Bedford overcomes slow start to beat Londonderry for D1 football championship (video)

EXETER - For a team that's started fast in games for most of the season, the beginning of Saturday's Division I championship might have been troubling for the Bedford High School football team.

Might have been, if the Bulldogs didn't have the experience of coming back in last season's finale.

Despite two turnovers on its first two possessions, with a Londonderry score in between, No. 3 Bedford regrouped, stormed back in the second quarter, and shut down the No. 4 Lancers on offense for a 28-8 win in the D1 title game at Bill Ball Stadium in Exeter.

It's the second title in a row for the Bulldogs (12-0) and their fourth overall, with three undefeated seasons.

"This senior class has been this way the whole time I’ve had them," Bedford coach Zach Matthews said. "They don’t bat an eye. I think a lesser team, doubt starts creeping in. These kids just don’t bat an eye.

"We needed to settle in. Sometimes we forget these are 16- and 17-year-old kids, not professional athletes. They had to get a feeling for the moment, and once we settled in, really in the second quarter, you saw us take control of the game."

Bedford quarterback Danny Black was intercepted by Londonderry's Seth Doyon on each of the Bulldogs' first two possessions. The first one, the Lancers (11-2) turned into an 18-yard touchdown run by Jake Schena and a two-point conversion from Sam Ogden for an 8-0 lead midway through the quarter.

But after the second pick, Bedford's defense solidified and held Londonderry to just 85 yards the rest of the day.

"The touchdown was on an outside run, so that helped, but we couldn’t get anything going inside," Londonderry coach Jimmy Lauzon said. "We gave them everything we had inside, different looks, different scheme. I don’t think it was anything different schematically (for Bedford), they just coached their guys up and the defensive line is very good."

Bedford's defense held Londonderry to 86 yards rushing on 34 carries, an average of 2.5 yards per attempt.

Brody Helton led the Bulldogs' offense with 144 yards on 21 carries, including a 45-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter that put the game away for Bedford. Jack Riso added 45 yards and a rushing touchdown.

Black was just 3 of 9 passing for 28 yards with the two picks, but he ran for 23 yards and scored Bedford's first touchdown, and also connected with Luke Soden on a 22-yard touchdown with 29.7 seconds left in the first half.

That score came after an interception by Dom Tagliaferro ended a Londonderry drive that had reached midfield in the final two minutes of the half.

"Getting them in that situation where they had to throw it a little bit, getting the interception and getting the short field, we wanted to be aggressive and punch it in," Matthews said. "We felt that was going to be a major difference. Getting a late touchdown going into halftime is a real deflater for a team and obviously a real boost for us."

That score seemed to give the Bulldogs all the momentum, but Lauzon was hopeful that the Lancers would regroup at halftime and move the ball after getting the kickoff to start the third quarter.

Instead, Londonderry went three-and-out.

"I thought coming out in the second half, that drive was going to be huge for us," Lauzon said. "I thought we had three pretty safe plays. My mindset was to get four yards per play, I wasn’t going to take as shot too early, and we couldn’t even get the four."

Doyon's second interception gave the Lancers the ball at their own 37-yard line, and it looked like they were on the move. But on third-and-5, Ogden was sacked by Kevin Sheridan for a 7-yard loss and Londonderry was forced to punt.

Starting at its own 42, Bedford was called for a hold on first down, setting up first-and-20. Black got the penalty back, and then some, gaining 15 yards on a designed run and jump starting the Bulldogs' offense.

That started a nine-play, 58-yard drive, with Bedford running the ball on eight plays, ending with Black's 9-yard scoring run on third-and-goal. The Bulldogs decided to go for two and the Lancers stopped them, keeping it 8-6 Londonderry with 1:25 gone off the clock in the second quarter.

"I’m not a big QB run guy," Matthews said. "I have a quarterback and I want to keep him healthy, so I wait for big moments to cut him loose. We have those plays in the playbook all year long. Now we get him to this game and he’s a senior, there’s no tomorrow, we let him loose and run a little bit."

Londonderry went three-and-out again, and this time, Bedford went on a 7-play, 57-yard scoring drive that included a defensive pass interference call on the Lancers. That gave the Bulldogs a first down at the Londonderry 21, and two plays later, Riso scored from 12 yards out for a 13-8 lead.

The Lancers fumbled on their next possession, but the defense was able to force Bedford to punt. Londonderry gave the ball back three plays later, as Bennett Matthews tipped a pass by Ogden and Tagliaferro came up with it, returning it to the Lancers' 22.

On the next play, Black found Soden for a score and a 21-8 lead that the Bulldogs took into halftime.

"It was definitely a big swing," Black said. "We had called that play earlier, and I had missed Luke over his head. I told coach to go back to it. We knew we had to score to set the tone for the second half. We went back to it and I threw a laser to Luke."

Bedford looked to extend the lead in the third after a long punt return by Tagliaferro gave the Bulldogs a first-and-goal at the Londonderry 4. But the Lancers defense came up with a goal line stand, forcing the ball over on downs at the 1 just before the end of the quarter.

Londonderry was able to move the ball out to midfield, eating up almost six minutes, but the Lancers stalled and turned it over on downs at the Bedford 42 with 6:15 remaining.

Helton scored four plays later to put the finishing touch on back-to-back championships for the Bulldogs.

"We have a great coaching staff, every week, making a great game plan," Black said. "It’s just really special because we’ve had a great group of kids. It’s been fun to grow with these guys."