Defense continues to lead Bedford through D1 football playoff run

The Bedford High School football team had just taken a lead in last Friday's Division I semifinal game, and on the first offensive play, Timberlane quarterback Dom Coppeta found a lot of running room.

The senior danced his way through the Bulldogs' defense, finally going down when Colby Snow and Jack Riso combined on a tackle to make what could have been a long run stop at 17 yards.

It was the most yards the Owls would gain on the ground all game and one of five plays where they'd gain more than 10 yards. Things began to go downhill for Timberlane after that.

Two plays later, facing third-and-2, Bedford dropped Liam Corman for a 5-yard loss, and on fourth down, Coppeta's pass to Jaden Mwangi was broken up by Joel Poltronieri. Moments later, Bulldogs quarterback Danny Black found Snow open down the sideline for a 53-yard touchdown for Bedford's second score on the way to a 32-0 win.

"I think those are big plays," Bedford coach Zach Matthews said. "When I looked at how the game was going and how we were controlling the line of scrimmage, I think their coaching staff realized the same thing. I feel like they felt that they needed to match some points there, or it was going to get away from them. I think that’s why they were going for it on fourth down early, because we were dominating the line of scrimmage on both sides."

There haven't been many games this year when that hasn't been the case for Bedford (9-3) on defense, as the Bulldogs recorded their seventh shutout of the year and third in as many playoff games. They've allowed just 77 points all season, an average of 6.4 per game, and only once has a team scored more than 20 on them.

"They’re very good defensively," Timberlane coach Kevin Fitzgerald said. "Their physical. Their ends got after us. They knew we had to throw and they’re sending a three-man rush at us and we couldn’t protect it. They’re aggressive. They’re good in coverage. They played very well."

The Owls (9-3) made it to the Bedford 38-yard line on their first possession but lost yards from there and were forced to punt. Timberlane got inside the 35 again on its second drive of the third quarter, but by then, Bedford led 26-0 and Coppeta was picked off by Evan Cibotti on the next play.

As a team, Timberlane had just 68 yards rushing on 33 attempts, but a big reason for that number was because Bedford sacked Coppeta five times for a combined loss of 42 yards. He also completed just 5 of 16 passes as Bedford's defensive ends Cal McAuliffe and Kevin Sheridan were able to get pressure for most of the night.

"They’re ends are physical and they get upfield," Fitzgerald said. "We think our tackles are pretty good, but they got after us a little bit. They were good in coverage and we got ourselves into some situations because we couldn’t run the ball. They did a great job of it."

For a defense that had its worst showing of the season going into the playoffs, losing to Merrimack 24-21, the bounce back has been impressive.

"The focus these guys have had all week in practice, they’re definitely focused on the job at hand and couldn’t be prouder of the effort," Matthews said. "It was a dominant effort. I wasn’t expecting to come here and win 32-0. You’re hoping to win by a touchdown, you’re hoping to win by a point.

"The kids just took every aspect of the game plan on both sides of the ball and totally digested it and attacked Timberlane. I thought we attacked all night long, we weren’t on our heels and we got after them."

The win sends Bedford to the Division I championship game for the first time since 2018, where it will take on top-seeded and defending-champion Londonderry. That game is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday at Bill Ball Stadium in Exeter.