Bedford pulls away in 2nd half to beat Portsmouth-Oyster River in D1 football semis (video)

PORTSMOUTH - It was a different kind of halftime Friday night for the Bedford High School football team.

For just the second time all season, and first since the season opener, the Bulldogs scored fewer than three touchdowns in the first 24 minutes of a game. They still had a 7-0 lead over Portsmouth-Oyster River, but the outcome wasn't decided.

At least, not until the second half, as No. 3 Bedford scored on its first two possessions of the third quarter and forced three turnovers after halftime to hand the No. 2 ClipperCats a 28-0 loss in the Division I semifinals.

The win sends the defending champs back to the D1 final for the second year in a row - and the fifth time since 2014, most of any D1 team - where the Bulldogs will face the winner of Saturday's semifinal between No. 4 Londonderry and No. 1 Pinkerton.

"We haven’t been pushed at all this year," Bedford coach Zach Matthews said. "Our kids hadn’t touched the fourth quarter this year. These guys lost their starting quarterback. They’re a tough, physical team. They stood toe-to-toe with us and traded blows.

"(Portsmouth-OR coach) Brian (Pafford) should be proud of that team. I’m proud of that team because they took every punch and battled back and never gave up. I was impressed with them. We certainly needed that."

Portsmouth-OR (10-1) was able to hold Bedford's Brody Helton relatively in check most of the night - the sophomore finished with 87 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries - and kept the Bulldogs (11-0) from hitting a lot of big plays.

Going in, Pafford would have felt good knowing his defense would do that.

"You’ve got to stop the run first, but then you’ve got to hope you have enough on the back end to not give up any chunk plays," he said. "I think you’ve got to control the clock. We thought if we could run it at them and keep the game short and tight, like the first half, we would have a chance. Then we fumble the ball (in the second quarter) and we don’t stop them on that drive."

Danny Black was 13 of 19 for 135 yards with three touchdowns and an interception. One of those touchdown passes was a 45-yard connection with Luke Soden, Bedford's only play of more than 20 yards all night.

Soden finished with four catches for 71 yards and two scores while Dom Tagliaferro had four catches for 35 yards and a touchdown. Bennett Matthews also caught four passes for 26 yards.

"We had a great game plan going into the week," Black said. "We knew what we had to do. This is a great team. It was definitely nice to put some drives together."

Bedford went on one on its first possession. After forcing Portsmouth-OR to punt on the opening drive, the Bulldogs went on an 11-play, 70-yard drive that ended with Black's 16-yard touchdown pass to Tagliaferro to make it 7-0 with 1:11 left in the first.

"The touchdown pass (to Tagliaferro), it couldn’t have been any better," Pafford said. "(The Portsmouth-OR coaches) are telling me they threw it perfectly. You can’t defend those things."

The ClipperCats responded by driving down inside the Bedford 25-yard line, but on second down, quarterback Colby Gedney - who was filling in for injured starter Aidan Thomas - fumbled and Kevin Sheridan recovered for the Bulldogs. Bedford went three-and-out on the ensuing drive and the teams eventually went into halftime with it still 7-0.

"I felt like we didn’t have many possessions, but I knew they were going to do that," Matthews said of the first half. "They're a ground-and-pound team and the starting quarterback is out. I knew they were going to try to shorten the game, play behind the defense because they’ve got a really good defense."

Bedford was able to chip away at that defense to start the second half, going on a 12-play, 64-yard drive that ended with a 7-yard touchdown run by Helton on fourth down.

"We knew we had to set the tone coming out of halftime," Black said. "We didn’t want to give them anything. We know what’s at stake."

Portsmouth-OR went three-and-out on its first possession of the half, and two plays later, Black found Soden for the long touchdown to make it 21-0 with 3:23 left in the third quarter.

The ClipperCats turned the ball over on three of their next four possessions, including a fumble at their own 5-yard line to set up Bedford's final score, a 5-yard pass from Black to Soden with 5:15 remaining.

Brooks Connors led Portsmouth-OR with 91 yards rushing on 17 carries, but no one else had more than 15 yards. Gedney was 3 of 7 for 26 yards with three interceptions and added 15 yards on the ground.

For the ClipperCats, it was the first time reaching the semifinals since returning to D1 before the 2014 season, and they won their first playoff game in 10 years to get to the final four. The senior class went from watching the program go winless four years ago to improving its win total each season.

"It’s on the group of seniors," Pafford said. "They’re great leaders. They got in the weight room. They watched film. They did everything we asked them to do and hopefully that legacy continues with the younger kids and they see what has to be done if you want to compete."