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# Bishop Guertin football did whatever it took to beat Salem
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/bishop-guertin-football-did-whatever-it-took-to-beat-salem/
- Published: 2021-09-13T17:30:18.000Z
- Updated: 2021-09-13T17:30:18.000Z
- Description: Matt Santosuosso only threw seven passes for the Bishop Guertin High School football team during Saturday night's 17-14 win over Salem. Five of those throws came in the second half, and the first and the last of them might have been two of the biggest plays of the game. After successfully executing
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division I, Bishop Guertin, football, NH High School Sports Insider, Salem, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

Matt Santosuosso only threw seven passes for the Bishop Guertin High School football team during Saturday night's 17-14 win over Salem.

Five of those throws came in the second half, and the first and the last of them might have been two of the biggest plays of the game.

After successfully executing an onside kick to open the second half, the Cardinals faced a fourth-and-4 at the Blue Devils' 27-yard line. Twice in the first half, Bishop Guertin drove down to the Salem 10 and failed to convert on fourth down, running the ball each time.

This time around, Santosuosso dropped back to pass, but it appeared there was a miscommunication on the route, and the overthrown pass was intercepted by Salem's Matthew Goetz at the 2-yard line. On the next play, Bishop Guertin's Jakob Baker burst through the line and tackled Salem's Aidan McDonald in the end zone to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead.

"It’s a teaching moment for their kids and our kids," Bishop Guertin coach John Trisciani said. "If you knock that (the interception) down, it’s a completely different scenario."

The score also swung momentum the Cardinals' way, as Adam Gnanou returned the free kick to the Salem 43-yard line. Santosuosso scored on a 1-yard touchdown run six plays later on a drive that saw the junior quarterback complete two passes to Chase Amaral for 33 yards to set up the score.

Salem was driving for a score on the ensuing possession, but a fumble gave Bishop Guertin the ball back on its own 19-yard line late in the third quarter. From there, the Cardinals put together the kind of drive needed to win the game.

Bishop Guertin went 81 yards in 14 plays, running more than seven minutes off the clock, and ended the drive with a 10-yard touchdown run by Charlie Bellavance. But there were two plays Bellavance made moments before that made the touchdown possible.

On third-and-7 at Salem's 47, the junior running back picked up eight yards on the ground to keep the drive going, but after a hold on the Cardinals, they faced a second-and-15 at the 44\. Santosuosso overthrew a pass into the flat that was almost picked off by Salem's Kaleb Bates, but on third down, he connected with Bellavance on a screen pass for a 31-yard gain to the 13-yard line.

"You want to pick and choose those spots and try not to wait until third-and-whatever to throw, when everybody in the park knows you’re throwing," Trisciani said. "It was picking and choosing spots."

Moments later, the Cardinals came up big in another spot. After Bellavance's touchdown, Bishop Guertin lined up to kick the extra point, but holder Dante Nieto wasn't able to get the ball set fast enough for kicker Connor Lennon.

Neito popped up with the ball, and without hesitation, tossed it over the line and into the arms of Bellavance, who was crossing the goal line. The two points made it 17-0 with 5:18 left in the game.

"We practice situations," Trisciani said. "We practice that. There’s little things like that. It’s a kid making a head’s up play. And it made it a three-score game."

Despite being outgained, 362-264, the Cardinals held an advantage of over nine minutes in time of possession, 27:28-18:38\. Bishop Guertin also benefited from two Salem fumbles and stopped the Blue Devils at the 2-yard line in the first half.

"Just compete," Trisciani said. "People have ideas of what teams are. If we stay healthy and keep getting better, we’re going to be all right. We don’t know what we have, and neither does anybody else, so we’re just trying to figure it out."