "Goffstown is a good football program, a very physical group of kids, and we knew we had to come here and earn it. I challenged or kids to perform to the best of their abilities. That’s a really good team win for us. Offensively, defensively, I couldn’t be prouder of the kids."

Leading the way for Bedford (3-0) was quarterback Joseph Mikol, who was making his third varsity start after playing for the Bulldogs' freshmen team a year ago. The sophomore was 13 of 16 for 151 yards and two touchdowns and also had a rushing touchdown.

Mikol spread the ball around to six receivers, with Tim Greene leading the way with six catches for 88 yards and a touchdown. Solomon Sanchez added four catches for 37 yards and Joseph Leary had a 4-yard touchdown catch while Michael Akstin carried 16 times for 66 yards and two touchdowns.

"It just comes from a lot of practice," Mikol said of the offense's development. "We put in the work all week and we never quit. My linemen protected me, they did a great job."

Leary also returned a fumble 96 yards for a touchdown to stop Goffstown's first drive of the second half and Alexander Zwickau returned an interception 30 yards for another score on the Grizzlies' next offensive snap.

Goffstown - which lost quarterback Jarrett Henault and running back Zach Picard to injury in the first half - had rallied after halftime to win their first two games. Down 34-7 at the break against Bedford, the Grizzlies (2-1) had a second-and-goal at the Bulldogs' 2-yard line when Brad Baxter was stripped of the ball and Leary made his return.

"We started doing some good stuff (in the second half), but the dye was cast at that point," Goffstown coach Justin Hufft said. "It was difficult to stop their run game and then they were hitting all their passes off that. When we had guys coming downhill to stop the run game, they were hitting passes behind us. Their quarterback did a really good job hitting the open receiver."

The Grizzlies took a 7-0 lead when Henault connected with Jonah Lopez on a short pass on third-and-9. Lopez took it back across the field and raced down the opposite sideline for an 83-yard touchdown.

But Goffstown couldn't get Bedford's offense off the field. The Bulldogs responded with a 14-play, 68-yard drive that took up over seven minutes and saw Bedford convert two third downs and score on fourth-and-goal at the 4.

"I thought our offensive line did a tremendous job," Matthews said. "We were able to take advantage of opportunities. We were really controlling the pace of the game, which was huge. Sometimes you give up a score and the kids have to settle in. I thought our kids did a really nice job of settling in and trusting the game plan."

Henault was picked off by Bedford's Tyler Spires on the next possession, and the Bulldogs needed just five plays to go 60 yards and score on a 6-yard run by Akstin to take the lead for good with 1:17 left in the first quarter.

"We could have done better, but a lot of what you saw was Bedford executing very well," Hufft said. "We didn’t execute well. Most of it was them doing what they planned to do well."